Black Eyed Peas, Jason Mraz Make Hot 100 Chart History

The Black Eyed Peas made Hot 100 history this week by becoming the first artist to ever top the chart for 20 consecutive weeks. The E.N.D.'s first single "Boom Boom Pow" did the brunt of the work, spending 12 weeks at Number One before "I Gotta Feeling" came in as relief and occupied the top spot for the next eight weeks. The feat marks the first time in the Hot 100's 51-year history that an artist has held on to the Number One spot for that many consecutive weeks.

Over the course of the past 20 weeks, the two singles combined have sold about 5.8 million digital tracks, with "Boom Boom Pow" remaining 2009's biggest single with 3.8 million in digital sales alone. "With this kind of success your ego wants to take all the credit but your heart reminds your soul that it was your heart that had you slaving and creating in the studio making the music; breaking through comfort zones and tradition. In the fight between heart and ego my heart always wins," Will.i.am said in a statement.

In related news, Jason Mraz also hit a milestone this week when "I'm Yours" enjoyed its 70th consecutive week on the Hot 100, breaking a record previously set in 1998 by LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live." "I'm Yours" now ranks as the third best selling digital single all time with sales in excess of four million copies. The song also shows no signs of dropping off the Hot 100 anytime soon: "I'm Yours" finished the week at Number 23, up from Number 35 last week, so that means after 70 weeks on the chart, it's actually resurging. The only song currently on the Hot 100 that comes almost within 20 weeks of Mraz's record is Taylor Swift's "Love Story," which has spent 48 weeks on the chart.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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