On the Charts: Eminem Hits Number One With Royce da 5'9" Side Project

Eminem

Jason Merritt/FilmMagic

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Thank God for Eminem and Royce da 5'9", otherwise known as Bad Meets Evil, whose Hell: The Sequel sold 171,000 copies and beat irritatingly angelic 11-year-old chanteuse Jackie Evancho's Dream with Me to Number One. (Little Jackie, the America's Got Talent runner-up whose songs include "Angel," "The Lord's Prayer" and of course, "When You Wish Upon a Star," managed 161,000 and had to settle for Number Two.) Music-quality-wise, let's just say we don't hear a "Stan" or a "Kill Me" on Hell: The Sequel, but it feels pleasantly nostalgic to see an Eminem side project (technically considered an "EP," although it contains 11 songs) do so well in its first week.
 
LOSER OF THE WEEK: "With worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, Barry Manilow's success is a benchmark in popular music," reads the biography on Manilow's official website. And yet 15 Minutes, the King of Schmaltz's first new studio album in 10 years, fell far short of that benchmark, selling 36,000 copies in its debut week. It did hit Number Seven, a notch behind Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful (no juggernaut itself, with 48,000 copies), but the revenue here wouldn't support the maid's tip for cleaning Barry's hotel bathroom. On a related note, did you see where Manilow's run of Paris Las Vegas shows cost $65 to $250 a pop?

COLDPLAY'S INTERNET UNDERGROUND: By old-school standards, Coldplay's new single "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" is, at least so far, a middling hit – it peaked in the most recent Billboard Hot 100 at Number 14. However, BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart shows it jumping 10 spots to Number Five, with an especially strong "Fans, Friends & Followers" rating. Why the discrepancy? Could be because the band streamed it free on its website shortly after it came out, ultimately scoring four million views on YouTube in six days (and 6.2 million to date), which is something this chart measures compared to the Billboard chart's exclusive look at sales. This bodes well for Coldplay's upcoming album, which is reportedly due sometime this year, but even more so for the band's tour, which is truly where artists make their money after building YouTube buzz.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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