U.S. Chart Roundup: The Black Eyed Peas Sink, Duffy Flops And Enrique Keeps Fuckin'

Katy Perry's "Firework"—an enormously mediocre follow-up to "Teenage Dream"—is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 once again, thus breaking the weekly turnover we'd seen at the top of the chart over the prior six weeks. "Firework" is also the final #1 single the Hot 100 in 2010 (the new chart is dated December 25).

Meanwhile, thankfully the Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)"—a Chart Rigger 10 Worst Singles Of 2010 honoree—has begun to slide down the Top 10 (this week from #4 to #8). Their rushed, shit album The Beginning also takes a dive over on the Top 200, and drops from #6 to #16. Our UK friends weren't so lucky, however—"The Time" is currently the #1 single across the pond.

Speaking of our friends overseas and the album chart, two ladies from the United Kingdom fare rather poorly here in the States with their latest LPs. Duffy's sophomore effort Endlessly limps in at #72 like an aged prostitute after a skiing accident (and you know the type of poles I'm referring to, chyldryn) checking into the free clinic.

And then there's Natasha Bedingfield, whose third album Strip Me crashes and burns at #103 after the Ryan Tedder/Wayne Wilkins-produced title track that sounds exactly like Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield" failed to catch on at radio (although it does re-enter the Hot 100 this week at #91).

Poor Nat. She should just resort to selling naked photos of her brother's butt from the period when he was hot to people like me. I'd pay at least a dollar for that shit!

Back on the Hot 100, two dance jams begin to inch their way toward the upper reaches of the chart: Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Fuckin' You)" moves from #20 to #15, while Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina's "Stereo Love" is up from #24 to #19.

Finally, Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" debuts at #68. So there, Duffy.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Firework" - Katy Perry *2 weeks*
2. "What's My Name" - Rihanna feat. Drake
3. "Grenade" - Bruno Mars
4. "Raise Your Glass" - Pink
5. "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha 
6. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna 
7. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars
8. "The Time (The Dirty Bit)" - The Black Eyed Peas 
9. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
10. "Bottoms Up" - Trey Songz feat. Nicki Minaj

UK Chart Roundup: The Black Eyed Eyed Peas Have 'The F.L.O.P.'

It's interesting to see how Nicole Scherzinger's 4,567,893rd attempt at a solo career is unfolding. Following last year's news that Pussycat Dolls were going on hiatus or breaking up or whatever the hell they're doing, Nicole put on her cha-cha thong and won Dancing With The Stars here in the States, then acted as a fill-in judge earlier this year on The X Factor.

And since she got a cushy performance spot on The X Factor last weekend, just as her RedOne-produced jam "Poison" was released, the single has now entered the UK chart at #3. You have to wonder where it would have placed sans the high-profile TV gig?

Oh, well—I'm still torn on what I think of "Poison." It's not un-enjoyable, really...is it?



Anyway, over on the album chart, the Black Eyed Peas flop in at #17 with The Beginning. That's actually a pretty colossal disaster, no? Especially considering The E.N.D. got to #3 in the UK last year.

Even more scandalous is the fact that Billboard reports The Beginning is on track to get bested by Susan Boyle's month-old The Gift on this upcoming week's U.S. album chart, and will likely only sell in the range of 100,000 to 125,000 copies. Says the mag, "For the Peas, that's off quite a bit from the arrival of their last album, The E.N.D., which gave the quartet its first No. 1 last year with a 304,000 unit start according to Nielsen SoundScan."

Yeah, well, too bad lead single "The Time (Dirty Bit)" SUCKS. Elsewhere on the UK album chart, Take That's Progress is #1 for a third week (and thus forces Olly Murs' self-titled debut to enter at #2) while Duffy's Endlessly debuts at #9.

The U.K. Top 10:

1. "Heroes" - The X Factor Finalists 2010 *2 weeks* 
2. "Your Song" - Ellie Goulding
3. "Poison" - Nicole Scherzinger *new*
4. "Thinking Of Me" - Olly Murs
5. "Like A G6" - Far East Movement feat. The Cataracs & Dev
6. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" - The Black Eyed Peas
7. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna 
8. "What's My Name" - Rihanna feat. Drake
9. "Who's That Chick" - David Guetta feat. Rihanna *new*
10. "Love You More" - JLS

Duffy

Well, I started today thinking I would get little done on the creative side of life. Ewan's induction at school, weekly shopping, after school activities, meetings, school run etc. In spite of all that, I managed to do the following Black and White caricature of Duffy. In fact, it's even one of my favourites of the Black and white ones.

So, feeling quite positive overall, I was content to have achieved that. However, I had forgotten that tonight would be a BAFA meeting. The theme was an introduction to monoprinting. Let me just say that my last experience with monoprinting was as a A level student and I was heartily sick of the medium - more a flaw of the teaching than the medium itself. So, I was more than pleasantly surprised to actually enjoy it, and have produced some pieces that I'm very pleased with. They need to dry before they can be scanned, so I will post them in a few days time.