‘Grenade’ Moves to Pole Position

CHART SPOTLIGHT. Bruno Mars is only one of six male artists whose first two solo singles manage to reach the pole position on the Billboard Hot 100 as “Grenade” finally ascends to the top. The track is taken off Mars’s debut set Doo-Woops & Hooligans and follows “Just the Way You Are.”  Produced by the production team The Smeezingtons, the track recently topped the Australian singles chart. It was, however, knocked off the top by X Factor judge’s Guy Sebastian whose duet with Eve – “Who’s That Girl” – this week.

The other five artists who accomplished Bruno Mars feat are

1. Andy Gibb – managed to top the Hot 100 with three entries, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” “(Love Is) Thicker than Water,” and “Shadow Dancing” (1977).

2. Lionel Richie – “Endless Love” (duet w/ Diana Ross), “Truly” (1981).

3. Peter Cetera – “Glory of Love” and “The Next Time I Fall” (w/ Amy Grant) (1986).

4. Rick Astley – “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever” (1988).

5. Diddy –  “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” (w/ Mase) and “I’ll be Missing You” (w/ Faith Evans & 112) (1997)

As Billboard’s Gary Trusts points out and WelcheMusic totally agrees on, all artists but Rick Astley and Diddy had careers before the solo hits. Richie had a successful career with The Commodores, Cetera broke through with Chicago and Gibb was a familiar face of The Bee Gees. And Bruno Mars – he already topped the Billboard Hot 100 with B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You” and reached No.4 with Travie McCoy (“Billionaire”). Diddy peaked at No.14 with “No Time” as a guest rapper on Lil Kim’s hit prior to his first chart topper. The track appeared on her album HardCore.

Back to the Hot 100 – Katy Perry’s “Firework” falls 1-2, while Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R” rebounds 5-3. Taylor Swift’s Speak Now remains atop the Billboard 200, trailed by Susan Boyle’s The Gift and The Glee Cast’s Christmas compilation.