Make it three weeks for Eminem’s “The Monster (featuring Rihanna),” which held off Pitbull & Ke$ha’s “Timber” to extend its tenure atop the Billboard Hot 100.
Boosted by its recently released music video, “Monster” ascended to number one on Streaming Songs, which represents one of the criteria for the Hot 100. On Radio Songs (airplay), On-Demand Songs and Digital Songs (sales), the other categories, “Monster” held at numbers one, one and three, respectively.
Thanks to its strong performance in all categories, “The Monster” outperformed “Timber” in Hot 100 chart points by 17%. Last week’s lead was 15%.
The repeat performance for “Monster” adhered to the dynamic of familiarity that governed much of the Hot 100. “Timber” stayed at number two, while OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars,” A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera’s “Say Something” and Lorde’s “Royals” remained in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” stayed in sixth, besting Passenger’s rising “Let Her Go” (up 9-7), Avicii’s declining “Wake Me Up” (down 7-8) and Miley Cyrus’ sliding “Wrecking Ball” (down 8-9). One Direction’s “Story of My Life” stayed at number ten.
Still dominant on the album sales chart, Beyonce also gained some notice on this week’s Hot 100. Her “Drunk in Love (featuring Jay-Z)” debuted at number twelve, which ties “Ring the Alarm” as the artist’s best Hot 100 debut.
