– How is this for making a statement? Taio Cruz’s “Break Your Heart” will jump from #53 to #1 on tomorrow’s Hot 100 chart, marking the highest jump into the top spot ever for a brand new artist. This bodes very well for Taio’s success here, and while it sounds a bit like the Akon School of Hit Singles, it still is a bit of freshness at the top of the pop charts compared to what has been there recently. According to Universal’s website, a release date will be determined in the next couple of weeks, but you have to imagine a slightly-retooled version of Rokstarr will come sooner than later. Now let’s see if Taio’s duet with Ke$ha “Dirty Picture” starts picking up airplay. There is no way that track will not end up on the US release of his album. However, whether the full-length can be a hit is a different matter…
– When is a #11 album debut considered a failure? When it is the debut CD from Jason Derulo, who has already scored two top 10 hits with “Whatcha Say” and “In My Head”. Shouldn’t that translate to at least a top 10 CD debut? I would not have bet against it, but Jason just misses this week’s top 10, coming at #11 with 42,000 units sold. Some might call this a flop, but it could actually be worse. Jay Sean’s All or Nothing debuted at a lowly #39 upon its release, despite having a similar track record on the singles side of things. Adding insult to injury, Derulo’s total was bested by the likes of Danny Gokey, whose debut CD moved 65K units. Sad, but true.
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Pop Music Notes 
Let’s look at his single sales though…
Absolutely…Jay Sean and Jason both had singles that sold over 1 million copies. But is that a success anymore? And is it possible for a project with a worldwide scope and projection to break even under those conditions (high single, low CD)?
Poor Derulo. Seriously, is he evaporating faster than alcohol after the 2nd single?
Yay for Taio Cruz though 🙂
I don’t think Derulo is done, but this does show he hasn’t really evolved from being a radio star.
RE: DeRulo. Word. Artists should feel lucky to have garnered enough attention on a single, and if that translates to albums, than it was meant to be. I didn’t see DeRulo turning into much more than a one-hit-wonder anyway — the most appealing thing about “Whatcha Say” was the Imogen sample.
RE: Taio. I’m super surprised by this. I didn’t even realize it was big on the radio market here and all of a sudden its all over iTunes and #1 on the Hot 100. It feels so immediate, even though I’ve been spinning that song for what feels like forever. Good for him, I say. BUT – wasn’t “I Just Wanna Know” released here? I remember getting a copy of his other UK album a few years back, hearing that cut and thinking why does this sound familiar? And then I realized my local station in the-middle-of-nowhere-Central-New-York was spinning it all the time. I know it’s not in my head…I think.
I actually love “In My Head”, but the full-length is not very good. Let’s hope this is a wake-up call for JR Rotem that he can’t just slap his siren and name on a whole CD and expect it to sell. As for Taio, I don’t recall the first album getting a release, but singles get floated all the time from overseas, and never see a full-length release. My beloved Liberty X comes to mind…
Chock me up as shocked too re: Tao. Good on him though. His duet with Ke$ha, I bet, will be a hit if released. Everything that hooker touches right now is a hit.
I thought I saw it coming, but it’s turned out a lot bigger than I expected.