The single cover of Rihanna’s new song, ‘Diamonds’.

The US charts have been announced and they entail more excitement than Mary J. Blige’s Burger King commercial. From Rihanna’s crowning moment on the Billboard Hot 100 to Christina Aguilera’s ‘Lotus’ wilting on the Billboard 200, the lineups will surely leave you at a loss for words.

Rihanna earned her twelfth #1 single on the Hot 100 this week as ‘Diamonds’ ascended to the top of the chart. This feat bumped the Bajan ahead of Whitney Houston in the history books among artists with the most ruling titles. The latter diva scored 11 such hits throughout her career.

Now tied with Madonna and The Supremes, Rihanna’s 12 #1 songs place her in fourth position among acts with the most chart-toppers on the Hot 100. Only The Beatles (20), Mariah Carey (18) and Michael Jackson (13) have more #1 hits. Interestingly, Rihanna only co-wrote 1 of those twelve tracks (‘Rude Boy’) whereas Carey, who has more #1 songs than any solo artist in Hot 100 history, wrote 17 of her 18 winners.

Rihanna’s new album, ‘Unapologetic’, is on track to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 next week. The LP, which I so graciously reviewed for your reading pleasure and you can enjoy it by simply clicking here, will be her first #1 set on the listing since she launched her career in 2005.

Meanwhile, Aguilera’s ‘Lotus’ album didn’t shine bright like a diamond. Instead, the record was received like a dull lump of coal on Christmas morning and was quickly discarded by Americans, who preferred to spend their money records with far less noise.

‘Lotus’ entered the Billboard 200 at #7 this week with only 73K copies sold. In case you didn’t notice, those are the worst opening sales of Aguilera’s career to date and are even lower than those of ‘Bionic’, which debuted with 110K units in 2010. There is no word regarding how the loud singer will justify this latest commercial disaster.

See the other leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. One Direction – ‘Take Me Home’ – 540K (debut)

2. Taylor Swift – ‘Red’ – 145K (total: 1.89 M)

3. Various Artists – ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2′ – 93K (debut)

4. The Weeknd - ‘Trilogy’ – 86K (debut)

5. Soundgarden - ‘King Animal’ – 83K (debut)

6. Rod Stewart - ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’ – 80K (total: 242K)

7. Christina Aguilera – ‘Lotus’ – 73K (debut)

8. Various Artists – ‘Now 44′ – 70K (total: 169K)

9. Green Day - ‘Dos!’ – 69K (debut)

10. Lana Del Rey - ‘Paradise’ – 67K (debut)

Billboard Hot 100

1. Rihanna – ‘Diamonds’

2. Maroon 5 – ‘One More Night’

3. Ke$ha – ‘Die Young’

4. Bruno Mars – ‘Locked Out of Heaven’

5. fun. – ‘Some Nights’

6. Ne-Yo – ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’

7. PSY – ‘Gangnam Style’

8. Lumineers - ‘Ho Hey’

9. Taylor Swift – ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’

10. Flo Rida – ‘I Cry’

Watch the video for Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ below:

Thoughts?