US Charts: Janelle Monae Scores Surprise Hot 100 Number One

fun. - 'We Are Young (Ft. Janelle Monae)'.

Now, this is something that few people expected. Thanks to a clever yet understated feature appearance on ‘We are Young’ by Rock band fun, Janelle Monae has clocked her first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

‘We are Young’ has ascended to the summit of the Hot 100 and effectively dismissed Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’ from the listing’s top slot. The song has become Monae’s first chart-topping single as well as the first breakthrough hit for fun.

Do you know who else rested atop a Billboard chart this week? If you guessed that the answer is Adele then give yourself a pat  on the back and wine because the singer’s ’21′ album has nabbed the top spot on the Billboard 200 for a 23 non-consecutive week.

Selling another 247K copies, ’21′ has sold a remarkable 7.90 million copies since being released in the US 54 weeks ago (2.07 million were moved in 2012 alone). The record, which is on track to place at #1 again next week and will therefore match the 24-week rule of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ in 1985, has thus far been certified 8x platinum by the RIAA.

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

Billboard 200

1. Adele – ’21′ – 247K (total: 7.90 M)

2. Whitney Houston – ‘The Greatest Hits’ – 112K (2.26 M)

3. WZRD – ‘WZRD’ - 66K (debut)

4. Various Artists – ‘Now 41′ – 46K (total: 336K)

5. Whitney Houston – ‘The Bodyguard’ – 43K (total: 11.94 M)

6. Tyga – ‘Careless World: Rise of the Last King’ – 37K (total: 98K)

7. Adele – ’19′ - 37K (total: 2.03 M)

8. Drake – ‘Take Care’ – 29K (total: 1.53 M)

9. Rihanna – ‘Talk That Talk’ – 25K (total: 723K)

10. Whitney Houston – ‘Whitney Houston’ – 25K (total: 11.46 M)

Billboard Hot 100

1. fun. – ‘We are Young (Ft. Janelle Monae)’

2. Kelly Clarkson – ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’

3. Adele – ‘Set Fire to the Rain’

4. The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’

5. Katy Perry  - ‘Part of Me’

6. Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’

7. Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa - ‘ Young, Wild & Free (Ft. Bruno Mars)’

8. David Guetta – ‘Turn Me On (Ft. Nicki Minaj)’

9. Gotye’s – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know (Ft. Kimbra)’

10. Rihanna – ‘We Found Love (Ft. Calvin Harris)’

Watch the video for fun. and Monae’s ‘We are Young’ below:

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