IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

Usher Sets New Airplay Record
Sat Apr 10, 3:41 PM ET

By Silvio Pietroluongo, Minal Patel, Wade Jessen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - After posting the first audience decline of its chart run a week ago, "Yeah!" by Usher Featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris rebounds to set a new one-week listener impression record on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.



With a gain of 5 million impressions, the audience reach for "Yeah!" comes in at 172.8 million, which tops the 170.2 million impressions of 50 Cent's "In Da Club" the week of March 29, 2003.


"Yeah!" remains well entrenched at No. 1 for an eighth week on the Billboard Hot 100.


The top three gaining songs are all in the top 10 of the Hot 100, as Beyonce's "Naughty Girl" (up 17.5 million) jumps 19-9 and "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans Featuring Enya & P. Diddy (up 16.1 million) climbs 4-3. Usher's follow-up, "Burn," earns Greatest Gainer honors and bursts 10-5 with an 18.4 million-listener increase. All three tracks are candidates to replace "Yeah!" atop the Hot 100 in the upcoming weeks.


RENEWED VIGOR


Although he arrived on the country scene in a big way during the format's early-'90s boom, the spotlight has never shone as brightly as it does this week on chart vet Tracy Lawrence (news). He lands his first top 10 radio single in four years while making the biggest sales splash of his career.


Lawrence has been a virtual wellspring of hit material for the format. Starting with his 1991 No. 1 debut single, "Sticks and Stones," Lawrence's singles all peaked inside the top 10 for the first five years of his career; seven went to No. 1. His most recent top 10 entry came the week of April 1, 2000, when "Lessons Learned" peaked at No. 3.


This week, Lawrence's emotional ballad "Paint Me a Birmingham" takes the chart's fifth-largest increase and rises 12-8 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. The estimated 24 million audience impressions during the tracking period help drive opening-week demand for his DreamWorks debut, "Strong," to 54,000 copies scanned, marking a couple of new career milestones on Top Country Albums.


LIGHTING THE WAY


The success of Sean Paul's "Gimme the Light" and the subsequent singles from his "Dutty Rock" album have opened the door for reggae to finally enter the mainstream after coming so very close in past years.


With this newfound acceptance, reggae titles have been appearing on the charts in numbers never seen before. This week on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks are some veteran reggae acts, a couple of which are enjoying their first chart success, and one newcomer.


Of the seven reggae titles on this week's chart, one is from a debut artist, Kevin Lyttle. His soca-tinged "Turn Me On" debuts at No. 98. While it is the first appearance on the chart for T.O.K., whose "Gal Yuh Ah Lead" falls to No. 51 after peaking at No. 36, the quartet came close with two singles from its 2001 album "My Crew My Dogs."


Cham's "Vitamin S" advances 83-64. Going under the name Baby Cham, he spent a few weeks bubbling under the R&B chart in July 2001 with "Man a Man."


Elephant Man, who has been recording for a few years, finally hit the chart with three singles from his fourth album, "Good 2 Go," including the current "Jook Gal (Wine Wine)," which rises 73-61.


Mr. Vegas made two chart appearances before his current "Pull Up" (74-75), including his collaboration with Sean Paul on "Hot Gal Today (Haffi Get De Gal Yah)" in 2000. Paul, meanwhile, falls this week 14-20 with "I'm Still in Love With You."


Finally, Beenie Man is grandfather of this week's crop, as he has had nine charting titles since 1995, including "Dude," featuring Ms. Thing, which inches up 24-23.

The unfortunate passing of Adan "Chalino" Sanchez on March 27 led to renewed airplay for some of the young artist's recordings.

"Me Canse de Morir por Tu Amor" re-enters Hot Latin Tracks at No. 20 in its 27th week on the chart. The song peaked at No. 18 in November and moved over to recurrent status after spending its 26th and final week on the chart in the March 6 issue.

Sanchez's current single, "Y Dicen," is the Hot Shot Debut on Hot Latin Tracks at No. 25.

__________________
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► "91.9 Morning Show" w/ Isha Wells, Brother B, & Mad Indian. Weekdays, 9a-12p. http://www.soca919.com/play.asx

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i c u is all ova de place eh

Kevin Lyttle made the Billboard charts. This is great news. He making SVG and the Caribbean proud. Anyone knows when his album is coming out?

yeah KEvin....i love him



turn me one, turn me on
let me jam u
come caress my body
u got me goin crazy
turn me on

You just can't help yuhself...can you?



...funny to see it described as "Soca tinged" reggae

The album is on Warner Music Canada's release schedule for June 29th, but the title still shows as TBD, so it might be a tentative date.

Hmmm reggae title huh? Where's the saviour of soca? eh VINCYPOWA?

Yuh know it's kinda bad that we downin' de man because he chune soundin' more reggae than soca and he chose to call it reggae as well... I have a reggae chune i releasin'... (hopefully soon) and i was really tryin' to get a soca feel into it but de way de song is it can't go that way. Maybe de original writer wanted it soca like but this way worked so much better??? Who knows! Just a thought!

Inside joke Jandy...doh let it bodder yuh head...:)


p.s. 202 coming thru soon

Okay, i guess i outside de inside ting!
202! Hmmmph... I done forget dat long time now! 202 Stickin'!:p

lol...nah nah...ah coming. Ah go fill yuh een when ah reach

When yuh reach is rite! Yuh takin' toooo long to come:p