Katy moves up
|  | | Katy Perry | Katy Perry's "E.T." (featuring Kanye West) jumps to #1 on the Hot 100. It's the fourth consecutive #1 hit from Perry's sophomore album, Teenage Dream. It follows "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg), "Teenage Dream" and "Firework". Perry's album is the first since Usher's Confessions in 2004 to spawn four #1 singles. It's the first by a female artist to yield four #1 hits since Mariah Carey's eponymous debut album in 1990-1991.
Only six other albums have spawned four or more #1 hits on the Hot 100. Michael Jackson's Bad, which generated five #1 hits in 1987-1988, leads the pack. Albums that have spun off four #1 hits are the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977-1978), Whitney Houston's sophomore album Whitney (1987-1988), George Michael's solo debut Faith (1987-1988), Paula Abdul's debut album Forever Your Girl (1989-1990) and Janet Jackson's second album as a major star, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989-1991).
These nine albums all but define the term "mass appeal". Seven of them were Grammy finalists for Album of the Year. Saturday Night Fever (which spawned three #1 hits for the Bee Gees and one for Yvonne Elliman) and Faith both won the award. Whitney, Bad, Mariah Carey, Confessions and Teenage Dream were all nominated for the award. (Forever Your Girl and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 were both passed over for Album of the Year nominations.)
You may recall that Teenage Dream was briefly viewed as a let-down when it debuted in August with first-week sales of 192,000 copies. But the album has refused to fade. As of this week, it has sold 1,305,000 copies, nearly as many as Perry's 2008 debut album, One Of The Boys. That album, which has been available more than two years longer, has sold 1,371,000.
"E.T." is Perry's fifth #1 hit in less than three years. "I Kissed A Girl" preceded her run of hits from Teenage Dream. By chance, "I Kissed A Girl" tops the 4 million mark in digital sales this very week. It's Perry's third hit to reach this sales threshold, following "Hot N Cold" and "California Gurls".
Only three other artists have had three 4 million-sellers in the digital realm: Lady Gaga, Rihanna (counting featured roles on hits by Eminem and T.I.) and will.i.am (his total includes two hits by the Black Eyed Peas and his featured role on Usher's "OMG").
The novelty nature of "I Kissed A Girl" kept Perry from being taken seriously at the outset of her career. For all her success in 2008 with that song and "Hot N Cold", she was passed over for a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. But Perry has amassed a total of six Grammy nominations, which is more than three of the artists who were nominated for Best New Artist that year: Jonas Brothers (who have had just that one nomination), Duffy (who has had three) and Adele (who has had five, though her total will surely soar next year). Of the other Best New Artist finalists that year, Lady Antebellum has had seven nominations. Jazmine Sullivan, somewhat surprisingly, is the current pack leader, with eight.
"E.T." is West's fourth #1 on the Hot 100. These hits have been evenly divided between songs on which he was the lead artist ("Gold Digger" featuring Jamie Foxx and "Stronger") and songs on which he was the featured artist (Twista's "Slow Jamz" and now Perry's hit). (excerpt from Yahoo! Music)
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