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Not Quite History, But Good Enough: Katy Perry Debuts at #1 With “Part of Me”

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Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 02/22/2012 at 2:00 PM News

The Popdust Files: adele, Billboard, chart achievements, charts, i will always love you, katy perry, teenage dream, whitney houston

Ah, if only it had been on the album the first time around. Katy Perry’s attempt at a 6th #1 from her Teenage Dream album, “The One That Got Away,” peaked at #3, denying her the chance to break her tie with Michael Jackson’s Bad and stand alone in the Billboard history books. Rather than release a 7th single from the original album, Katy has instead thrown her weight behind a new track from the album’s upcoming Complete Confection reissue, “Part of Me,” which she debuted at the Grammy’s last week.

The song was an instant success, and thanks to an incredible 411,000 copies sold in its first week of release, as well as the best debut on the Pop Charts since Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” “Part” today becomes the first single since “Born” (and only the 20th overall) to debut at #1 on the Hot 100. The #1 is Katy’s seventh overall and sixth to be associated with Teenage Dream—but, as dictated by recent rule changes, the #1 does not count towards Teenage Dream‘s overall tally, meaning Katy is again stuck tied with MJ for most ever from the same album with five. Still pretty good company, but not quite what artist and label were likely hoping for.

Meanwhile, lots of other activity in the top ten this week, as that old bird Adele has an unsurprisingly big presence after her Grammy performance and sweep the Sunday prior to the sales period. Three singles for Adele in the chart’s upper echelon, with “Set Fire to the Rain” at #2, “Rolling in the Deep” surging back to #5, and “Someone Like You” ringing in at #7. Meanwhile, in its second week back on the charts after Whitney Houston’s death, “I Will Always Love You” jumps from 7-3, now only two spots away from extending the historic 14-week run on top of the charts that it experienced back in the early ’90s. There are also two non-Katy debuts in the top ten this week—Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” (#9, her seventh top ten overall and just her second as a lead artist) and Chris Brown’s “Turn Up the Music” (#10, his 11th and ninth as a lead artist).

Next week: Look for a possibly comeback from Fun., whose “We are Young” falls from 3-6 this week on the charts, but who should experience another bump in the next week from the release of their Some Hearts—the song is already back at #1 on iTunes, and may be staying there for the foreseeable future.