The Glee cast have done it again. Following Glee‘s return to the airwaves last week, the cast have now charted their 200th song on the Billboard Hot 100. No other act in history has reached this groundbreaking milestone.
After a long hiatus, Glee returned last week with guest star Matt Bomer. Two of the songs from “Big Brother,” both featuring Bomer as well as on-screen brother Blaine, played by Darren Criss, hit the charts: “Somebody That I Used to Know” at #26 and the mash-up of “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Rio” at #98. “Somebody That I Used to Know” has sold 170,000 digital copies in two weeks. The cast first debuted on the Hot 100 chart back in 2009 with “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
This record surpasses such iconic acts as The Beatles (whom they bested in 2010), Elvis (in 2011), James Brown, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. It doesn’t hurt, though, that the hit FOX musical puts out at least five songs each and every week, an impossible rarity for anybody else to accomplish. Back in February, sales for the show’s Michael Jackson covers dominated on iTunes. And just last month, the Glee cast became the eighth bestselling digital artist of all time. Each time a new milestone is reached or a record broken, Glee cements itself further and further into pop culture and music history. With next week’s episode being the Whitney Houston episode, will this trend continue?
Despite this record achievement, Billboard notes that “Notably, despite the cast’s record total of Hot 100 visits, most Glee songs spend a mere one week on the chart. Only 33 of its 200 entries have racked more than a single frame on the list, with “Believin'” leading with seven charted weeks total. As Glee releases multiple tracks alongside each new episode, fans generally move on each week to the cast’s next available batch of songs.” This makes sense, since once a new episode comes around, the focus is on the new music and not any that came before it.
While Glee may be successful in the music department, the same cannot be said for the show’s ratings. The most recently episode, “Saturday Night Glee-ver” pulled in only 6.18 million viewers, its second lowest rated episode of all time.
What do you make of this new milestone for the Glee cast? Is it fair to compare their success to such icons as The Beatles or Elvis? And did you download their hit cover of “Somebody That I Used to Know”?
Source: Billboard
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
