(Reuters) – Pop rocker Pink scored her first Billboard No. 1 album on Wednesday, while South Korean singer Psy, who has taken the Internet by storm with his horsey dance moves, landed at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart with his hit “Gangnam Style.”
Psy recently appeared on the “Today” show and “Saturday Night Live” to perform “Gangnam Style” while doing his choppy dance steps that vaguely recall a child riding a stick horse.
Pink’s “The Truth About Love” sold 280,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it the third-highest debut of 2012, behind Justin Bieber’s “Believe” and Madonna’s “MDNA.” It is the singer’s best-selling debut to date.
Pink beat debuts from Kanye West’s GOOD music rappers, The Killers and Carly Rae Jepsen. Sales of Pink’s album were aided by a major Target promotional campaign as well as Amazon MP3 offering the record for a discount price of $5. The lead single – “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” – also topped Billboard’s pop songs airplay chart this week.
K-pop viral phenomenon Psy, who has racked up some 270 million YouTube views, sold 301,000 digital copies in the U.S. last week of his “Gangnam Style” hit, knocking Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” from its month-long run in the top spot.
The 34-year-old rapper, whose real name is Park Jai-sang, told a news conference in Seoul this week he would perform the song topless if it hit No.1 on the Billboard chart.
Elsewhere, “Cruel Summer,” the latest compilation release from Kanye West’s GOOD Music label featuring West collaborating with artists including Big Sean, Pusha T and 2Chainz, sold 205,000 copies in its first week to secure the No. 2 position on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Vegas rockers The Killers came in at No. 3 with their fourth studio album “Battle Born,” selling 113,000 copies in its first week. Although the band went straight to No. 1 in the UK last week, a chart-topping album in the Billboard 200 has eluded them.
Newcomer Carly Rae Jepsen, who shot to fame with the catchy summer hit “Call Me Maybe,” released her debut set “Kiss” last week, and sold 46,000 copies, notching No. 6 on the chart.
Jepsen was just below last week’s chart-topper Dave Matthews Band’s “Away From The World” at No. 4 and Little Big Town’s “Tornado” at No. 5.
“Call Me Maybe” has sold 5.7 million copies in the U.S. to date, making it 2012’s biggest selling single behind only Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.”
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant, Sofina Mirza-Reid and Jan Paschal)
