The rapper, who recorded his forthcoming Paper Trail while confined to his Atlanta-area home, made chart history as his album single "Whatever You Like" rocketed 70 spots to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. This sets a new record for the biggest jump to the top slot, besting Maroon 5's record-setting 63-spot jump for "Makes Me Wonder" back in May 2007.
T.I.'s track rocketed to No. 1 thanks to downloads, selling 205,000 copies in its first week in online stores. That gives "Whatever You Like" the biggest digital sales debut by a rap artist since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking downloads five years ago.
The single got a boost from the iTunes' "Countdown to Paper Trail" promotion, in which a new T.I. single or video is released each week leading up to the album's Sept. 30 street date. All purchases count toward buying the full album upon release. (Just make sure to buy the new "Whatever You Like" and not his prior Nicole Scherzinger collaboration of the same name.)
Although T.I. previously topped the charts as a guest on Justin Timberlake's 2006 hit "My Love," "Whatever You Like" is the rapper's first solo No. 1.
T.I. had been confined to his home awaiting trail on gun charges; he eventually copped a plea in March and was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service and up to one year in the pen.
Pink, meanwhile, scored the week's biggest bow with her new Max Martin-produced single "So What." The lead single to her forthcoming Funhouse, set for a Halloween-week debut, sold 117,000 digital copies for a No. 9 launch.
Also making waves are a pair of opportunistic cover songs. With Kid Rock yet to release "All Summer Long" as a digital single, the Hit Masters' version continues to gain traction. In its second week, the single jumped 46 spots to No. 19 on 96,000 downloads.
And now that Estelle has pulled "American Boy" off iTunes, the Studio All-Stars' take debuted at No. 85 this week, while the original dropped 26 spots on the Hot 100 and 53 spots on the Hot Digital Songs chart.
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