It\'s Finally Pink on Top of Music Charts

September 26, 2012, 5:36 pm

By BEN SISARIO

This week on the music charts, Pink finally reaches No. 1 and “Gangnam Style” by the South Korean rapper Psy goes from viral-video status to genuine hit single (although it's video is still plenty viral).

Pink's new album, “The Truth About Love” (RCA), is her sixth, but despite having lots of hit songs over the last 12 years she has never before made it to No. 1. The album sold 280,000 copies in the United States in its opening week, according to Nielsen SoundScan - it was helped by plenty of television promotion and a $5 price at the Amazon MP3 store - and leads a wave of new releases on the chart.

No. 2 this week is “Cruel Summer” (G.O.O.D./Def Jam), a compilation featuring Kanye West along with R. Kelly, 2 Chainz, Pusha T and many others, which sold 205,000 copies. The Killers - apparently one of Mitt Romney's favorite acts, along with the Beach Boys and Garth Brooks - reached No. 3 with its new album, “Battle Born” (Island), selling 113,000.

Carly Rae Jepsen, the Canadian singer whose “Call Me Maybe” was the inescapable song of the summer, opened at No. 6 with 46,000 sales of her new album, “Kiss” (604/Schoolboy/Interscope), and Grizzly Bear, a highbrow indie group from Brooklyn, opened at No. 7 with “Shields” (Warp), selling 39,000. Last week's No. 1, the Dave Matthews Band's “Away From the World” (RCA), fell to No. 4 with 62,000, a 77 percent drop.

On the singles chart, Maroon 5 holds at No. 1 with “One More Night,” but the biggest news on that chart is “Gangnam Style,” which rises nine spots this week to No. 2, with 301,000 downloads. The song, which Psy recently performed on the â €œToday” show - twice in one episode - has also passed a milestone of a sort. It has been seen nearly 285 million times on YouTube, surpassing the 271 million for “Call Me Maybe.”