by Adam Graham (@grahamorama)

SoundScanner: Can The Lumineers Reach The Top Of The Pop Charts?

lumineers-soundscanner

Sadly, the answer to that question is “No.” Or, if you’re an optimist, “Not yet!” Country singer Gary Allan stormed the album charts at No. 1 this week, while You Oughta Know alumni the Lumineers are clapping and stomping right behind him at No. 2. Here’s a look at this week’s Nielsen SoundScan sales figures:

“HO HEY,” LET’S GO: The self-titled debut album from folky jangle-pop upstarts the Lumineers hits No. 2 on this week’s chart, a new high for the Denver trio. The sons of Mumford‘s performance on the Jan. 19 SNL certainly didn’t hurt, nor did “Ho Hey”’s prominence in all those Silver Linings Playbook TV ads. The band is up for Best New Artist at next month’s Grammy Awards, and they also landed a prime slot on this year’s Coachella bill. Meanwhile, “Ho Hey” has now crossed the 3 million sales mark, after selling 141,000 digital copies this week (good for #3 on the singles chart). No matter how big they get, we’ll always remember when they came by our office last summer for a You Oughta Know Live set.

SINK “FRIDAY”: While the beef between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj continues to be this year’s most propulsive American Idol narrative, it hasn’t done anything for Ms. Minaj’s sales. Her second album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded freefalls 29 spots on this week’s chart to No. 115, after falling seven spots the week prior. The set has sold 805,000 copies to date, which is certainly nothing to scoff at, but hearing Nicki bicker with Mimi hasn’t exactly sent new fans running to the stores to pick up her album. Neither Carey nor auxiliary judge Keith Urban —we keep forgetting he’s even on the show!— have current products they’re pushing, so their Idol sales impact has yet to be felt.

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by Monse Barrera

May Playlist: Listen To Songs Featured On Your Fave VH1 Shows

At VH1, countless hours are spent determining what music best complements our shows. In fact, the team responsible for this task, known as the Creative Music Integration (CMI) group, listens to thousands of songs each month in an attempt to figure out how best to utilize musical cues to reinforce the emotion and drama on shows like Single Ladies and Basketball Wives. We thought it would be a cool idea to give you an inside glimpse into this world.

To this end, we’ve put together a list of all the songs featured on our network in May — from artists like Santigold, Estelle, Tank, Neon Hitch and up-and-comer Elle King. Additionally, we’ve included commentary from CMI team members as to why they selected songs for particular scenes as well as a Spotify playlist for you to sample. Enjoy, and stay tuned for our June playlist!

VH1 SHOW PLAYLIST: MAY 2012

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