As the clock struck midnight this New Year’s Eve, Nashville pop star Ke$ha appropriately topped the charts with “TiK ToK”. And she is there again this week with her first Top 40 hit. The 22-year old newcomer has hit the top before though. She was featured on Flo Rida’s chart topper “Right Round” from early last year. Ke$ha can also be found featured on Pitbull’s latest album and with songwriting credits on Miley Cyrus’ latest as well.

The year starts with two newcomers in the top two spots on the pop chart. Virgin Islands native Keidran Jones is at #2 this week. The young rapper goes by the name Iyaz and moves up from 4-2 this week with “Replay”. Iyaz is yet the latest artist to get his start on MySpace. His music was discovered by fellow Caribbean star Sean Kingston.

The #1 newcomer of 2009 was Lady GaGa and she holds at #3 this week with “Bad Romance”. The New York superstar had the #2 song of 2009 with “Poker Face” and the #3 song of the year with “Just Dance” featuring Colby O’Donis. She also had three other Top 10 hits in 2099 including her latest.

Keep the newcomer theme going at #4 this week. Owl City regains a bullet by moving from 5-4 with his former #1 hit “Fireflies”. The Minnesota star also re-enters the Hot 100 this week with “Vanilla Twilight”.

Two songs enter the Top 10 this week. One already had a nice run in the Top 10. MIley Cyrus leaps from 19-8 with “Party In The U.S.A.” The hit peaked at #2 this past fall. the 11-notch climb makes it the biggest mover in the Top 40 this week. It’s one of many songs to rebound nicely after the holiday season as once again music fans turn away from Christmas music and back to their mainstream favorites.

British hip hop star Jay Sean has the Top 10’s other new hit. He is up from 14-10 with “Do You Remember” featuring Sean Paul & Lil Jon. The 26-year old London native has now scored two American Top 10 hits. His first was “Down” which went all the way to #1 last year.

Three songs enter the Top 20. Two of which have been in the Top 20 before and two of which are by the #1 country artist of 2009. Leaping back into the Top 40 is 15-year old Canadian star Justin Bieber. He leaps from 47-17 with “One Time” which now has reached its highest peak. This is the first hit for Justin who also re-enters the Top 40 with his former #16 follow up “One Less Lonely Girl”. The song leaps from 60-30.

The other two new entries in the Top 20 are by Taylor Swift, the #1 country artist of 2009. Taylor also had the #5 song of the year with “Love Story”. This week she rebounds from 22-19 with “You Belong With Me” which hit #2 in 2009. And she reaches the Top 20 for the first time as a featured artist on Boys Like Girls’ “Two Is Better Than One” which moves from 23-20.

Four songs in the bottom half of the Top 40 make moves of five or more spots: Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen” (30-25), New Boyz’ “Tie Me Down” featuring Ray J (31-26), Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” (39-29) and Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West’s “Run This Town” (37-31).

In addition to Justin Bieber’s two hits, Colbie Caillat also rebounds back into the Top 40 this week with “Fallin’ For You” at #44. And there are two debuts this week. The first is from 24-year old singer/guitarist Orianthi at #36 with “According To You”. Orianthi was Michael Jackson’s final guitarist. And bowing at #39 is 17-year old Disney actor and singer Selena Gomez with her band The Scene with her first hit, “Naturally” at #39. 

My Top 10 Songs of 2009:
Shake Me Like A Monkey, Dave Matthews Band
My Life Would Suck Without You, Kelly Clarkson
Heartbreak On Vinyl, Blake Lewis
Major Tom, Shiny Toy Guns
First Train Home, Imogen Heap
When Love Takes Over, David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland
Trying, Eleventyseven
Just Say Yes, Snow Patrol
Hang On, Plumb
Middle Ground, Vertical Horizon

My iTunes picks of the week:
Fine Without You, Armin van Buuren
Belle Of The Boulevard, Dashboard Confessional
Hello Seattle, Owl City
Desperate, Fireflight

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