Though it seems like they were overshadowed by the tremendous resurrection of Michael Jackson's back catalog following his death, the Black Eyed Peas have managed to set a new chart record. This week marks the seventeenth consecutive week atop the Billboard Hot 100 list, which sets a new mark for a group. "I Gotta Feeling" is the #1 song in the country for the fifth week, a track that replaced BEP's "Boom Boom Pow" after its 12 week reign in the top position. The Peas replace previous record holders Boyz II Men, who pulled 16 week streaks twice before ("One Sweet Day" in 1995-96 and an "I'll Make Love to You"/ "On Bended Knee" tag team in 1994). The Billboard Hot 100 sets it's tallies based on a combination of sales, radio airplay, online streams and downloads and is used to try to track what the most popular song in the country is at any given time. The Peas' dominance has prevented Drake from advancing to the pole position, as his "Best I Ever Had" sits in the second spot for another week.
Amazingly, "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" represent the Black Eyed Peas' first trips to the top of the charts, as seemingly ubiquitous hits "Let's Get It Started" and "My Humps" only peaked at 21 and three respectively. But despite their singles dominance, that hasn't translated into album sales: After seven weeks, the group's E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) has moved 778,000 copies, which is a pretty big number but probably should be bigger considering the size of "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." They still need two more weeks to tie Usher for the overall record: He spent nineteen straight weeks on top with a combination of "Yeah!," "Burn" and "Confessions Part II" in 2004.