Last Sunday (February 6), the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to win the franchise's seventh Super Bowl, falling to the Green Bay Packers by a score of 31-25. However, the excitement over the big game and the fervor surrounding the Steelers certainly worked out for Pittsburgh native Wiz Khalifa, whose "Black and Yellow" became an accidental Steelers anthem and is at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week.
"Black and Yellow" displaced Bruno Mars' "Grenade" at the top of the chart (Mars' track sits at number two this week). It's a great accomplishment for the rapper, whose major label debut album Rolling Papers is set to hit stores in March. Aided by a huge boost in digital sales, a giant uptick in radio play, a killer remix and a mixtape-ready beat that dozens of MCs have been jacking, "Black and Yellow" turned into something of a cottage industry for the 23-year-old. It even inspired an answer song from Lil Wayne in the form of "Green and Yellow" (his endorsement of the Packers).
It was a big week for hip-hop on the Hot 100, as Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor" (a collaboration with Eminem and Skylar Grey) debuted at number five this week. After the tepid performance of "Kush" (it topped out at number 34 on the chart), it seemed like perhaps Dre had waited too long to unveil new music from the long-in-development album Detox. But clearly the fans are hungry for more (or perhaps just galvanized by Eminem's involvement), as "I Need a Doctor" was the top-selling digital download last week, even besting "Black and Yellow." With the confirmation that Dre will be performing at the Grammys this weekend, the road to Detox just got all the more exciting.
There was one more big debut this week, as Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now" (which also features Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes) entered the chart at number 11. Brown's singles have been gradually attracting more and more attention (in fact, his "Yeah 3X" is still sitting comfortably at number 17), and "Look at Me Now" promises to be the singer's biggest chart hit in years.
The rest of the chart was pretty static, as no songs really made any big moves, nor were there any huge debuts (though in a short week, the "Glee" versions of "Thriller" and "Need You Now" managed to inspire enough digital sales to break them into the chart at 72 and 75, which means the show will again be making a big impact on the chart moving forward).