40 YEARS AGO... 'Y.M.C.A.' by the Village People held the top position of the Global Chart for massive 12 weeks. The song is one of the biggest party- and gayhymns of the Seventies. Taken at face value, the song's lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association. In the gay culture from which the Village People sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed. The song remains popular and is played at many event, with crowds using the dance in which the arms are used to spell out the four letters of the song's title. "Y.M.C.A." jumped atop the charts in almost all countries, among others in United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and it was the biggest hit in 1979 globally.

USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Halsey's 'Without You' returns to no.1
Thuesday, January 22, 2019
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s Hoodie SZN spends a second week leading the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set earned 56,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending

Jan. 17, according to Nielsen Music (down 4 percent). Hoodie SZN’s second stanza atop the list is also the eighth straight week a rap album has been No. 1 on the tally – the longest streak for any genre since Drake’s Views spent its first eight weeks at No. 1 (May 28-July 16, 2016-dated charts). Hoodie SZN continues to be overwhelmingly driven by streaming activity on the chart, as almost 55,000 of its total units come from SEA units, while TEA units equal 1,000, and album sales number a little under 1,000. The set’s album sales actually dip a bit from what they were a week ago. (Billboard rounds all Nielsen Music units and sales to the nearest thousand.) Thus, with Hoodie SZN’s sales slipping further, it beats its own record for the smallest weekly album sales total for a No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since the tally transitioned from an album sales-only list to a multi-metric-consumption ranking in December of 2014. At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, the

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack hits a new high, rising 3-2 with 52,000 units (up 6 percent). The album is basking in the glow of its No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Sunflower,” by Post Malone and Swae Lee. The track climbing to No. 1 on the most recently published list, dated Jan. 19. The rest of the Billboard 200’s new top 10 is full of former No. 1s: 21 Savage’s I Am > I Was falls 2-3 (46,000 units; down 17 percent), Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys steps 5-4 (43,000 units; down 1 percent) and Meek Mill’s Championships slips 4-5 (42,000 units; down 9 percent). Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack ascends 7-6 (40,000 units; down 1 percent) while remaining the top-selling album of the week, with 22,000 copies sold (up 6 percent). Travis Scott’s Astroworld moves 6-7 (nearly 40,000 units; down 3 percent), Drake’s Scorpion is a non-mover at No. 8 (39,000 units; down 4 percent) and the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman, which rises 11-9 (36,000 units; up 4 percent). Closing out the top 10 is Kodak Black’s Dying to Live, falling 9-10 (35,000 units; down 10 percent). Halsey's "Without Me" rebounds from No. 2 to No. 1 for a second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Jan. 26). The song first led the list dated Jan. 12. "Without Me" dethrones Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)," which dips to No. 2 after a week at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Still, Post Malone adds a new top 10, as solo single "Wow." rises 11-9. "Without Me," which two weeks earlier became Halsey's first Hot 100 No. 1 on her own (after she ruled for 12 weeks in 2016 as featured on The Chainsmokers' "Closer"), returns to the summit with top Streaming Gainer honors, as it pushes 3-2 on the Streaming Songs chart, up 23 percent to 47 million U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 17, according to Nielsen Music. Aiding the advance, Halsey released a new vertical video for the song Jan. 9, just ahead of the Jan. 11-17 tracking week feeding the latest, Jan. 26-dated charts. (The song's official proper clip premiered in late October.) "Without Me" likewise rises 3-2 on Radio Songs, up 4 percent to 106.6 million audience impressions in the week ending Jan. 20. It holds at No. 2 on Digital Song Sales, up 4 percent to 41,000 downloads sold in the week ending Jan. 17. Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" retreats to No. 2 on the Hot 100, a week after becoming the former's third No. 1 and the latter's first as a soloist. Still, the track tops Streaming Songs for a second week (52.8 million, up 11 percent; like "Without Me," it was also helped by a new video released Jan. 9) and Digital Song Sales for a third frame (41,000, down 14 percent). On Radio Songs, "Sunflower" lifts 10-9 (63.3 million, up 4 percent). Thus, while "Sunflower" ranks at No. 1 on both Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales, a notch above "Without Me" on each survey, the latter track's sizable lead on Radio Songs makes the difference in their ranks on the Hot 100. Elsewhere, Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode," which led the Hot 100 dated Dec. 8, rebounds 4-3 and Panic! at the Disco's "High Hopes" climbs to new peak (5-4), as it leads Hot Rock Songs for a 12th week and Radio Songs for a ninth frame (126.5 million, down 4 percent). Rounding out the Hot 100's top five, Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next" drops 3-5 after it spent seven nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. As previously reported, the song takes over atop the Pop Songs airplay chart, while follow-up single "7 Rings" debuts, ahead of its likely lofty Hot 100 launch next week.  COMPLETE CHARTS