Gotye Knocked Off Top Spot On US Charts, Ending Eight-Week Reign

It had to happen sooner or later, but now the threat to Gotye’s eight-week dominance at the top of the Us Billboard Hot 100 has become a reality.

Last week, we reported that shifting developments in the charts suggested that Wally De Backer’s two-month stint in the #1 slot with “Somebody That I Used To Know” could potentially be coming to and end. Today, Billboard confirms that the biggest contender to de-throne Gotye has done just that, with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” knocking De Backer from the top spot.

The ubiquity of Gotye’s break-up duet has already blitzed the APRA awards, taking home three awards, and is also about to be rehashed as ten new remixes in a forthcoming release to coincide with Gotye’s American tour; but Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” presence has become just as inescapable.

Last week, the Canadian Idol‘s naggingly catchy tune was lurking in the #2 slot, with “Somebody…” managing to hold her from the pole position, but the sales momentum of “Call Me Maybe” has swelled in Jepsen’s favour, including her fourth consecutive week at the top of the Digital Songs chart. With other 296,000 downloads of the song in the last week, boosting it to a total of 3.3million downloads to date.

Meanwhile, Jepsen also rose steadily through the On-Demand Songs chart, where it pushed from #2 to #1 with 1.1 million streams, and her presence on the Radio Songs chart was only just behind Gotye’s, sitting at #4

Besides her crowning of the Billboard Hot 100, Jepsen’s single is currently #1 on 12 charts globally, including  Australia’s own ARIA Singles Chart, where Gotye is currently flagging at #48, threatening to drop out of the Top 50 altogether.

The runaway success of “Somebody That I Used To Know” is still mightily impressive, with a status as the most streamed single of the year according to the UK’s new streaming chart; and its body-paint video clip being one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time, with over 200 million+ views. But all good things must come to an end…

His eight-week reign makes it the second longest reigning Australian song on the US Billboard Hot 100. The only song that’s lasted longer in pole position was Physical by Olivia Newton-John all the way back in 1981.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s coronation at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 marks the first time a lead female pop star has topped the chart with a debut since Ke$ha put “TiK ToK” to the top slot for nine consecutive weeks in 2010. Jepsen also joins the ranks of Lady Gaga, who equally conquered the Hot 100 with her debut single, “Just Dance” in 2009.

While his charts rule may finally be coming to a close, the news may come as a relief to De Backer, who has already confessed he’s “a bit sick of it,” telling NME earlier this year that “there’s only so many times you can listen to the one song.”

He also took his APRA award acceptance speech as an opportunity to apologise for the song’s saturation, “Sorry for those people who listen to commercial radio and had to listen to it fifty times a day at their workplace,” he told APRA attendees before saying, “The song’s been played a lot, I know.”