This Week's Billboard Hot 100 Is History-Making

Certain weeks in the Billboard Hot 100's 53-year history stand out.

April 4, 1964, when the Beatles monopolized the entire top five. Sept. 2, 1995, when Michael Jackson scored the list's first No. 1 debut (with "You Are Not Alone"). Dec, 5. 1998, when Billboard began allowing album cuts not released as physical singles to appear on the ranking.

You might want to add the current March 3, 2012, Hot 100 to the discussion. To recap, here is a listing of the extraordinary moves and milestones on this week's survey.

-- This is the first time that the Hot 100 has welcomed three top 10 debuts in a week:Katy Perry's "Part of Me" (No. 1), Nicki Minaj's "Starships" (No. 9) and Chris Brown's "Turn Up the Music" (No. 10). In 11 previous weeks, as many as two titles debuted concurrently in the top tier.

-- "Part" becomes just the 20th No. 1 debut in the Hot 100's history, and Perry's first chart-topping entry. It's also Capitol Records' (Perry's label) first No. 1 bow.

-- Perry achieves her seventh Hot 100 No. 1. Only five women have more: Mariah Carey (18), Madonna (12), Rihanna, Whitney Houston (11 each) and Janet Jackson (10).

-- Adele, is the only woman, as a lead artist, to chart three songs in the Hot 100's top 10 simultaneously. (She also re-enters new single "Rumour Has It" at No. 67).

-- Adele's former No. 1 "Rolling in the Deep" rebounds 17-5 in its whopping 59th week on the chart following her six Grammy Award wins on Feb. 12. The song is just the eighth to spend as many as 59 weeks on the Hot 100. No prior song had ranked as high as the top five (or even the top 20) so late in its chart run.

-- Although Kelly Clarkson falls 1-4 on the Hot 100 (although with top Airplay Gainer honors) with "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)," the song takes over as her first No. 1 the Dance/Club Play Songs chart. That makes Clarkson the first artist ever to have topped the Hot 100 and each of Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs, Country Songs, Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop Songs charts.

-- Minaj earns her highest-debuting Hot 100 hit, as "Starships" sails in at No. 9. Brown logs his second-best start, as "Music" begins at No. 10. Only his "Forever" launched at a loftier rank (No. 9) in 2008.

-- The late Whitney Houston moves from No. 7 to No. 3 with "I Will Always Love You." As the track initially spent 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93, it's only the second song ever to reach the top three in separate chart runs. Chubby Checker's iconic "The Twist" reigned at No. 1 in both 1960 (one week) and 1962 (two).

-- Three of Houston's '80s No. 1s also surge: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (35-25); "Greatest Love of All" (41-36); and "How Will I Know" (a re-entry at No. 49).

-- The "Glee" Cast adds its version of "Always" for good measure, as it debuts at No. 87. Coincidentally, the song, sung by the cast's Amber Riley, was already set to air in the series' Feb. 14 Valentine's Day episode before Houston passed away on Feb. 11. The remake is the TV troupe's 59th charted cover of a former Hot 100 No. 1.