Pharrell Williams Leads The SoundScan Charts
It’s safe to say that artist Pharrell Williams had a career revitalization towards the later half of 2014. He’s won Grammys for his duet with Daft Punk, was a notable voice in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” and has been an even more powerful producer. All of that is reflected in his sales, his inclusion on this year’s Forbes list, but also on the SoundScan charts.
According to Billboard, Pharrell Williams, along with the Frozen soundtrack and Katy Perry, are all leading the way on the SoundScan charts. For those who aren’t in the know, SoundScan is the official source for Billboard’s charts, which marks the sales in the industry. Pharrell Williams’ break out hit “Happy” is reported as this year’s biggest selling digital song in the United States. Specifically, the song sold 5.6 million, according to the chart.
As the records show, Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” is the only song to sell 5 million alone. It should also be noted that it was also nominated for an Academy Award. The only song that came close to Pharrell’s “Happy” was Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J. That song sold 4 million copies.
As it stands, Williams’ “Happy” is the fourth song to hit the 5 million mark within the first six months of a year. This makes Williams one of two artists to have a top 10 selling song and album in one year. The only other artist to achieve this in the year is Katy Perry.
In other Pharrell news, he’s also a bit of a fixture on The Voice. While Williams has acted as a mentor in the past, he has decided to lend his voice to the show in a unique way. His song “Happy” is now kicking off the promo commercials for The Voice. As we reported, the new season of the singing competition show welcomes newcomer Gwen Stefani, who’s joining Blake Shelton and Adam Levine on the mentor panel.
As for what the producer turned recording artist thinks of all of his success after being in the business for decades, Williams told Oprah Winfrey through tears, “It’s overwhelming because I love what I do, and I just appreciate the fact that people have believed in me for so long that I could make it to this point to feel that.”
In addition to all of his accolades, Pharrell was also given the honor of being one of 2013’s men of the year, specifically Hitmaker of the year in GQ’s Men of The Year issue.
[Image via Bing]
