Canadian singer Powter leads US singles chart

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Canadian singer/songwriter Daniel Powter earned his first No. 1 on the U.S. pop singles chart Thursday as "Bad Day" climbed one rung to the summit, swapping places with reggae star Sean Paul's "Temperature."

Powter is the first Canadian act to rule the Hot 100 since rock band Nickelback led the list for four weeks in December 2001-January 2002 with "How You Remind Me."

"Bad Day" is drawn from Powter's self-titled album, which is due in stores April 11, via Warner Bros. Among his other chart achievements: he is the first solo male artist signed to Warner Bros. to have a No. 1 since

James Ingram spent a week at the summit in 1990 with "I Don't Have the Heart."

While "Bad Day" isn't by an "American Idol" finalist, Powter does owe the show a thank you. His international hit had been languishing in the United States until the Fox TV series started playing "Bad Day" every week, as underscore music to the video of the departing contestants on results shows.

The Hot 100's top tier remained relatively unchanged, with Ne-Yo's "So Sick," James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" and

Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" sticking to the No. 3-No. 5 positions, respectively. The Blige track also notches a 14th week atop the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" and Dem Franchize Boyz' "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" featuring Lil Peanut & Charlay remained at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively.

T-Pain's "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)" featuring Mike Jones held at No. 8, while Bubba Sparxxx' "Ms. New Booty" featuring Ying Yang Twins and Mr. ColliPark rose four to No. 9, and Chris Brown's "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" slipped one to No. 10.

The All-American Rejects' "Move Along" rocketed 16 places to No. 16, while T.I.'s "What You Know" jumped 15 to No. 39.

The top debut belonged to the Afters' "Beautiful Love," at No. 69. Also new were Fall Out Boy's "A Little More Touch Me" (No. 91),

Faith Hill's "The Lucky One" (No. 92), Lil Jon's "Snap Yo Fingers" featuring E-40 & Sean Paul Of The YoungBloodz (No. 98) and Wisin & Yandel's "Llame Pa' Verte" (No. 100).

On the Hot Country Songs chart, Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts the Most" jumped one to No. 1, ending the three-week run of

Kenny Chesney's "Living In Fast Forward," which fell to No. 3.

Godsmack's "Speak" maintained the top spot on the airplay-based Mainstream Rock chart and Pearl Jam's "World Wide Suicide" led the Modern Rock tally for a second week.

(Fred Bronson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.)

Reuters/Billboard