Taio Cruz “Break Your Heart” is #1 on iTunes

“Break Your Heart,” the first single in the U.S. by BRIT Award-nominated star and Mercury Records recording artist Taio Cruz has stormed the iTunes overall song chart to take over the #1 spot, and is on pace to move over 200,000 singles in its debut week. With a total radio audience north of 21 million, the club-friendly hit “Break Your Heart” featuring Ludacris is rocketing up the Top 40 Airplay and Rhythmic charts, amassing more than 115 radio stations in three weeks out.

“Break Your Heart” is spearheading a 1-2-3 trifecta on the iTunes overall song chart – with 16-year old Teen Island star Justin Bieber’s “Never Let You Go” holding at #2, and Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” at #3. With Justin’s “Baby” featuring Ludacris at #8 – that’s four hits inside the Top 10 for IDJ on the iTunes chart.

“Break Your Heart” is also a recommended download from Sharon Dastur (of New York City powerhouse Z-100) in this week’s new issue of Entertainment Weekly (“Pop Programmers Pick the Hits”). Check out the magazine’s EW.com website for an interview with Taio (“Taio Cruz talks ‘Break Your Heart,’ his new album, and getting ‘Dirty’ with Ke$ha”) – at http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/03/03/taio-cruz-interview/.

Newly signed to Mercury Records in the U.S., Taio Cruz is established as a major UK artist with two Top 20 albums and a string of top-charted hits that culminated in the #1 “Break Your Heart.” It was the lead single from Taio’s second album, Rokstarr, released late-2009 in the UK – news of a U.S. release date for the album will be announced in the weeks ahead.

In less than two years, Taio Cruz has become the go-to producer and songwriter for an A-list of American and UK performers. In the wake of success of his debut album Departure (2008), which spun off a quintet of UK chart hits (“I Just Wanna Know,” “Moving On,” “Come On Girl,” “I Can Be,” “She’s Like a Star”), Taio was tapped to work in the studio with X Factor champs Alexandra Burke, Leona Lewis, and Shayne Ward. Sessions followed in Philadelphia with Britney Spears, Brandy, and Justin Timberlake. The year climaxed at the MOBO Awards with a Best Single nomination for “She’s Like a Star,” which Taio performed with Sugababes.

With the completion of Rokstarr in 2009, overlapping the success of “Break Your Heart,” Taio kept himself busy writing and producing for Cheryl Cole’s double-platinum UK debut album 3 Words. Taio also scored his second #1 UK single as writer of the Tinchy Stryder/Amelle smash “Never Leave You”; Taio previously wrote and performed on Tinchy’s Top 3 hit “Take You Back.”

In addition to writing and producing, 25-year old Taio Cruz is an accomplished multi-instrumental musician. The son of a Nigerian father and Brazilian mother, Taio is the founder and CEO of his own Rokstarr Entertainment Division (R.E.D.), formerly known as Rokstarr Music London, established in 2006.