 The episode began a story arc about bullying which spanned the remainder of the season . It coincided with a spate of suicides among bullied youths , which reportedly gave the cast and crew additional inspiration to do their best work . Six songs were covered — four in the form of two mash @-@ ups — and all were released as singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 . Critics were less enthused by the mash @-@ ups than the other performances ; Criss 's cover of " Teenage Dream " was particularly well @-@ received , and became the first Glee single to top the Billboard Digital Songs chart . 
