SZA’s ‘Shirt’ Starts in Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart
Written by djfrosty on November 9, 2022
SZA stitches together her sixth top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as “Shirt” debuts at No. 4 on the chart dated Nov. 12. The single, released Nov. 4 through Top Dawg / RCA Records, begins in the top 10 of both the genre’s sales and streaming charts as well.
“Shirt” arrives with 20.3 million official U.S. streams registered in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate, enough to prompt a No. 2 start on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart. In the same period, the track sold 3,000 downloads and enters at No. 9 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. In addition, the song drew 990,000 in radio audience in the week. It ranks outside the 50-position R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, though most singles are driven largely by streams and sales in their debut weeks, as airplay is traditionally the slowest-moving metric.
With “Shirt,” SZA nets her sixth top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Here’s a look at her collection:
Song Title, Artist (if other than SZA), Peak Position, Peak Date
“All the Stars,” with Kendrick Lamar, No. 5, Feb. 24, 2018
“Good Days,” No. 3, Jan. 23, 2021
“No Love,” with Summer Walker, No. 5, Nov. 20, 2021
“I Hate U,” No. 1 (one week), Dec. 18, 2021
“Beautiful,” DJ Khaled featuring Future & SZA, No. 10, Sept. 10, 2022
“Shirt,” No. 4 (to date), Nov. 12, 2022
Beyond its impact on SZA’s chart ledger, “Shirt” returns another R&B veteran – Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins – to the top tier thanks to his co-write and co-production credits. The hitmaker, whose resume includes work on defining hits such as Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine” and Destiny’s Child “Say My Name,” cracks the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ top 10 for the first time since January 2008. Then, he produced and co-wrote Keyshia Cole’s “Shoulda Let You Go,” featuring Amina, which exited the top 10 that month after having reached No. 7 a few weeks earlier.
Elsewhere, “Shirt” debuts at No. 3 on the Hot R&B Songs chart and gives SZA her 16th top 10 there.