Phoenix Earns Third Straight Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 With ‘Tonight’
Written by djfrosty on December 9, 2022
Phoenix links its third consecutive, and total, No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, as “Tonight” climbs to the top of the Dec. 10-dated survey.
The song features Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, who leads in his first solo appearance on the list. Vampire Weekend as tallied two Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s, both in 2019.
“Tonight” follows the two-week rules each for Phoenix’s “Alpha Zulu” in August and “Identical” in late 2020. The band first hit the top 10 with “1901” in 2010. It has also scored a top 10 with “J-Boy” in 2017.
Phoenix is the first act to earn three straight Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s since Cage the Elephant, which snagged three in a row in 2019-20: “Ready to Let Go,” “Social Cues” and “Black Madonna.”
Concurrently, “Tonight” lifts 15-12 on Alternative Airplay, where it’s the band’s highest rank since “Trying to Be Cool” peaked at No. 10 in 2013. The band boasts a top 10 there via “1901” in 2010 and an additional top five with “Lisztomania” later that year.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Tonight” jumps 19-13 with 2.4 million audience impressions, up 38%, according to Luminate. The band last ranked that high in 2010, when “Lisztomania” hit No. 5 (its all-time best, “1901,” peaked at No. 3).
“Tonight” is the third single from Phoenix’s seventh album, Alpha Zulu, following “Identical” and the title track. The set was released in November and has earned 20,000 equivalent album units to date.