Skrillex Scores Historic Week on Dance/Electronic Album & Song Charts
Written by djfrosty on March 2, 2023
Skrillex secures two new top 10s, Quest for Fire (No. 2) and Don’t Get Too Close (No. 6), on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated March 4). Quest, released Feb. 17, earned 14,000 equivalent album units, and Don’t, which arrived the next day, tallied 6,000 units in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate.
Since the chart began in 2001, Skrillex is only the fourth act to debut two albums in the top 10 in the same week. The others: Robyn, Depeche Mode and Björk. Robyn doubled up with Body Talk (No. 3) and EP Body Talk Pt 3 (No. 7) on Dec. 11, 2010; Depeche Mode, with Remixes 81-04 [Limited] (No. 1) and Remixes 81-04 (No. 2) on Nov. 13, 2004; and Björk, with Greatest Hits (No. 2) and Family Tree (No. 6) on Nov. 23, 2002.
Skrillex, therefore, becomes the first act to debut two all-new full-length studio albums in the chart’s top 10 in the same week.
The new titles are Skrillex’s sixth and seventh Top Dance/Electronic Albums top 10s, a run that began in 2011 with EPs Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (No. 3), More Monsters and Sprites (No. 5) and continued with three No. 1s: EP Bangarang (10 weeks on top, 2012), Recess (five, 2014) and Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü, with Diplo (three, 2015).
Meanwhile, tracks from Quest and Don’t account for a sprawl of Skrillex activity on the multimetric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, where he holds 20 of the tally’s 50 spots, including 14 debuts from the two LPs. The 20 titles mark a new one-week record for any act, surpassing the 16 that Kygo charted on the June 13, 2020, survey.
Skrillex has logged 55 career charted titles, the third most among all acts dating to the chart’s January 2013 inception, after David Guetta (74) and Kygo (61). Skrillex has six top 10s, including one leader, “Where Are Ü Now,” with Diplo and Justin Bieber (two weeks in charge, 2015).
Of Skrillex’s 14 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs debuts on the latest list, none comes in higher than his collab with Missy Elliott and Mr. Oizo, “RATATA” (No. 14). Elliott’s second entry and Oizo’s first, the song racked up 2.6 million U.S. streams and sold 1,500 downloads, also good for beginnings on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (No. 4) and Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs (No. 18).
Other Skrillex Hot Dance/Electronic Songs highlights include his team-ups with Bobby Raps (who earns his first two entries): “Leave Me Like This” leaps 41-18, with 1.3 million streams, up 313% (nearing the track’s No. 15 high, achieved upon its Feb. 4 debut), and conversely in theme, “Don’t Leave Me Like This,” new at No. 48.
Plus, Skrillex reunites with Bieber on “Don’t Go,” also with Don Toliver, No. 43 (627,000 streams). The track gives Bieber his sixth appearance and first in almost six years, since “2U” (billed as by Guetta featuring Bieber; No. 4, 2017).
‘Trustfall’ Rises
Additionally on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, P!nk returns to the top 10 with “Trustfall” (13-7, a new best). The track, which became her first top 10 upon its debut (No. 8, Feb. 11), surges as P!nk’s album of the same name starts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales and No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
“Trustfall” totaled 4.2 million streams (up 11%), 1.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 752%) and sold 5,000 downloads (up 81%) Feb. 17-23. It returns for a second week atop Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (7-1) and debuts at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it’s her 36th career hit.
‘Escapism’ Found in Top 10
Redirecting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, RAYE rolls to her sixth top 10 with “Escapism,” featuring 070 Shake, who earns her first (13-10). The pop release, remixed by dEVOLVE and others, is receiving core-dance airplay on supporters including SiriusXM’s Diplo’s Revolution, KNHC (C89.5) Seattle and WCPY (Dance Factory FM) Chicago. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)