Hozier’s ‘Francesca’ Becomes His Second Straight No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay
Written by djfrosty on September 15, 2023
Hozier lands two straight No. 1s on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart for the first time with “Francesca,” which lifts to the top spot on the tally dated Sept. 23.
The song follows the two-week reign of “Eat Your Young” in May. It’s Hozier’s his fourth No. 1 in all, following “Take Me to Church” (August 2014) and “Nina Cried Power,” featuring Mavis Staples (October 2018).
Concurrently, “Francesca” ranks at No. 25, after rising to No. 23, on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 1.5 million audience impressions, up 7%, Sept. 8-14, according to Luminate. “Eat Your Young,” peaked at No. 7 in June; Hozier’s overall best, “Take Me to Church,” reached No. 3.
On the most recently published, multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs survey, “Francesca” appeared at No. 45, after reaching No. 22 earlier in September. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 1.1 million official U.S. streams in the Sept. 1-7 tracking week.
“Francesca” is the second single from Unreal Unearth, Hozier’s third studio album. It debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums tally dated Sept. 2 and has earned 168,000 equivalent album units to date.
Hozier is currently on the road, with shows scheduled through Dec. 22. “I’m just excited to share the work live with a fan base that has been with me now for 10 years,” he recently told Billboard. “We’ve been bringing this killer nine-piece band to these tiny rooms. It’s a band that really needs to be on bigger stages. It has been tough in these club shows where there’s curfews in these cities, [so I’m excited] to be able to expand the setlist and actually offer a wider representation of the discography, and have a bit more time to play with the ebb and flow of the set.”
All Billboard charts dated Sept. 23 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Sept. 19.