The Rise of a Global Princess: Chappell Roan Breaks Through on International Charts
Written by djfrosty on July 18, 2024
Chappell Roan is riding a wave of success powered by her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, her first top 10 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200, and standalone single “Good Luck Babe!,” her first top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Willard, Mo. native is receiving 32 times as many weekly U.S. official on-demand streams as she was at the start of the year – jumping from 2.5 million (in the week ending Jan. 4) to 80.3 million (July 11), according to Luminate.
Now, international audiences are catching up.
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Five weeks after debuting on the Hot 100, and three frames after starting on the Billboard Global 200, Chappell Roan’s “Hot To Go!” enters the July 20-dated Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart at No. 200, marking the first entry on the chart from the LP. In the week ending July 11, the song’s non-U.S. streams climbed by 3% to 8.4 million, another in a string of more than 20 consecutive weeks of increases.
The song’s bow builds upon the singer-songwriter’s domestic surge with multiple tracks. Here, “Good Luck, Babe!” has risen to No. 10 on the Hot 100, making cross-metric inroads on streaming, radio and sales. Album cuts “Hot To Go!,” “Red Wine Supernova,” and “Pink Pony Club” have followed on the Hot 100, and due to the U.S.’s dominant impact on the world music economy, on the Global 200.
On Global Excl. U.S., which removes domestic consumption from its methodology (the Global 200 reflects data in more than 200 territories, including the U.S.), “Good Luck, Babe!” has grown its share of non-U.S. global streams from 31% to 57% in the current tracking week. (The week’s average among all songs that are on both the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. is 75% outside the U.S., reflecting a mix of big U.S. hits and those that have not made notable impacts on U.S. shores).
Over the course of the last seven weeks, “Hot To Go!” has expanded its international reach from 35% of its overall streams, to 44%. Roan’s 10 most-streamed songs average 41%, up from 35% just three weeks ago.
While these figures show that international audiences are helping spark Chappell Roan’s rising profile, her non-U.S. percentages are more in line with country and hip-hop artists than pop singer-songwriters. At 56%, “Hot To Go!” has the second-highest U.S. share among all songs on both of this week’s global charts. It’s sandwiched between two country tracks – Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – at 59% and 56%, respectively. Next is Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That” (56%) and Lamar’s “Not Like Us” (50%). Then, it’s tracks by R&B/Hip-Hop focused acts Megan Thee Stallion, Tommy Richman and The Kid LAROI.
“Hot To Go!” continues its ascent in the U.S., having entered the Hot 100’s top 40 two weeks earlier despite not being promoted as a proper radio single, as “Good Luck, Babe!” is. And as introductions to international markets, these hits could be setting Chappell Roan up for a more balanced global spread on future releases. Fellow pop breakthrough Sabrina Carpenter (also on Island Records) made similarly steady showings with 2021’s “Skin,” 2022’s “Nonsense” and 2023’s “Feather,” each peaking much higher on the Global 200 than Global Excl. U.S. Then, this year’s “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” matched No. 1 peaks on both charts, with the former continuing its seven-week-and-counting reign on Global Excl. U.S.
Chappell Roan’s international crossover is becoming clearer each week, as “Good Luck, Babe!” additionally continues to impact Billboard’s Hits of the World charts. It debuted on the May 11-dated Ireland Songs survey, followed by chart arrivals in the U.K. two weeks later and New Zealand, Australia and Singapore in consecutive weeks in June. It has now reached the top five in three of those territories.
This week, “Good Luck, Babe!” starts on Portugal Songs, marking its first international chart appearance measuring a territory without English as an official language. Further, “Hot To Go!” made its Hits of the World debut this week, at No. 25 on U.K. Songs.