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*NSYNC’s first single since 2002, “Better Place,” brings the group back to the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Oct. 14) for the first time since that year, following the song’s first week of release.

The track, released Sept. 29 on DreamWorks/RCA Records from the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, due Oct. 20 (ahead of the movie’s expected Nov. 17 premiere), starts at No. 25 on the Hot 100. It tallied 29 million radio airplay audience impressions and 4.8 million official streams and sold 17,000 downloads in the United States in the tracking week ending Oct. 5, according to Luminate.

Notably, “Better Place” ties *NSYNC’s highest Hot 100 start: the group’s debut hit, “I Want You Back,” began at No. 25 on the March 7, 1998-dated chart.

The new single concurrently begins at No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart and No. 21 on Radio Songs. The latter marks the highest entrance for a song by a group since Radio Songs began including all-format airplay in 1998; second-best for a group in a lead role in that span? *NSYNC’s “Pop” (No. 24, 2001).

As previously reported, “Better Place” bounds in at No. 12 on Adult Pop Airplay, No. 13 on Adult Contemporary and No. 16 on Pop Airplay.

*NSYNC adds its 13th Hot 100 hit, and 11th top 40 entry, and first since “Girlfriend,” featuring Nelly, spent its last week on the chart (dated June 22, 2002).

Here’s an updated recap of *NSYNC’s top 40 Hot 100 hits:

No. 1 peak (two weeks), “It’s Gonna Be Me,” July 29, 2000
No. 2, “Music of My Heart” (with Gloria Estefan), Oct. 16, 1999
No. 4, “Bye Bye Bye,” April 15, 2000
No. 5, “Girlfriend (feat. Nelly), April 6, 2002
No. 5, “This I Promise You,” Dec. 2, 2000
No. 8, “(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You,” Feb. 27, 1999
No. 11, “Gone,” Nov. 24, 2001
No. 13, “I Want You Back,” May 2, 1998
No. 19, “Pop,” June 16, 2001
No. 25 (to date), “Better Place,” Oct. 14, 2023
No. 29, “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You” (Alabama feat. *NSYNC), Aug. 21, 1999

(*NSYNC missed another likely another top 40 Hot 100 hit with “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” which peaked at No. 59 in December 1998; although promoted to radio, the song was not released as a stand-alone single for purchase and, thus, was ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 until that month, when such a restriction was lifted. The song, from the group’s self-titled debut album, rose to No. 15 on Radio Songs in October 1998.)

Ahead of the release of “Better Place,” the group’s Justin Timberlake shared on Instagram a behind-the-scenes look at the quintet back in the studio. “So many stars aligned and that’s why I hit y’all and was like, ‘Hey, something came up,’ ” he is heard telling the act. “If we do this song, it’s a love letter to our fans. I would be honored to have the group on this song.”

All charts dated Oct. 14 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” tops the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for a third week.

Plus, SZA’s “Snooze,” which holds at its No. 2 Hot 100 high, ascends to the top of the Radio Songs chart, becoming her first leader on the airplay ranking, and Jung Kook and Jack Harlow’s “3D” debuts at No. 5 on the Hot 100. “3D” becomes Jung Kook’s second Hot 100 top 10 – making him the first BTS member with multiple solo top 10s – and Harlow’s fourth.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Oct. 14, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Oct. 10). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

“Paint the Town Red,” released on Kemosabe/RCA Records, drew 61.8 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 18%) and 23.3 million streams (down 15%) and sold 6,000 downloads (down 9%) in the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 tracking week, according to Luminate. It wins the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award for a third consecutive frame.

The single falls to No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart following a week at the summit and to No. 4 on Digital Song Sales following two weeks on top; and rises 7-5 on Radio Songs, becoming Doja Cat’s seventh top five hit. It concurrently tops the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a sixth and seventh week, respectively.

Doja Cat triples her prior Hot 100 command, as “Say So,” featuring Nicki Minaj, led for a week in May 2020.

SZA’s “Snooze” repeats at its No. 2 Hot 100 high, with 75.8 million in radio audience (up 4%), 16.5 million streams (down 5%) and 2,000 sold (down 5%). It ascends 3-1 on Radio Songs, where it’s SZA’s first leader, among four top 10s; “Kill Bill” hit No. 2 in April, following her featured turns on Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” (No. 2, 2021) and Maroon 5’s “What Lovers Do” (No. 5, 2017). “Snooze” concurrently tops the multi-metric Hot R&B Songs chart for an 11th week.

(With “Paint the Town Red” at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and “Snooze” at No. 2, RCA ranks in the top two spots for a second consecutive week; until the last two weeks, RCA hadn’t infused the top two simultaneously under the label’s current organizational structure within Sony Music, which dates to the early 2010s.)

Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” climbs 4-3 on the Hot 100, returning to its best rank. Thanks to “Paint the Town Red,” “Snooze” and “Cruel Summer,” the chart’s top three consists entirely of women for the first time in over seven months, since the March 4-dated ranking, when Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” placed at No. 1, followed by SZA’s “Kill Bill” at No. 2 and PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” at No. 3. The latest list marks the first top three each by a single female artist since a month before that, with SZA and Swift again involved; on the Feb. 4 chart, Cyrus’ “Flowers” was No. 1, followed by “Kill Bill” at No. 2 and Swift’s “Anti-Hero” at No. 3.

Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s No. 6-peaking 1988 Hot 100 classic “Fast Car” backs up 3-4, following eight weeks at its No. 2 high. The latter adds a third week at No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart.

Jung Kook and Jack Harlow’s “3D” launches at No. 5 on the Hot 100, with 13.6 million streams, 3.1 million in radio audience and 87,000 physical and digital singles sold combined, following its Sept. 29 release. (The song’s original, “Alternate” and instrumental versions were released that day, while its A.G. Cook remix and clean, sped up and slowed down mixes arrived Oct. 2.)

“3D” is Jung Kook’s second Hot 100 top 10 – making him the first BTS member with multiple solo top 10s – while Harlow adds his fourth.

Here’s a recap of all six top 40 Hot 100 entries so far by BTS members apart from the group, ranked by peak position. All seven of the act’s members have reached the chart overall with solo songs: J-Hope, Jimin, Jin, Jung Kook, RM, Suga and V. (As a group, BTS boasts 15 top 40 hits, including 10 top 10s and six No. 1s.)

Peak Pos., Date, Artist, Title:

“3D” opens at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales, where Jung Kook and Jack Harlow each earn a third leader.

Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves, descends 5-6 on the Hot 100, after it led for a week upon its debut in September. It rebounds for a fourth week atop Streaming Songs (25.2 million, down 5%) and paces the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts for a sixth week each.

Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” dips 6-7 on the Hot 100, following 16 weeks at No. 1 starting in March, the most ever for a non-collaboration; Gunna’s “Fukumean” is steady at No. 8, after hitting No. 4; and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” falls at 7-9, following two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in July.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” drops 9-10, after reaching No. 3. It rules the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for a record-extending 58th week.

Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Oct. 14), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Oct. 10).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.