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Last week, it was festive season on the U.K. singles chart. Now we’re entering Stick Season. Noah Kahan is on track to snag the first U.K. No. 1 single of 2024 – and the first of his career – with “Stick Season” (via Republic Records), which leads the midweek chart. The Vermont, U.S.-born singer and […]
With Christmas out of the way, Taylor Swift is eying a return to the U.K. chart throne by week’s end.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI) leads the midweek U.K. chart, up 2-1, and is on track for a fourth non-consecutive stint at No. 1.
It’s not just at the pointy end of the midweek chart where Swift marks her territory. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is one of seven Taylor LPs projected to impact the top 40, the Official Charts Company reports, including 2017’s reputation (at No. 9), 2022’s Midnights (No. 10), 2019’s Lover (No. 11), 2020’s folklore (No. 14) and evermore (No. 26), and the original, 2014 release of 1989 (No. 39).
Meanwhile, ABBA’s juggernaut, Gold: Greatest Hits, could rebound to No. 3, its highest chart position since 2008. The career retrospective has already logged a record 1,130 weeks – and counting – on the Official Chart.
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Also on the rise is Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Island), which is set to lift 8-6, for a new peak, as its title track has a shot at No. 1 on the national singles chart.
Also on the way up, based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the OCC, are collections from Fleetwood Mac (50 Years – Don’t Stop, up 13-7 via Rhino), Michael Jackson (The Essential up 26-18 via Epic), Post Malone’s (The Diamond Collection, up 27-19 via Republic Records) and Elvis Presley (ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits, up 48-35 via RCA).
Festive records should begin their annual pilgrimage down and out of the chart, including Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Reprise), the leader on the most recent tally, published Friday, Dec. 29.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published this Friday, Jan. 5.
Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” bloomed in a big way, as her pop hit ended 2023 as the U.K.’s biggest single.The lead track from Cyrus’ chart-leading eight studio LP Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia), “Flowers” captured 198 million combined audio and video streams in the U.K., according to data published by the Official Charts Company — good enough for the most-streamed song and music video for the year. Along the way, “Flowers” logged 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, raking in some 1.7 million U.K. chart units since its release in January 2023. Also, its 91,000 downloads led all tracks in 2023.Coming in at No. 2 on the OCC’s tally of biggest tracks for 2023 is Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter” (via Live Yours/Neighbourhood), a different type of athlete that spent 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1 and collected 161 million audio and video streams in the territory. “Sprinter” ends 2023 with 1.2 million U.K. chart units. Following its release last June, “Sprinter” set a new record for the biggest streaming week for a rap single in U.K. (13.4 million streams and 108,200 chart units in its first tracking week). By the end of its run, another record for a rap track.Completing the year-end singles podium is Raye and 070 Shake’s “Escapism” (Human Re Sources), with 1.2 million total U.K. chart units, a sum that includes 142 million audio and video streams. Taylor Swift appears twice on the tally, with Midnights cut “Anti-Hero” (at No. 4 via EMI) and 2019 Lover album track “Cruel Summer,” which was finally issued as a single in 2023, for a No. 2 peak on the weekly chart and No. 11 appearance on the year-end list.Christmas only comes once a year, though two festive classics make the year-end cut. Wham’s “Last Christmas” (Epic) which set a new record for endurance when it became the U.K.’s coveted Christmas No. 1 single for 2023, 39 years after release, comes in at No. 18 on the year-end list, which Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas is You” (Columbia) is at No. 29.
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Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2023:
“Flowers” — Miley Cyrus
“Sprinter” — Dave & Central Cee
“Escapism” — Raye featuring 070 Shake
“Anti-Hero” — Taylor Swift
“Miracle” — Calvin Harris/Ellie Goulding
“Calm Down” — Rema
“Kill Bill — SZA
“Boy’s A Liar” — Pinkpantheress
“As It Was” — Harry Styles
People” — Libianca
As the holiday season comes to a close, who will take the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100? Evan Burke:This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated Jan. 6. Keeping the holiday cheer going at No. 10 is “Sleigh Ride.” Jack Harlow falls from No. 6 to No. 9. “Feliz […]
In the 2023 calendar year, 765 songs appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, by a total of 385 different artists.
Of those 385 acts, 99 achieved their first career entries on the chart in 2023. Billboard has been celebrating all these Hot 100 First-Timers throughout the year, highlighting their first appearances, explaining how they achieved their first entries, and sharing their reactions to the news.
For many of 2023’s 99 Hot 100 first-timers, their first entries led to repeat visits. Peso Pluma, for instance, logged his first Hot 100 hit in February with “AMG,” with Gabito Ballesteros and Natanael Cano. He charted 22 additional songs during the year since then, including the No. 4-peaking “Ella Baila Sola” with Eslabon Armado – the first top 10 and highest-charting regional Mexican song in history. His 23 entries in 2023 mark the second-most among all core Latin-music artists this year, after Bad Bunny’s 28, and the eighth-most among all acts.
Ice Spice also earned her first Hot 100-charting hit in 2023, when “Gangsta Boo” debuted at No. 82, also in February. She charted six additional songs in 2023, including four top 10s: her featured turn on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” (No. 2 peak); “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” with fellow 2023 first-timer PinkPantheress (No. 3); “Princess Diana,” with Nicki Minaj (No. 4); and “Barbie World,” with Minaj and Aqua (No. 7).
Two 2023 first-timers hold the distinction of attaining not just their first Hot 100 entries, but also their first No. 1s. BTS’ Jimin posted his first solo title on the chart in January, with his feature on TAEYANG’s “Vibe,” and three months later, he banked his first solo No. 1 with “Like Crazy.” Before those solo hits, though, he tallied six No. 1s as a member of BTS. Additionally, Oliver Anthony Music’s first appearance on the chart was at No. 1, when his surprise viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” bounded in on top, making him the first artist to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100 with no prior chart history.
Other notable names who visited the Hot 100 for the first time in 2023 include: best new artist Grammy nominee Noah Kahan, rising K-pop groups NewJeans, FIFTY FIFTY and Stray Kids, and multi-talented actors Jack Black, Dave Chappelle, Lily-Rose Depp, and the Kenergetic Ryan Gosling.
Kahan is one of five acts up for best new artist that made their first Hot 100 visits during the year, along with Ice Spice (“Gangsta Boo”), Gracie Abrams (“Everywhere, Everything” with Kahan), Coco Jones (“ICU”) and The War and Treaty (“Hey Driver” with Zach Bryan). As for the other three best new artist nominees: Victoria Monét earned her first entry in 2019 with her Ariana Grande collaboration, “Monopoly,” but she notched her second entry, and first solo unaccompanied hit, in September with “On My Mama”; Jelly Roll arrived on the chart for the first time in July 2022 with “Son of a Sinner,” but tallied three additional entries in 2023, including his highest-charting hit “Need A Favor” (No. 13); and Fred Again hasn’t yet reached the Hot 100, but has charted 18 tracks on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.
In chronological order below, here’s a roundup of every artist that earned their first Hot 100 hit in 2023 (encompassing the charts dated Jan. 7-Dec. 30, 2023).
Carin León
Leslie “Les” McCann, an exceptional jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who discovered a young Roberta Flack, and whose own works have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, died last Friday (Dec. 29) at the age of 88.Born into a musical family, Sept. 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann would become one of jazz music’s “most gifted and influential artists,” reads a statement from Kevin Gore, president of Global Catalog, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group. A self-taught pianist, McCann was an innovator in the soul jazz style, fusing jazz with funk, soul and world rhythms. He mastered all instruments before him, and enjoyed an unusual breakthrough, by winning a Navy talent contest, opening the door to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.An early hit came with “The Shampoo,” the 1963 instrumental cut with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records.McCann would enjoy a fruitful relationship with Atlantic Records, releasing a dozen albums on the label from the late-‘60s through to the mid-‘70s.
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During that run, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, featuring McCann, frequent collaborator, saxophonist and labelmate Eddie Harris, and trumpeter Benny Bailey. The album earned a Grammy nomination for best jazz performance – small group or soloist with small group, and included the protest song, “Compared to What,” which McCann and Co. performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969.Another career highlight would come in 1971, when McCann appeared with a starry cast of artists, including Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner, for an historic 14-hour concert in Accra, Ghana. The event was captured for the concert film Soul To Soul.His ears might have been just as impressive as his hands. It was McCann who discovered and recommended Roberta Flack to Atlantic Records.A stroke in the 1990s slowed McCann’s output. So he channeled his energies into painting and photography, and he recovered for a string of music releases, including Pump It Up from 2002. Gore remembers McCann as a great of jazz, the creator of “timeless” works. “While we deeply mourn his passing,” Gore continues, “his music will live on in the hearts of millions of music fans across the globe.”
Michael Bublé’s Christmas (via Reprise) proves it’s the gift that keeps giving as it heads back to No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart.
The festive hit lifts 2-1 for a sixth non-consecutive week at the summit, to close out the year atop the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published last Friday, Dec. 29.
Christmas first reached the summit of the national tally following its release back in November 2011, returning to the top for two weeks in December that same year, the Official Charts Company reports. Since then, the LP has logged time at No. 1 in January 2021 and December 2022.
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According to the OCC, Christmas is home to five of the top 40 biggest Christmas songs of the 21st century in the U.K. – “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (No. 1), “Holly Jolly Christmas” (No. 8), “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (No. 15), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (No. 19), and “Jingle Bells” (No. 20) with the Puppini Sisters.
The Canadian crooner holds off Taylor Swift’s former leader 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI), which lifts 3-2; and The Weeknd’s The Highlights, up 9-3 (via Republic Records/XO), respectively.
As Brits handed out gifts over the festive season, compilations provided the soundtrack. Elton John’s Diamonds (up 12-4 via Mercury/UMR), ABBA’s Gold: Greatest Hits (up 15-5 via Polydor), Eminem’s Curtain Call: Greatest Hits (up 10-9 via Interscope), and Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop (up 23-13 via Rhino) all climb the chart. It’s worth noting, ABBA’s career retrospective has now logged a staggering 1,130 weeks on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, and makes its first dent on the top 5 since September 2021.
Predictably, a batch of festive compilations made their mark. Bing Crosby’s Christmas Classics (UMR/Virgin) lifts 73-18, and Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (UMR/Virgin) rises 86-22, both new peak positions.
The top new entry belongs to vocal group Pentatonix, with their addition to the festive season’s playlist, The Greatest Christmas Hits (RCA), new at No. 64.
Wham’s “Last Christmas” is the last U.K. No. 1 of 2023, leading a top 40 that features a record-setting array of holiday singles.
“Last Christmas” logs a fourth consecutive week at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, and ends the year as one of the market’s top 20 singles, based on sales and streams captured by the Official Charts Company.
Released back in 1984, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley snagged a piece of chart history when “Last Christmas” recently completed the longest journey to the coveted Christmas No. 1, completing its odyssey after 39 years.
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The British duo’s evergreen pop treat heads-up an all-Xmas top 5, outpointing Sam Ryder’s “You’re Christmas to Me” (unchanged at No. 2 via EastWest/Rhino), Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (unchanged at No. 3 via Columbia), Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” up 5-4 via Atlantic/EMI) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (up 7-5 via MCA), respectively.
“Last Christmas” became Wham’s fifth U.K. No. 1 when it summited on Jan. 1, 2021 – some 36 years after release. And in doing so, it discarded the unwanted record as the U.K.’s best-selling single to not hit the top.
The latest Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Friday, Dec. 29, is one for the history books, boasting a record 37 festive songs in the top 40.
The singles to buck the trend are Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” (down 4-10 via Republic Records), the only non-Christmas song in the top 10; Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” (down 8-27 via Atlantic), and Tate McRae’s “greedy” (down 17-37 via Ministry of Sound).
Finally, Cher scores her highest-charting single in the U.K. in over 22 years, as “DJ Play a Christmas Song” (Warner Records) lifts 20-18.
A week earlier, the pop icon established two new Official Chart records by becoming the first solo artist ever to score a top 40 hit with new material across seven consecutive decades, and the oldest female solo artist to crack the top tier.
“DJ Play a Christmas Song” is Cher’s highest charting track in the U.K. since “The Music’s No Good Without You” reached No. 8 in November 2001.
Noah Kahan earns his second No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart in 2023, and Hozier his third, as the pair’s “Northern Attitude” rises to the top of the tally dated Jan. 6, 2024.
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The song was originally recorded by Kahan solo, while Hozier joined as a featured artist on the collaborative version released Nov. 10.
The new No. 1 marks two in a row for Kahan, after “Dial Drunk” reigned for two weeks in September, becoming his first leader.
Hozier now boasts five total Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s, dating to 2014’s “Take Me to Church.” Previously in 2023, he led with “Eat Your Young” in May and “Francesca” in September. He also reached the summit with “Nina Cried Power,” featuring Mavis Staples, in 2018.
Concurrently, “Northern Attitude” jumps 27-22 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 1.4 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. Both acts have earned top 10s on the chart in 2023: Kahan with “Dial Drunk” (No. 3, September) and Hozier with “Eat Your Young” (No. 7, June).
“Northern Attitude” is the latest single from Stick Season, Kahan’s third studio album, which was released in October 2022, followed by a deluxe version this June. The title-track lead single peaked at No. 2 on Adult Alternative Airplay in November 2022, followed by “Homesick” (No. 7, May) and the aforementioned “Dial Drunk.”
On the most recently published, Dec. 30-dated Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, which incorporates streaming, radio airplay and sales data, “Northern Attitude” ranked at No. 12 (after reaching No. 7 in November following the new version’s release). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 4.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads Dec. 15-21.
Stick Season has led the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart for two weeks to date and earned 1.3 million equivalent album units through Dec. 21.
All Billboard charts dated Jan. 6, 2024, will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
Mexican social media superstar and singer Kim Loaiza earns her first entry on a Billboard album chart as her debut set, X Amor, opens at No. 9 on the Latin Pop Albums chart (dated Dec. 30). X Amor released Dec. 14 via Warner Latina, debuts in the top 10 with 2,000 equivalent units earned in […]