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Maria Becerra, Paulo Londra and XRoss’ “Ramen Para Dos” leads the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart for a second week on the chart dated (May 31). Two weeks ago, when the song debuted at No. 1, it became producer XRoss’ first champ and entry since the tally began in 2018. Explore See latest videos, charts […]

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.  This week: Taylor Swift’s most controversial album gets a bump in anticipation of an announcement that never materialized, Young Jeezy and Akon’s classic teamup gets an unlikely meme boost and an odd cover of a Sly Stone classic drives listeners back to the original.

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Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ for Surprises Precedes Her on Streaming

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If you were watching the American Music Awards on Monday night (May 26), chances are pretty good you had your eyes peeled and ears open for a certain revelation from a certain pop superstar. Swifties had flooded the internet in recent weeks with predictions of a Taylor Swift Memorial Day Miracle – an appearance at the awards, most likely accompanied by an announcement of a new release, perhaps the long-awaited Reputation (Taylor’s Version) re-recording. 

Unfortunately for the Swifties, the AMAs came and went without any appearances, announcements or drops from their fav. But hope clearly sprang eternal in the days leading up to the awards, at least on streaming: The 15 tracks on Reputation racked up a combined 11.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams across the first four days of this tracking week (May 23-26), ahead of the awards – a 14% gain from the equivalent period the prior, according to Luminate. And that bump was of course highest on Memorial Day, as the album racked up 2.4 million total streams on that day alone, a 29% gain from the prior Monday.

Jeezy and Akon’s 20-Year-Old Hit Scores Thanks to a ‘Holy Airball’ 

“Soul Survivor” was the breakout crossover hit 20 years ago for the rapper then known as Young Jeezy, as the Akon-assisted banger lifted to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped establish his Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 as one of the year’s biggest rap albums. Two decades later, the street anthem is once again delighting music fans, though through a relatively unlikely conduit: a TikTok meme about dating gaffes. 

Tiktoker Hadley (@localyerbafein) stroke viral paydirt last week (May 21) when she shared a video that captured the story of a guy – presumably one she was seeing, or at least considering seeing – responding to her interest in law with a question about her watching the TV show Suits. The video ends with footage of Hadley serving as a courtroom attorney, with the caption “holy fckin airball” – all, of course, set to “Soul Survivor.” The clip quickly spread through the app, racking up 10 million views and 1.8 million likes, and inspiring a number of other users to share their own he-shoots, he-doesn’t-score stories, with Akon and Jeezy again serving as the soundtrack. 

Consequently, the track exploded on streaming towards the end of last week. For the tracking week ending May 22, “Soul Survivor” amassed over 3 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate – fully doubling its stream count from the prior week – and it should be headed for an even bigger tally this week, as TikTok keeps putting up one “holy fckin airball” after another.

‘Everyday’ Memeable: Sly & the Family Stone Classic Lifted by Revival of Unlikely Cover

In 2017, two greats of popular music – pop icon Cher and rap legend Future – teamed up for an unlikely collab cover of Sly & The Family’s soul-pop classic “Everyday People.” Their rendition was featured in a Gap commercial that showcased the star pair meeting up on a staircase on an otherwise-blank set to discuss how Cher can’t get the 1969 Hot 100-topper out of her head, leading to her crooning the song over a trappy beat. Meanwhile, Future attempts to fill in with harmonies and ad libs – in a mixture that, unsurprisingly, feels slightly less than organic. 

The awkward commercial has recently begun to recirculate around the internet, resulting in pairs of TikTokers recreating the visual in endearing clips gently poking at the stilted chemistry of the original. The Cher & Future “Everyday People” is not currently available in full on DSPs, but of course the Family Stone original is there for the streaming – and folks have been evidently charmed enough by the improbable cover to revisit (or check out) the original. According to Luminate, over the first four days of this tracking week (May 23-26), “Everyday People” is up to 309,000 official on-demand U.S. streams from 256,000 over the same period in the prior week, a gain of 21%.

Rhapsody in Blue Shirt: Sam Gellaitry Single Rises Thanks to Viral Dance Proxy

In this week’s example of never knowing where a breakout hit might come from in 2025, we have Scottish dance producer Sam Gellaitry. His song “Assumptions,” from the 2021 EP IV, has begun to percolate on streaming over the past month, thanks to the Russian dancer Руслан Айдаев, now known to the internet as Blue Shirt Guy – who has been a meme of some degree for years already for his full-bodied dance moves, shot from behind. 

Recent viral videos have paired the clip with Gellaitry’s throbbing electro-pop instrumental, resulting in it going nuts on TikTok all over again – with many of the app’s finest donning their best blue shirts and filming themselves shaking it from behind. Consequently, the four-year-old “Assumpstions” has risen to the top of Gellaitry’s Spotify page, and is now racking up over 2.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams a week, up 142% from three weeks earlier, according to Luminate.

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated June 7, we look at the chances of Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae’s star-powered duet to continue its reign on the chart. 

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Morgan Wallen feat. Tate McRae, “What I Want” (Mercury/Big Loud/Republic): The combined star power of country superpower Morgan Wallen and rising pop phenom Tate McRae helped boost “What I Want” to being not just the highest-ranking of Wallen’s record-breaking 37 tracks on the Hot 100 last week, but the No. 1 song period – Wallen’s fourth and McRae’s first. The debut came on the back of 31.2 million official streams, according to Luminate, allowing it to bow atop the Streaming Songs chart and making up for its relative lack of radio presence as a new song.  

That streaming presence should still be very pronounced in its second week, as the song continues to reign on the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart and the Apple Music real-time chart. And the song is already starting to make a radio impact: After debuting at Nos. 32 and 38 on Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay, respectively, on this week’s charts (dated May 31), it’s pushing toward the top 25 on both. (On Country Airplay, it debuted at No. 55 this week but looks likely to fall off next week – granted it’s being promoted so far only to pop and adult formats.)  

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If the song can hold for a second week, it will become the first multi-week Hot 100 No. 1 from I’m the Problem, pulling past the one-week No. 1 “Love Somebody,” which topped the chart last November. (It would still have another 14 weeks to go to tie the longest-reigning single from prior album One Thing at a Time, the 16-week No. 1 “Last Night” in 2023.)  

Alex Warren, “Ordinary” (Atlantic): If not for Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem album debut, we might be talking about Alex Warren celebrating his first Hot 100 No. 1 single this week. After multiple frames of being at stuck at No. 2 behind Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” “Ordinary” finally moves ahead of that 13-week No. 1 – but still only ranks at No. 4 on this week’s chart, after falling behind three tracks from I’m the Problem. 

Nevertheless, “Ordinary” should remain a strong contender for the top spot. It still ranks towards the top of the major streaming charts, and after reaching the Radio Songs top 10 this week, the song is now aiming for the top five; it’s up 16% in audience May 23-26 over the previous building week. It’s also challenging for No. 1 next week on Adult Pop Airplay, and could come for the crown on Pop Airplay not long after. 

Meanwhile, Warren has a new song out in the Jelly Roll collab “Bloodline,” which should also be headed for a strong Hot 100 debut. But as shown with the success of recent artists like Teddy Swims and Benson Boone, having simultaneous follow-up hits can be more helpful than harmful to the original hits these days, so “Bloodline” doing well might boost “Ordinary” in its pursuit of the top spot.  

Morgan Wallen, “Just in Case” and “I’m the Problem” (Mercury/Big Loud/Republic): Morgan Wallen will still be seeing an awful lot of himself in the rearview mirror, as his solo songs that rank at No. 2 and 3 on the Hot 100 this week — “Just in Case” and “I’m the Problem,” respectively – should remain big factors on the chart next week as well. Though the two songs rank behind “What I Want” on DSPs, they still have the head start on radio: “Just in Case” continues climbing Country Airplay, though it could be still outside the top 10 next week, after rising to a new No. 13 high this week. Meanwhile, “I’m the Problem” has ruled Country Airplay for six weeks already, and could be on pace for a seventh week at No. 1. 

If one of these other I’m the Problem tracks is able to pass “What I Want” on next week’s Hot 100, Wallen would replace himself on top for the first time in his career – becoming the first artist to do so since… Kendrick Lamar just a couple months ago, after a Super Bowl-rebounded “Not Like Us” gave way to “Luther” and its months-long reign.  

Jack Black’s “Steve’s Lava Chicken” — the shortest song ever to make the Billboard Hot 100 — adds another chart feat as the A Minecraft Movie song debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Movie Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for April.

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Rankings for the Top Movie Songs chart are based on song and film data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of April. The ranking includes newly released films from the preceding three months.

“Steve’s Lava Chicken” reaches No. 1 following its first month of tracking for Top Movie Songs; A Minecraft Movie debuted in theaters on April 4.

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The song earned 20.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams and sold 3,000 downloads in April, according to Luminate. That led “Steve’s Lava Chicken” to debut at No. 78 on the Hot 100 dated May 3, making it the ranking’s shortest song ever at 34 seconds (a longer, albeit less popular version is one minute and 15 seconds).

“Steve’s Lava Chicken” reigns over a trio of holdovers from the chart’s previous iteration, paced by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” from The Electric State (No. 2; 14.6 million streams, 1,000 downloads) and followed by Chappell Roan’s “Casual” from Novocaine (No. 3; 13.8 million streams) and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” from The Gorge (No. 4; 2.4 million streams, 1,000 downloads).

The next highest debut is courtesy of Rod Wave’s “Sinners,” from the movie of the same name, released April 18. Wave’s track bows at No. 5 via 14.3 million streams and 1,000 downloads.

More Sinners activity is possible upon the May chart, the movie’s first full month of tracking for the survey. The soundtrack debuted at No. 133 on the Billboard 200 dated May 10.

Eric Prydz‘s 2004 hit “Call On Me” also starts at No. 7 via a synch in Warfare, garnering 2.6 million streams and 1,000 downloads in April. Prydz’s track concurrently returned to Billboard charts via the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales list in late April, bowing at No. 5. It peaked at the same position on Dance/Mix Show Airplay in 2004.

See the full top 10, which also features music from Snow White and Holland, below.

Rank, Song, Artist, Movie

“Steve’s Lava Chicken,” Jack Black, A Minecraft Movie

“Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Electric State

“Casual,” Chappell Roan, Novocaine

“Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs feat. Perfume Genius, The Gorge

“Sinners,” Rod Wave, Sinners

“Good Things Grow,” Snow White Cast, Snow White

“Call On Me,” Eric Prydz, Warfare

“Mother,” Danzig, The Electric State

“Party Up,” DMX, Holland

“(All Along the) Watchtower,” Devlin, The Gorge

Coldplay was back on the road in April, extending the group’s reach to Hong Kong and Goyang, South Korea (14 miles from Seoul). According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the British band is No. 1 on the monthly Top Tours chart, with $67.4 million in the bank and 502,000 tickets sold.

Coldplay has been one of the most dominant acts on the Boxscore charts since the 2022 kickoff of the Music of the Spheres World Tour, reigning over seven Top Tours charts. The band’s touring calendar has become an accurate predictor of chart results: Its last batch of shows was in January, which matches its sixth monthly victory. Before that, Coldplay had dates in November, aligning with its fifth monthly win. Coldplay has only one show scheduled in May, but a busier calendar throughout the summer immediately makes the band prohibitive competition for the top spot over the next several months.

With its April triumph, Chris Martin & Co. tie Bad Bunny and Elton John for the most months at No. 1 (seven). Trans-Siberian Orchestra follows with five (December of every year since the chart premiered).

Beyoncé and P!nk have each led four times. The latter did it twice on the Beautiful Trauma World Tour in 2019 and twice more with dates from Summer Carnival and Trustfall Tour in 2023-24. Beyoncé dominated the summer of 2023 with the Renaissance World Tour and played the first show on Cowboy Carter Tour on April 28, squeaking onto the month’s list with one date.

Coldplay’s April boils down to four shows at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium and six at Goyang Stadium in South Korea. The first set of dates grossed $32.9 million and sold 184,000 tickets. The second set moved $34.4 million from 318,000 tickets. That’s enough to secure the top two positions on the Top Boxscores chart.

The grosses of Coldplay’s two stops are close, separated by just 4%. But the longer stay in Goyang sold 73% more tickets, which means that the ticket price in Hong Kong had to be much higher. At Kai Tak Stadium, Coldplay averaged $179 per seat, while the Korean shows paced $108.22.

Added to Coldplay’s January run in the United Arab Emirates and India, the 2025 Asian leg wrapped with $124 million and 1.1 million tickets. Combined with the 2023-24 leg in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and more, Asia accounts for $253.4 million on the Music of the Spheres World Tour. Worldwide, the trek has brought in $1.3 billion and sold 11.4 million tickets, extending its lead as the bestselling tour in history.

Coldplay picks back up on May 31 in Stanford, Calif., kicking off a 17-show run in the U.S. and Canada. Finally, there are 12 dates scheduled in the U.K., closing out the three-and-a-half-year tour with 10 shows at London’s Wembley Stadium. By closing night, the trek will be approaching $1.5 billion and 13 million tickets sold.

From one of the biggest tours of all time nearing its close to the opening shows of one of 2025’s hottest tickets, Kendrick Lamar and SZA are No. 2 on April’s tally. The first four shows of the Grand National Tour brought in $43.2 million and sold 180,000 tickets.

Lamar and SZA premiered their co-headline trek on April 19 at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, before hitting Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. These are the first stadium shows for each artist, having previously conquered arenas in 2022 (Lamar’s The Steppers Tour) and 2023 (SZA’s SOS Tour).

Already, the Grand National Tour is the biggest tour of either artist’s career, and they are only 10 shows deep. Including six reported shows in May, which will count toward next month’s charts, the trek has earned $115.7 million and sold 508,000 tickets through the May 17 show at Seattle’s Lumen Field.

Thirteen shows remain on the pair’s schedule in North America, before traveling to Europe for 16 dates. Before its close on Aug. 9 in Stockholm, the Grand National Tour will be one of the biggest co-headline treks in history.

April was not just the stadium launchpad for Lamar and SZA. In the closing days of the month, Lady Gaga played her first two ticketed shows of the year at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros (April 26-27), hitting No. 6 on Top Boxscores and No. 10 on Top Tours. Beyoncé opened Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles (April 28), reaching Nos. 14 and 15, respectively. And Post Malone unleashed the Big Ass Stadium Tour with assistance from Jelly Roll in Salt Lake City (April 29).

Beyoncé, Gaga and SZA help to make April a banner month for women on tour. They are three of 10 women on the Top Tours chart, up from seven in March, six in February, and just one in January. Still less than half, the 33% representation in April represents the most women on a Top Tours chart in its 58 editions, surpassing nine, or 30%, in December 2019 and January 2022.

In between SZA and Gaga, Shakira is No. 7 after leading the list in February and March. The first Latin American leg of her 2025 tour ended mid-month, handicapping her potential rank. Elsewhere, Charli xcx and Olivia Rodrigo carry over tours that began in 2024. Kelsea Ballerini, Mary J. Blige and Kylie Minogue wrapped up spring runs, while Katy Perry began The Lifetimes Tour with five shows in Mexico.

05/29/2025

The multi-genre smash rules Billboard’s 100-position Top Hot Country Songs of the 21st Century retrospective. Below, find a breakdown of the 2000-24 top 10.

05/29/2025

Linkin Park’s 2024 album From Zero returns to a bevy of Billboard’s album charts (dated May 31) following its deluxe reissue with additional tracks on May 16. The set reenters Top Album Sales (at No. 5), Top Hard Rock Albums (No. 4), Vinyl Albums (No. 8), Top Alternative Albums (No. 9), Top Rock Albums (No. 15), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 17), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 17) and the Billboard 200 (No. 71).
From Zero debuted at No. 1 on all of the above charts last November, save for the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales, where it arrived at No. 2.

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The album was bolstered with three new studio recordings (“Up From the Bottom,” “Unshatter” and “Let You Fade”) on its digital and streaming editions, while physical formats (two double-CD sets and two double-vinyls) also added in five live tracks. The same week From Zero’s deluxe impacted the album charts, one of the new songs added to the project, “Up From the Bottom,” hit No. 1 on both the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts.

In the tracking week ending May 22, From Zero earned 14,000 equivalent album units (up 173%), with traditional album sales comprising 7,500 of that sum (up 531%). The latter figure pushes the album’s reentry on Top Album Sales at No. 5.

Elsewhere in the top 10 of the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, five albums debut in the region from Morgan Wallen, Jin, BOYNEXTDOOR, Sleep Theory and MEOVV.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.

Wallen’s I’m the Problem launches at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with a career-best 133,000 sold, marking his fourth top 10-charting effort (all have reached the top three). Jin’s Echo enters at No. 2 with 35,000 sold, garnering the singer his second effort to reach the top three. BOYNEXTDOOR’s 4th EP: No Genre starts at a career-high No. 3 with nearly 14,000 sold; it’s the fourth top 10 for the act.

Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia falls 1-4 in its second week on the chart (nearly 8,000; down 90%), while the aforementioned From Zero reenters the list at No. 5.

Kali Uchis’ Sincerely. retreats 2-6 in its second week (just over 7,000; down 81%), Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX climbs 8-7 (7,000; up 6%) and P1Harmony’s DUH! dips 3-6 in its second week (nearly 7,000; down 69%).

Rounding out the latest top 10 is Sleep Theory’s first full-length set Afterglow, which scores the band its first top 10 (and chart entry) with its No. 9 debut (6,500) and MEOVV, who sees their debut EP My Eyes Open VVIDE start at No. 10 (6,000).

After leading Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart since last January, Bad Bunny’s “DTMF” cracks the No. 1 slot on the Latin Airplay chart (dated May 31). It’s the third song from Debí Tirar Más Fotos, his sixth solo album, to hit the top of the overall Latin radio ranking.
“DTMF” advances 2-1 in its 13th week on the Latin Airplay chart, after a 31% gain in audience impressions, to 8.8 million, earned in United States during the May 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate.

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“DTMF” marks the third track from the album Debí Tirar Más Fotos to hit No. 1 on the tally, after “El Clúb” and “Baile Inolvidable” each charted at the summit for two weeks between February and March.

As Benito claims the Latin Airplay crown, he adds a 28th chart-topping hit –a run that started in 2018– and enters a tie with Daddy Yankee for the fourth-most since the ranking began in 1994. Here’s a recap of those artists with the most wins, with Shakira standing out as the sole female representation among those acts with at least 24 No. 1s:

No. 1s, Artist37, J Balvin35, Ozuna32, Enrique Iglesias28, Bad Bunny28, Daddy Yankee24, Maluma24, Shakira

Rauw Alejandro & Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ Score Big Wins: Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Rauw Alejandro and Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ score additional gains.

Rauw Alejandro returns to the summit on the Latin Pop Airplay chart almost a year after “Touching The Sky” ruled for one week (August 2024). His recent single, “Carita Linda” jumps 3-1 in its sixth week with 4.15 million in audience impressions, up 19%, earned during the same period. The song becomes the Puerto Rican’s seventh ruler, and third unaccompanied by any other act.

Meanwhile, Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ scores a second champ on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart with “Vuelve a Mi.” The song, which climbs 5-1, becomes the airplay Greatest Gainer of the week after a 44% boost in impressions, to 6.7 million.

“Vuelve a Mi” also takes Luis Angel to his third top on the overall Latin Airplay chart, where it rallies 14-4 in its 11th recap.

Another new album, another historic week on the charts for Morgan Wallen.
On this week’s Billboard 200 (dated May 31), Wallen’s new album I’m the Problem follows his previous releases Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing at a Time to a No. 1 debut — this time with a 2025-best 493,000 units moved, according to Luminate, falling just 8,000 short of the 501,000 posted by One Thing upon its 2023 bow. (The latter album, which spent a 2020s-best 19 weeks atop the chart, holds at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 this week, while Dangerous slides from No. 11-12.)

Meanwhile, it launches 29 new tracks onto the Billboard Hot 100, joining eight returning Wallen Hot 100 hits for a record-setting 37 simultaneous entries on the chart, breaking his own record of 36 from One Thing‘s debut week. The 37 tracks are led by the Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want,” which debuts atop the chart — marking Wallen’s fourth No. 1 on the listing, and McRae’s first.

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How do these incredible numbers compare to our pre-release expectations? And will I’m the Problem end up lasting on the chart the way its predecessors have.

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1. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem debuts at No. 1 with 493,000 units moved – the biggest first-week number of 2025, and just 8,000 off the total One Thing at a Time bowed with two years earlier. Is that number higher, lower or about what you expected?

Elias Leight: That count seems right on target. Streams fell off a little from One Thing at a Time, but sales increased. And Wallen had his best sales week ever on vinyl, with 48,000 copies sold. 

Jason Lipshutz: About what I expected. Morgan Wallen’s sky-high popularity with country fans has remained more or less consistent over the past few years, and while none of the singles from I’m the Problem have been as chart-dominant as “Last Night” from One Thing at a Time (yet), he’s still been able to rattle off No. 1 hits in the interim, including “Love Somebody” from the new album. Multiply that maintained success with another sprawling track list, and it’s no surprise that I’m the Problem bowed with a similar stat line to his previous 30-plus-song full-length.

Melinda Newman: It feels downright petty to say I’m surprised it didn’t surpass One Thing at a Time’s opening week — though 8,000 down is a blip when you’re in the half million range. However, Wallen’s star has only continued to ascend, and the huge pop success of “I Had Some Help” with Post Malone for sure introduced him to new fans, which made me think his first week would have been higher.

Jessica Nicholson: That number is slightly lower than what I would have expected, given that the length of this album (just barely) exceeds the length of One Thing at a Time, and this album includes many of the same collaborators, including Eric Church and ERNEST, as its predecessor, in addition to another Post Malone collab.

Andrew Unterberger: Almost exactly what I predicted, maybe a tiny bit higher. The trending of the streaming numbers for Wallen’s latest round of pre-release tracks indicated that he might have been in for a bit of a dip there from One Thing at a Time, which the vinyl release predictably mostly offset anyway. The Morgan Wallen rocket ship may have finally hit its peak, but we still probably have some time before it defintively starts heading back down to earth.

2. All but one of the 37 of the tracks hit the Hot 100 this week, led by the brand new Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want” at No. 1. Does the song sound like the obvious breakout hit of the non-previously-released tracks on the set, or do you think another will ultimately pass it?

Elias Leight: There are a few songs that sound like potential hits: “TN,” co-written by Ashley Gorley, the man with 75 No. 1s on his resume, has stadium singalong ambitions and a strikingly memorable chorus, all staccato state abbreviations and slippery assonance, while “Kick Myself” takes the self-recrimination that courses throughout the album and dresses it up as sunny pop-rock.

That said: On One Thing at a Time, the obvious breakout was not necessarily the massive hit. The title track, which translated late 1970s Fleetwood Mac into commercial country gold, seemed like a slam dunk; it peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100. Meanwhile, the more muscular country hip-hop hybrid “Last Night” spent 16 weeks at No. 1.

Jason Lipshutz: While “What I Want” isn’t the most immediate song on the I’m the Problem track list, the combined star power of Wallen and McRae is too sizable to deny, or bet against. Wallen has linked up with McRae at the exact right point for maximum commercial gains, considering the hot streak that the ascendant pop star has been on over the past two years; following hits like “Greedy” and “Sports Car,” and by far the biggest album debut of her career with So Close to What, McRae is enjoying a sharp upward trajectory, with plenty of attention paid to any new music. Considering that Wallen’s core fan base remains country listeners, McRae’s appearance on “What I Want” should continue to corral curious pop fans, and power the song to a sustained chart run.

Melinda Newman: In terms of the Hot 100, it felt like the immediate go-to since it paired Wallen with a rising pop star and was his first duet with a woman (which was a goal of his after releasing several duets with male artists). The song feels a little ephemeral and unlikely to best the six weeks “I Had Some Help” spent at No. 1. As far as a song surpassing it, that really depends upon what that the label decides to push at radio. They’ve released some of the top selections already and the Post Malone collaboration on this set, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” doesn’t have the zest of “I Had Some Help” (and has already been released weeks ago to streamers).

Jessica Nicholson: Cross-genre collabs tend to do pretty well in garnering Hot 100 hits and this song has definitely raised its hand as a fan favorite. I feel like this is likely the Hot 100 breakout hit of the non-previously released songs.

Andrew Unterberger: I think its primary competition at the top of the charts in the weeks to come isn’t from any of the other new tracks, but from “Just in Case,” the advance track that still seems to have the most juice among his fans (and for my money is the best of the ITP singles thusfar). It might come down to which radio gloms onto first, though certainly with the built-in pop appeal of “What I Want” — thanks to the presence of another already-minted radio star in McRae — it should have the higher ceiling there.

3. Wallen’s 37 simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 (also including his feature appearance on Post Malone’s 2024 Song of the Summer “I Had Some Help”) breaks a record he had previously set with the One Thing release week. Do you think this will be his last time breaking that record, or do you see his albums getting even bigger in size and/or popularity in the future?

Elias Leight: As big as he is, there are still pockets of listeners who don’t listen to much country and seem to be finding out about him for the first time (several of them appear to be music critics). And in a streaming-happy world, there is nothing preventing Wallen from releasing a 50-track album next time — though the vinyl copies would start to get a little unwieldy. He could put out a call for songs tomorrow and get bombarded with 100 top-shelf demos. 

But even if he breaks the record again, at a certain point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in; adding tracks 40 to 45 has a lot less impact than adding tracks 15 to 20. And as Wallen told Theo Von, when writing that many songs, it becomes “hard to not say the same things I’ve said before.” “A lot of things that were successful and easy in the past were just whiskey, drinkin’, all that stuff,” he explained. “I’ve almost explored every angle of that that’s possible.” 

Jason Lipshutz: I mean, never bet against Morgan Wallen releasing a hit album with an improbably long track list — maybe the next one has 40 songs, or 50! — but 37 is a LOT OF simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 chart. I’m going to go against conventional wisdom and say that this is a high-water mark that Wallen either won’t try to top, or won’t be able to top, on his next effort, and that no one else will, either; I could see this record standing for quite a while.

Melinda Newman: He’s created a monster of his own doing. His fans have rewarded him for the mega-packages with huge streaming numbers so there’s no real reason to stop now. He’s proven critic-proof and for good reason. Almost every review, including Billboard’s, criticizes the number of tracks and the sheer number tread the same heartbreak road, but our opinion doesn’t mean squat to him (and shouldn’t). On the other hand, he’s set enough records that I’m not sure he needs to keep chasing them, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the next album is less. He could cut back to 15 now and simply say that was how many he was inspired to record, or he could go to 50 and say the same. He’s writing his own rules at this point.

Jessica Nicholson: It is possible that this could be his last time breaking that record, as fans could eventually get fatigued by super-sized albums. However, his most recent albums have been blockbusters and his fans are fervent about any new music he releases, so I could certainly see his next release being as lengthy or even longer.

Andrew Unterberger: I feel like the streaming numbers dipping slightly for this release despite the even-more-packed tracklist means that Wallen and his team have basically taken the volume approach as far as it’ll go. That doesn’t mean that his next album will only be 12 tracks or anything — nobody wants to risk their numbers potentially being cut in half, or worse — but I’d best this arms race he’s been waging with himself over the past couple albums’ tracklists might be coming to an end, at least.

4. If you could have Wallen go further into any particular direction that he explores on I’m the Problem – either musical or thematic – where would you have him go?

Elias Leight: He’s rightly gotten a lot of credit for his easy way with genre hybrids. This savvy blending defines some of his biggest hits, including “Last Night” and “You Proof”; strip the guitar off “Just in Case” and it could be a song for Drake or SZA, while “Miami” would barely need any adjustments to fit onto RapCaviar. But there’s also Wallen’s buoyantly tuneful side, the stuff of “One Thing at a Time” and “Single Than She Was” on the last album and “TN” on this one. On a long album full of romantic vitriol and emotional desolation, songs in this mode provide brief eruptions of uplift — a necessary counterbalance.  

Jason Lipshutz: Regardless of style or quality, any 37-song album is going to feel less focused than a full-length with a more traditional track list. I would love for Wallen to try and make his next project a 10-track affair — whittling down his collection to his strongest material, and presenting his most cohesive artistic statement. Wallen has conquered his genre with these sprawling, stream-happy albums, but such a move could prioritize creative growth in a bold new way.

Melinda Newman: The songs that are the most compelling on the album are the ones where he gets away from woe-is-me love songs (though he’s got that down) and looks at the world around him like “Working Man’s Song.” Hands down, the best song on the album is album closer “I’m a Little Crazy,” where he — like most of us — feels burdened by the insanity he sees around him, and yet is unable to look away. The world-weary tone of his vocals suits the song’s message perfectly and he manages to record and issue-oriented song without taking a political stand, which is not an easy feat these days.

Jessica Nicholson: At least one song on the album, “Working Man’s Song,” finds Wallen digging into twangy Southern rock territory and lets him display a gravelly side to his voice that we don’t often hear. Also, songs such as “Jack and Jill” are a departure from the heavy string of heartbreak songs on this album, and it would be nice to hear him continue delving into other such topics.

Andrew Unterberger: In my opinion, the most consistently engaging Wallen material always comes when he takes a real hard look at himself — not in the sense where he allows that he occasionally drinks too much and behaves poorly in relationships, but in the sense where he acknowledges that his fundamental impulses are self-destructive in a way that he legitimately doesn’t know if he can (or would) get away from. “Kick Myself” is the perfect example from this album, and perhaps the best song on here; I wish he returned to the subject as often as he returns to whiskey and romantic toxicity.

5. As I’m the Problem debuts, One Thing at a Time remains in the Billboard 200’s top five, and even 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album is just outside the top 10. By the time of Wallen’s next album, do you expect I’m the Problem will have shown similar chart endurance?

Elias Leight: Dangerous: The Double Album is the top Billboard 200 album of the 21st century, while One Thing at a Time broke Garth Brooks’ record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a country album. Both those releases spent at least 100 weeks in the top 10, making Wallen the first artist to ever accomplish that feat. Barring a comet hitting the earth or a zombie apocalypse, I’m the Problem will be in circulation for a long time.

Jason Lipshutz: Sure. What evidence is there to doubt him? Over the past half-decade, Wallen’s superpower has been his ability to release albums that linger around the top of the Billboard 200 for years and years, in a way that has become singular in its might. I’m the Problem could be more or less potent than his previous albums, depending on who you ask — but its one inarguable commercial quality is that it will be on the charts for a long, long time.

Melinda Newman: Yes. He’d already had three No. 1s on Country Airplay with songs from the set before its release and the one thing we’ve learned is there seems to be no burn-out on Wallen’s music with his fans. They soak up whatever he is putting out and can’t seem to get enough. There are several more songs that are sure to be released to radio which will bring in casual fans who haven’t already worn a hole in the album yet. His music wears well and it wouldn’t surprise me if two years from now when we have a new Wallen album that he has two or three albums still in the top 15.

Jessica Nicholson: It likely will. There are already some sharp fan-favorites on this album, like “Just in Case,” “Love Somebody” the Eric Church collab “Number 3 and Number 7” and the McRae duet. With his upcoming tour dates sure to feature many songs on this project, it will give fans even more reason to keep streaming its many songs.

Andrew Unterberger: I expect its endurance relative to One Thing will be like its first week numbers — maybe not quite as potent, but close enough you’d have to really squint to see much of a difference.

Newly crowned American Idol winner Jamal Roberts, a 27-year-old  gym teacher from Meridian, Miss., debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart (dated May 31) with “Heal.” He capped off his championship run on the ABC competition May 18 with a stirring rendition of the faith-based track, which was written by Tom O’Dell, who released his version in 2013.

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Released May 18, Roberts’ “Heal” sold 9,000 downloads in the United States in the week ending May 22, according to Luminate. It tops Gospel Digital Song Sales, marking his initial No. 1; he previously hit No. 4 with “He’s Preparing Me” earlier in May. On the all-genre Digital Songs survey, “Heal” opens at No. 2, granting Roberts his first top 10 in his rookie appearance. The spiritual power ballad also drew 918,000 official U.S. streams in the tracking week.

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Meanwhile, Roberts is joined on Digital Song Sales by two fellow American Idol finalists: Breanna Nix with “Higher” (No. 4; 5,000 sold), and John Foster with “Tell That Angel I Love Her” (No. 6; 4,000 sold). They finished in third and second place, respectively, in the series’ latest season.

Notably, the three acts’ haul outpaces that of American Idol contestants from a year ago, when champion Abi Carter was the sole competitor to appear on the Digital Song Sales chart (dated June 1, 2024) following the finale, with “This Isn’t Over” (No. 23; 2,000 sold).

We Get an ‘Amen’

Pastor Mike Jr. adds his record-extending seventh straight career-opening leader on Gospel Airplay as “Amen” lifts 2-1. He co-authored the song with Adia Andrews, David Lamar Outing II and Terrell Anthony Pettus.

Pastor Mike Jr., from Birmingham, Ala., last led Gospel Airplay with “Windows” for a week in June 2024. Before that, he reigned as featured on Kierra Sheard’s “Miracles,” for a week in July 2023, and with his own “Impossible,” featuring James Fortune (two weeks, April 2023); “Amazing” (two weeks, May 2022); “I Got It” (four weeks, beginning in March 2021); and “Big Rock City” (10 weeks, beginning in February 2020).

In addition to owning the career-opening record run, Pastor Mike Jr. boasts the longest streak of Gospel Airplay No. 1s overall. Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Tamela Mann follow with active streaks of six consecutive chart-toppers. (Cobbs Leonard ranks at No. 7 on the latest list with “Do It Anyway,” a week after it reached No. 6.)

Additional reporting by Alex Vitoulis.