Chart Beat

11 Sep 2024

Destroy Lonely’s ‘Love Lasts Forever’ Leads Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart

Destroy Lonely achieves his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as Love Lasts Forever opens atop the list dated Sept. 14. The set, released on Opium/Interscope Records/IGLC, launches with 37,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. for the tracking week of Aug. 30 – Sept. 5, according to Luminate.

Of Love Lasts Forever’s starting sum, 19,000 units come through traditional album sales. Multiple configurations helped the album’s sales – including a signed CD edition and two digital download album variants, which were all exclusive to the rapper’s webstore. The two digital options each included five additional bonus songs (five different songs per variant) and sold for $5.

Album sales just eclipse the set’s streaming activity – at 18,500 units – for the biggest share of Love Last Forever’s debut. Still, the 18,500 units derived from streams represent 25.2 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Track-equivalent album units, meanwhile, contribute a negligible amount of activity.

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Elsewhere, Love Lasts Forever begins at No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. As with Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, both results are new career bests for the 23-year-old rapper, who hails from Atlanta. Before this week, his highest peak came through his debut LP, If Looks Could Kill, which reached No. 3 on Top Rap Albums, No. 4 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 18 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in May 2023.

Alongside the album’s arrival, its track “Love Hurts,” with Lil Uzi Vert, starts at No. 50 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The collaboration is the week’s top-streamed cut from Love Lasts Forever, at 2.7 million official U.S. clicks. “Love Hurts” secures Destroy Lonely’s third visit to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, after “If Looks Could Kill” (No. 30, 2023) and “How U Feel?” (No. 47, 2023). For Lil Uzi Vert, the new entry yields a 129th charting title of their career.

Activity surrounding Love Lasts Forever sparks a No. 17 debut for Destroy Lonely on the Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption – album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming – to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of the most popular artists.

11 Sep 2024

Saweetie’s ‘Nani’ Nabs No. 1 Spot on Rhythmic Airplay Chart

Saweetie enjoys a return to form on radio as her single “Nani” advances to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart. The track, released on ICY/Warner Records, rises from the runner-up spot to lead the list dated Sept. 14 after it became the most-played song on U.S. monitored rhythmic radio stations in the tracking week of Aug. 30 – Sept. 5, according to Luminate. For its coronation, “Nani” improved 2% in plays compared to the previous tracking week.

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With “Nani,” Saweetie picks up the fourth Rhythmic Airplay champ of her career. The rapper first led in 2019 with the two-week leader “My Type” and added two more No. 1s in 2021, the Jhene Aiko-assisted “Back to the Streets” and Doja Cat-aided “Best Friend,” which each ruled for one week.

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As “Nani” takes the throne, it unseats Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” after the latter commanded the chart for the last seven consecutive weeks, of a total 10 frames atop the ranking. (After its first three weeks atop Rhythmic Airplay, “Not Like Us” was knocked aside by Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” and recaptured the top slot three weeks later.)

Elsewhere, “Nani” extends its stay on the R&B/hip-hop radio formats. On Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, “Nani” slides 18-23 in its 12th week on the list, after having reached a No. 14 best last month. With that result, “Nani” was Saweetie’s best showing on the list since “Best Friend” reached No. 9 in April 2021.

Likewise, on the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, “Nani” backtracks 20-26 in its 13th frame and slips to 3.2 million in audience, a 24% drop after promotion efforts at the format have stopped in the last week. Still, the No. 20 result made for Saweetie’s highest placement since a feature on Kendra Jae’s “Seesaw” reached the same rank in November 2021; before that, “Best Friend” was the rapper’s highest mark with a No. 14 peak earlier that year.

11 Sep 2024

Linkin Park 2.0 Off to Strong Start on Streaming With Catalog Bump & Early ‘Emptiness Machine’ Success

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. 

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This week: Linkin Park’s second act is off to a remarkable start on streaming, Rich Homie Quan’s catalog skyrockets on streaming after his tragic passing, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce give an ’00s classic a singalong bump and much more.

Linkin Park’s Streaming Catalog Soars Following Comeback News



Next week’s Hot 100 chart will likely feature a new Linkin Park single — a sentence that would have seemed improbable just one week ago. Yet the band’s return, as covered in Billboard’s exclusive cover story last Thursday (Sept. 5), has produced new arena tour dates (kicking off tonight at The Forum in Los Angeles), a new studio album (From Zero, out Nov. 15) and a high-powered new song, “The Emptiness Machine,” that’s off to a hot start at streaming.

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After being released at 6 pm ET on Thursday as Linkin Park launched into a global livestream performance, “The Emptiness Machine” earned 2.22 million U.S. on-demand audio streams on Friday, its first full day of release, according to Luminate. The single hovered about one million U.S. audio streams over the next three days, and ended its first full four-day stretch with 6.47 million streams, while also racking up over 6,000 in digital sales — likely setting it on pace for a big Hot 100 bow. 

Yet Linkin Park’s return is also boosting the band’s back catalog and biggest hits, as listeners revisit their past albums before receiving a new one in November. From Sept. 6-9, the band’s catalog (minus “The Emptiness Machine”) earned 30.11 million combined U.S. audio streams — a 62% increase compared to the same four-day period during the previous week. That spike also included big week-over-week gains for hits like “Numb” (up 60%), “One Step Closer” (up 76%) and “Faint” (up nearly 100%), as fans heard new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong sing all three during the band’s livestream and wanted to hear the classic versions, too. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Rich Homie Quan Catalog Surges on Streaming Following Rap Great’s Death



The hip-hop world was shaken last week (Sept. 5) by the tragic news of Rich Homie Quan’s death at the age of just 33. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name was Dequantes Devontay Lamar, had been one of hip-hop’s leading hitmakers of the mid-2010s, during a time in which his home city essentially took over as the U.S.’s rap capital. Over the days that followed, tributes poured in from Quan’s collaborators and contemporaries, saluting both the man and artist and expressing shock over his premature passing. 

Fans of Rich Homie Quan of course also expressed their grief by streaming his music in massive numbers. Over Sept. 2-4, the three days before his death, the rapper amassed 1.7 combined million official on-demand U.S. streams for his solo catalog as a lead artist – but that number skyrocketed to 31.7 million total over the following three days, according to Luminate, an eye-popping gain of 1,727%. Leading songs from his catalog over that period include his Hot 100 hits “Type of Way” (4.5 million combined streams, a 1,892% gain) and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (3.6 million streams, up 1,666%). 

Those numbers do not account, however, for perhaps the song most celebrated on social media following Quan’s passing: “Lifestyle,” his classic 2014 team-up with Atlanta rap icon Young Thug, released under the collective name Rich Gang. Over the same period, “Lifestyle” was up to 4.7 million combined streams, a 598% gain from the previous three-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

The Taylor Bump: Works for ‘00s Retro-Rockers as Well as Presidential Candidates



Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be major — but Harris isn’t the only person benefiting from the Taylor Swift Bump this week.

On Sunday (Sept. 8), Swift attended the U.S. Open men’s tennis finals in Queens, New York (featuring another Taylor in American finalist Taylor Fritz), along with celebrity beau Travis Kelce. There, the pair were spotted singing (and even air-guitaring) along to a ’00s classic — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” signature hit for ’00s U.K. retro-rockers The Darkness — with Swift of course dramatically pantomiming the lyrics as well.

Click here for the full story on The Darkness’ Taylor/Travis streaming bump. – AU

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Has the Recipe for a “MacArthur Park” Revival



For the recently released box office-topping film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – sequel, of course, to the cult classic 1988 comedy Beetlejuice – the filmmakers wanted to recreate the magic of the first film’s famous cast lip sync scene, set to Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat (Day-O).” They didn’t want to re-use Belafonte’s ‘50s staple for the scene, however, so they decided to go with something very, very slightly more modern for the 36-years-later sequel: “MacArthur Park,” the bizarre Jimmy Webb-penned psych-pop rhapsody that became a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for actor-singer Richard Harris in 1968, before Donna Summer took her discofied version of it all the way to No. 1 in 1978. 

Since appearing in the hit sequel, “MacArthur Park” has been rising on streaming, with the Harris version featured in the film racking up over 110,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams from Sept. 8-11 – the film’s four days of release – a 939% gain over the same period in the prior tracking week, according to Luminate. Summer’s version, which also appears on the film soundtrack, has been a similar beneficiary – it’s up 241% to 98,000 streams over the same period – and Belafonte’s “Day-O,” which only appears on the soundtrack through a cover version from Alfie Davis & The Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir, is also up 52% to 485,000 streams. – AU

Season’s Gainings: Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Announcement Strikes a Chord on DSPs



The NFL season has kicked off once again, and even if you weren’t following the action on Sunday (Sept. 8), you might’ve still felt the excitement of football’s return – thanks to the early-day announcement that the upcoming Super Bowl LIX in New Orelans would be headlined by rapper-of-the-moment Kendrick Lamar. The announcement was met with some controversy, as many rap purists voiced their support for Big Easy hip-hop icon Lil Wayne as an alternate headliner, but plenty of streaming listeners were evidently still pumped by a prospective K Dot set – the rapper’s total streams for Monday were over 11.6 million, according to Luminate, a 12% gain from the prior Monday. – AU

11 Sep 2024

The Nelons Earn Their First Top 10 on Top Christian Albums Chart With ‘Loving You’

The Nelons’ Loving You arrives at No. 9 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart (dated Sept. 14), as the act reaches the top 10 in its first appearance on the ranking.

The 11-song set, released Aug. 30, earned 3,000 equivalent album units, almost entirely in album sales, in the United States in the week ending Sept. 5, according to Luminate.

Unfortunately, the achievement follows tragic news. Nelons co-founder Kelly Nelon Clark, husband Jason Clark and Amber Nelon Kistler (Kelly’s daughter and Jason’s stepdaughter) were among seven people who died in a plane crash in northeast Wyoming in the afternoon of July 26. The only surviving member of the foursome is Autumn Nelon Streetman (also Kelly’s daughter and Jason’s stepdaughter), who was not on the flight.

The three members of the Georgia-based act were traveling to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska, according to its label, Gaither Music Group, the sponsor of the cruise.

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“Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark,” Streetman shared in a statement. “We appreciate your continued prayers, love and support as we navigate the coming days.”

The Nelons launched in 1977 by founding member Rex Nelon as The Rex Nelon Singers. (He died in 2000.) They were inducted into the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Hall of Fame in 2016 and won 10 GMA Dove Awards, including multiple album and song of the year trophies.

Streetman, who is expecting a baby boy in December, sang “Family Chain” with The Isaacs to at the Nelons’ memorial service in Roopville, Ga., on Aug. 6. “People have asked me, ‘How did you get up there and sing at the funeral?’ And I told them, ‘This is what we do. We sing in good times and bad times,’” she told Billboard in August. “The Lord just gave me the strength to get up there and do it.”

11 Sep 2024

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s ‘Lilac’ Returns to No. 1 on Japan Hot 100, RIIZE’s ‘Lucky’ Follows at No. 2

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Sept. 11, logging its second week atop the chart.

The track debuted at No. 11 on the chart dated Apr. 17, and after rising to No. 3 the following week, it coasted along in the top five and reached No. 1 for the first time on the July 17 list. Streaming and downloads for the Oblivion Battery opener increased this week, leading to rise in overall points. Downloads are up 117% and streaming up 102% from the previous week.

RIIZE’s “Lucky” debuts at No. 2. The seven-member group’s first Japan single topped sales with 250,470 copies sold in its first week and entered the chart fueled only by this metric.

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GEMN’s “Fatal” rises to 15-3. The Oshi no Ko Season 2 opener debuted at No. 21 on the chart dated July 10 and peaked at No. 8 the following week. The release of the CD version powers the track by the duo consisting of Kento Nakajima and Tatsuya Kitani to its highest position yet. Downloads for the song are up 142%, streaming up 101%, radio airplay up 428%, and karaoke up 108% week-over-week.

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Mrs. GREEN APPLE has another song in the top five this week, with “familie” rising two notches to No. 4. The three-man pop band appeared on the music program With MUSIC on Sept. 7, which probably helped boost all metrics except radio. 

Kocchi no Kento’s “Hai Yorokonde” climbs five rungs hit No. 5 to enter the chart. The multi-talented creator recently appeared on the popular YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE, which led to a rise in streams (109%).

LE SSERAFIM’s “CRAZY” soars 67-8. Streams for the track is up 393% this week because it was released on Aug. 30, giving it only three days to count towards its debut week.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Sept. 2 to 8, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.

11 Sep 2024

Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Singalong Gives Darkness’ ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ 80% Streaming Bump

Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be major — but Harris isn’t the only person benefiting from the Taylor Swift Bump this week.

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On Sunday (Sept. 8), Swift attended the U.S. Open men’s tennis finals in Queens, New York (featuring another Taylor in American finalist Taylor Fritz), along with celebrity beau Travis Kelce. There, the pair were spotted singing (and even air-guitaring) along to a ’00s classic — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” signature hit for ’00s U.K. retro-rockers The Darkness — with Swift of course dramatically pantomiming the lyrics as well.

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Unsurprisingly, the power couple’s rock-out moment had an immediate impact on consumption of the 2003 smash. U.S. on-demand audio streams of “Thing Called Love” rose to 105,000 for the Monday (Sept. 9) following the Open, a 80% hike from the 58,000 streams the song had notched the previous Monday, according to Luminate.

It’s not the first time that Swift has lent her considerable support to the karaoke perennial. In 2016, she lip synced along to “Thing Called Love” for an Apple ad — about which Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins told Billboard, “I didn’t think we could get any sexier, but somehow Taylor raised the bar!”



The fandom between the artists is apparently mutual, as Hawkins shared this week that he had attended Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Zurich with his family earlier this year, and was left a handwritten note from Swift in the VIP tent when he arrived. “What a thrill to have you at the show!” the note to Hawkins read. “I’m a massive fan of yours, and think ‘I Believe In a Thing Called Love’ is one of the greatest songs of all time.”

“I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was a No. 2 hit on the UK Official Charts, and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay listing. Last year, Billboard‘s staff named the rock anthem the 31st best song of 2003.

11 Sep 2024

Billy Joel Wraps 10-Year MSG Residency With $266 Million in the Bank

After 10 (and a half years), Billy Joel has completed his one-show-a-month residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG). According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Billy Joel at The Garden earned $266.7 million and sold 1.9 million tickets over 104 shows.

Joel’s residency was a steady performer since its launch in 2014. He played one show at MSG every month except for June 2017 and December 2022. The other exception was a year-and-a-half hiatus due to COVID-19, from March 2020 through October 2021, plus January 2022 in the height of the first Omicron wave. All 104 shows sold out, averaging 18,604 tickets per night. Playing in the round, he out-sold the average MSG act, typically scaled to 13,000-15,000 seats.

While attendance remained consistent, ticket prices and grosses grew over the course of his decade at the arena. Joel’s 2014 shows averaged $2 million per show, steadily creeping up to $2.5 million by 2019. Upon returning from the pandemic, dynamic pricing and new platinum ticketing sent earnings soaring, from an average of $2.7 million in 2022 to $3.2 million in 2023, and up 49% to $4.7 million this year.

Joel’s final MSG show topped the entire run, bringing in more than $5 million from 18,576 tickets on July 25. That’s more than double the sub-$2 million revenue from the opening show on Jan. 27, 2014.

Ultimately, Billy Joel at The Garden is the third-highest grossing concert residency in Billboard Boxscore history, passing U2’s brief-but-powerful opening run at Las Vegas’ Sphere. The only artist with bigger totals is Celine Dion. The Canadian diva’s A New Day… residency ran from 2003 to 2007 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and grossed $385.1 million, while her follow-up, simply titled Celine, brought in $296.2 million from 2011 to 2019.

Though Joel’s career pre-dates the mid-1980s launch of Boxscore reporting, there is record of his presence at MSG before his sprawling residency. He played 12 shows between January and April of 2006, earning $19.2 million from 226,000 tickets. More than 18,800 fans rang in Y2K with him, on a $4.5 million gross on Dec. 31, 1999. He moved more than 100,000 tickets during a six-show run in December 1998, and before that in October 1993.

Though Joel stayed loyal to MSG while in New York, he played various isolated stadium shows around the world, plus co-headline dates with Stevie Nicks and Sting.

In all, Joel has grossed $1.2 billion and sold 15.3 million tickets across 841 reported shows, dating back to 1986.

11 Sep 2024

Chart Rewind: In 1999, Chely Wright Got a No. 1 Country ‘Single’

On Sept. 11, 1999, Chely Wright’s “Single White Female” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Shaye Smith wrote the song, the lead single and title track from Wright’s set that Tony Brown, Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson produced.

Wright was born on Oct. 25, 1970, in Kansas City, Mo. She followed her dreams to Nashville in 1989, eventually signing with Polydor and winning for top new female vocalist at the 30th Academy of Country Music Awards in 1995. She shifted to MCA Nashville in 1997 and “Single White Female” became her ninth of 17 Hot Country Songs appearances, logged in 1994-2005, and stands as her sole top 10.

Then-MCA Nashville president Tony Brown told Billboard in 1997, “She called me for lunch, and said, ‘Would you be interested in me if I get free?’ You know, you look around town at every label and you sort of have your wish list of people who might become available. Nine times out of 10, it’s not the big headliners. But then you come to an artist who has been around for a couple of albums and is not quite established, but you know they’re just waiting for that break. This has happened to me several times before, with Steve Earle, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill. If you grab them at the right time, you can really slam a home run.”

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A testament to her courage, Wright came out as the first openly gay artist in the format, sharing her story in her 2010 memoir, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer, published by Random House.

Wright continues her work as an advocate and speaker for gay rights and still tours and records. She released her most recent album, Revival, in March 2019.

11 Sep 2024

CeCe Winans Earns Her Fifth Gospel Airplay Chart No. 1 With ‘That’s My King’

CeCe Winans banks her fifth leader on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated Sept. 14) as “That’s My King” rises two spots to No. 1. During the Aug. 30-Sept. 5 tracking week, the song increased by 1% in plays, according to Luminate.

“That’s My King” was co-authored by Taylor Agan, Kellie Gamble, Lloyd Nicks and Jess Russ. It’s from Winans’ album More Than This, which entered at No. 1 on the Top Gospel Albums chart in May, becoming her 10th leader. It has spent three weeks at the summit and ranks at No. 3 on the latest list.

Winans earns her fourth Gospel Airplay No. 1 in a row among her five total chart-toppers. “That’s My King” follows “Goodness of God,” which dominated for four weeks beginning last February; “Believe for It” (two weeks starting in January 2022); and “Never Lost” (one week, May 2021). Winans’ debut entry, “Pray,” controlled the list for two frames beginning in January 2006.

The Detroit native boasts five total Gospel Airplay top 10s; in addition to her No. 1s, “Never Have To Be Alone” peaked at No. 5 in April 2017. “That’s My King” also ranks at No. 7, after reaching a personal-best No. 6, on Christian Airplay with 4.3 million in audience at the format. It became Winans’ second top 10 on the chart, after “Believe for It” reached No. 7 in August 2021.

Currently on tour, Winans – who has hit Billboard’s charts since 1987 as half of sibling duo BeBe & CeCe Winans – makes her next stop in Toronto on Sept. 19 at the Church on the Queensway.

10 Sep 2024

Billboard’s Bluegrass Chart Has a New Record-Holder for the Most No. 1 Albums

Billboard launched its Bluegrass Albums chart in 2002, and for the past several years, Old Crow Medicine Show has held the record for the most No. 1 albums in the chart’s history.

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This week (on the Sept. 14-dated chart), the Steep Canyon Rangers tie the record with their new live album, Live at Greenfield Lake. The set debuts at No. 1 with nearly 1,000 copies sold, according to Luminate, becoming the group’s 10th No. 1.

Here’s a look at the acts with the most No. 1s on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart (through the chart dated Sept. 14):

  • 10, Old Crow Medicine Show
  • 10, Steep Canyon Rangers
  • 7, Punch Brothers
  • 7, Ricky Skaggs
  • 7, Rhonda Vincent
  • 6, Dailey & Vincent
  • 6, Steve Martin
  • 6, Nickel Creek
  • 5, Chatham County Line
  • 5, The Infamous Stringdusters
  • 5, Alison Krauss

The Steep Canyon Rangers charted their first album on Billboard’s charts in May 2006 with One Dime at a Time (No. 13 peak). They followed that up with two top 10 projects, Lovin’ Pretty Women (No. 5; 2007) and Deep in the Shade (No. 3; 2009) before teaming up with Steve Martin for their first No. 1: Rare Bird Alert in 2011.

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Here are all 10 of Steep Canyon Rangers’ No. 1 albums:

  • Rare Bird Alert with Steve Martin (2011)
  • Tell the Ones I Love (2013)
  • Live with Steve Martin and featuring Edie Brickell (2014)
  • Radio (2015)
  • The Long-Awaited Album with Steve Martin (2017)
  • Out in the Open (2018)
  • North Carolina Songbook (2019)
  • Be Still Moses with Asheville Symphony (2020)
  • Morning Shift (2023)
  • Live at Greenfield Lake (2024)