Chart Beat
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Jack Harlow races to his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart as “Lovin on Me” climbs from the runner-up spot to lead the list dated Jan. 6. The single’s advance comes following a 4% increase in plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored rhythmic radio stations in the week ending Dec. 28, according to Luminate.
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As “Lovin on Me” ascends, it ousts Doja Cat’s “Agora Hills” from the summit after the latter’s two-week reign.
With the new champ, Harlow nabs his fourth career champ on Rhythmic Airplay. He first led with “What’s Poppin,” featuring DaBaby, Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne, which ruled for one week in 2020, and returned to the top slot with the Lil Nas X-collaboration “Industry Baby” (four weeks, 2021) and his own “First Class” (nine weeks, 2022).
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Despite “Lovin on Me” being released on Nov. 10, the single has exploded into a multi-format radio smash by just its seventh chart week. In addition to the Rhythmic Airplay crown, Harlow’s hit repeats at No. 1 on the Rap Airplay chart for a second frame and picks up the list’s Greatest Gainer prize as it added 8% in audience in the latest tracking week. The track likewise posts a second week at No. 6 on the Pop Airplay list, though it climbed 1% in plays in the tracking week. Proving its rapid rise at the radio format, “Lovin on Me” had taken the Pop Airplay’s Greatest Gainer honor for the previous four consecutive weeks.
And call it déjà vu – “Lovin on Me” has a third repeat rank this week, also staying at No. 8 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for a second frame. The track registered an 8% boost in weekly plays in the latest tracking window, winning the list’s Greatest Gainer badge for a fifth straight week. Thanks to the strong radio performance across the rhythmic, pop and R&B/hip-hop formats, “Lovin on Me” sits at No. 5 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, having added 3% more audience to reach 51.8 million in the week ending Dec. 28.
Radio strength has helped “Lovin on Me” weather the annual storm of holiday titles on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune scored one week at No. 1 before two Christmas titles – Brenda Lee’s “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” – shared the throne for the last five chart weeks. On the most recent published chart, “Lovin on Me” is the lone non-holiday track in the top 10, at No. 9. Given the expected receding of holiday titles on next week’s list, the song is the natural front-runner to lead the Hot 100 again, and as it closes in on even more radio crowns, “Lovin on Me” should be a challenger to top the flagship chart for several weeks to come.
What was the biggest festive music over the latest holiday season?
Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart ran most recently from the rankings dated Nov. 4, 2023, through Jan. 6, 2024, while the Holiday 100 songs survey encompassed charts dated Dec. 2 through Jan. 6.
Below, Billboard recaps which titles fared best on the charts in those spans, with Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee among the season’s top performers, thanks to evergreen catalog hits.
Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums Chart – Nov. 4, 2023-Jan. 6, 2024:
No. 1, Christmas, Michael Bublé
No. 2, The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole
No. 3, Merry Christmas, Mariah Carey
No. 4, A Charlie Brown Christmas (Soundtrack), Vince Guaraldi Trio
No. 5, A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector, Various Artists
No. 6, Ultimate Christmas, Frank Sinatra
No. 7, The Greatest Christmas Hits, Pentatonix
No. 8, The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Andy Williams
No. 9, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings, Brenda Lee
No. 10, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Burl Ives
No. 11, Christmas, Cher
No. 12, Christmas Classics, Bing Crosby
No. 13, Wrapped in Red, Kelly Clarkson
No. 14, The Dean Martin Christmas Album, Dean Martin
No. 15, Greatest Christmas Songs, Perry Como
No. 16, White Christmas, Bing Crosby
No. 17, The Classic Christmas Album, Elvis Presley
No. 18, The Jackson 5 Christmas Album, Jackson 5
No. 19, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics, Gene Autry
No. 20, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Soundtrack
Bublé’s Christmas leads the ranking of the biggest titles on the Top Holiday Albums chart during the latest holiday season (combining entries’ chart points over the surveys dated Nov. 4, 2023-Jan. 6, 2024). Of the 10 weeks that Top Holiday Albums published this season, Christmas was No. 1 for eight frames. It was the most streamed holiday collection in that span, with 452.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams for its songs in that stretch, according to Luminate. Since the set was released in 2011, it has collected 52 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Top Holiday Albums chart.
Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song and Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas round out the top three titles on our merry roundup.
The past season’s two biggest new holiday albums rank at Nos. 7 and 11, respectively, on the recap above: Pentatonix’s The Greatest Christmas Hits and Cher’s first-ever holiday set, Christmas. The former peaked at No. 3 on the season’s inaugural weekly Top Holiday Albums chart dated Nov. 4, as the latter debuted atop the tally. On the all-genre Billboard 200 dated Jan. 6, Pentatonix’s album climbs to No. 10, marking the vocal group’s 11th top 10 set.
Cher’s Christmas was the top-selling seasonal collection, by traditional album sales, over the latest run of the Top Holiday Albums chart. It sold 133,000 copies in the U.S. in that span.
Meanwhile, one artist has two titles among the top 20 biggest holiday albums of the season: Bing Crosby. His Christmas Classics ranks at No. 12, while White Christmas is No. 16. The two albums don’t share any recordings, although one song, “White Christmas,” is included on both, but via different renditions.
The weekly Top Holiday Albums chart ranks the 50 most popular seasonal albums in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
Billboard’s Holiday 100 Chart – Dec. 2, 2023-Jan. 6, 2024:
No. 1, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey
No. 2, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Brenda Lee
No. 3, “Jingle Bell Rock,” Bobby Helms
No. 4, “Last Christmas,” Wham!
No. 5, “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Burl Ives
No. 6, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Andy Williams
No. 7, “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!,” Dean Martin
No. 8, “Feliz Navidad,” José Feliciano
No. 9, “Sleigh Ride,” The Ronettes
No. 10, “Underneath the Tree,” Kelly Clarkson
No. 11, “Santa Tell Me,” Ariana Grande
No. 12, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” Nat “King” Cole
No. 13, “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby with Ken Darby Singers & John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra
No. 14, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” Darlene Love
No. 15, “Jingle Bells,” Frank Sinatra with The Orchestra & Chorus of Gordon Jenkins
No. 16, “Deck the Halls,” Nat “King” Cole
No. 17, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” Michael Bublé
No. 18, “Blue Christmas,” Elvis Presley
No. 19, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra
No. 20, “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane),” Gene Autry
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reigns as the top title on the Holiday 100 this Yuletide season (combining titles’ chart points over the rankings dated Dec. 2, 2023-Jan. 6, 2024), just ahead of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” with both classics having hit notable recent chart highs.
Carey’s song, from 1994, spent two weeks atop the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in December, upping its total to 14 weeks at the summit dating to its first coronation in 2019. Among all holiday songs this season (as reflected on the Holiday 100 charts dated Dec. 2-Jan. 6), the track was the most heard on radio, with 145.5 million in all-format audience, and the most-sold, with 33,000 paid downloads.
Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” from 1958, meanwhile, completed its historic run to No. 1 on the Hot 100 at last in December – 65 years after its release – and led for three total weeks this season, through the Jan. 6-dated chart. It reigns as the most-streamed seasonal song over the holidays, with 246 million official U.S. streams during the Holiday 100’s six-week span this season.
While the bulk of the top 20 titles on the Holiday 100 for the latest season consists of classic carols over a half-century old, three of the songs were released in the 2010s: Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” from 2013 (No. 10), Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” from 2014 (No. 11), and Bublé’s “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas,” from 2011 (No. 17).
Plus, of the top 20 holiday singles this season, Nat “King” Cole is the only act with two – “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” (No. 12 above) and “Deck the Halls” (No. 16) – while the holidays, naturally, sounded a lot like Christmas, as “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” is the only composition to double-up in the top 20, thanks to versions by Bublé (No. 17) and Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra (No. 19).
The weekly Holiday 100 chart ranks the 100 most popular seasonal songs in the U.S. based on 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.
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 Jan. 13), the holiday rush is over on the charts, and now we see what rises back to the top when all those festive classics finally fall away.
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Jack Harlow, “Lovin on Me” (Generation Now/Atlantic): It almost feels like a chart nerd trivia question at this point: What song was No. 1 on the Hot 100 before Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” spent five weeks trading off at the top spot? The answer: Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” which reached pole position in its second chart week after its quickly viral debut, becoming his third No. 1 in as many years on the listing.
Over a month later, the song is still going strong: It’s the only non-Christmas entry in this week’s top 10, holding on at No. 9, and has climbed to No. 5 on Radio Songs, while also reclaiming its throne atop the daily rankings for Spotify and Apple Music. In other words, there’s every indication that with the holiday songs disappearing on the Hot 100 – as they customarily do the first full chart week post-Christmas — “Lovin on Me” will not only be a leading candidate to recapture the top spot, but that it might be around for a long time still to come.
Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (Republic): What, you thought that with the calendar turning to 2024, you might actually have a little less Taylor in your life? Not on this chart, anyway. Swift still maintained a trio of songs on the Hot 100 throughout the holiday season – led, of course by the blazing “Cruel Summer,” which topped the ranking for four weeks in October and November and remains the second-highest-ranking non-holiday song this week (No. 19), behind “Lovin.”
And it’s still not cooling down. “Summer,” revived from 2019’s Lover, tops Radio Songs for a 10th frame this week – the longest leader of Swift’s career – while returning to the top five on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart. If even the coldest time of the year can’t tamp down this song’s incandescence, it just might end up sticking around through next summer, as well.
Tate McRae, “Greedy” (RCA): One song that was still growing as it ended up getting swallowed by the holiday rush was Tate McRae’s breakout smash “Greedy.” The pop favorite, which spends a fourth week at No. 1 on Pop Airplay this week, had broken into the Hot 100’s top 10, reaching as high as No. 7 – but would have gotten even higher had it not had to compete with the seasonal likes of Brenda and Mariah — particularly in the release week (Dec. 8) of parent album Think Later, when “Greedy” ranked behind just “Lovin” among all non-holiday songs.
The song should still be a contender in the post-holiday season, though: It remains a strong performer on both streaming and radio, and currently rates as the third-highest non-Christmas song on the Hot 100 (No. 24). That means it’s likely to hit a new peak on the chart this week as the holiday songs get put away for the new year – and beyond that, if it can get an extra boost from a new remix or performance or something else to help it regain momentum, it wouldn’t be too greedy for McRae to set her sights on the top spot.
IN THE MIX
Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” (Belting Bronco/Warner): This one feels like it came out a lifetime ago at this point, but it was only the Hot 100 dated Sept. 9 when Bryan’s and Musgraves’ duet bowed atop the chart. Four months later, the song has scarcely slowed on streaming – it’s currently in the top five on both Spotify’s and Apple Music’s daily charts – and still holds at No. 31 on the Hot 100, higher than all but four pre-holiday entries. The airwaves remain the final frontier for “Everything,” as it’s gaining slowly and surely, but remains well below the 50-song cutoff to make the Radio Songs chart.
Tyla, “Water” (Fax/Epic): “Water” was another pop hit still gaining as the holiday takeover began, just touching the top 10 (at No. 10) before the waves of Christmas songs swept it back to shore. This week, Tyla‘s hit rests just below “Everything” at No. 32 on the Hot 100, with room still to grow on radio – as it rules the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for a sixth week — though how much the South African singer-songwriter wants to continue pushing the crossover smash rather than moving on to other material (like newer single “Truth or Dare”) remains to be seen.
Nicki Minaj, “FTCU” (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic): While the Junior Senior-sampling “Everybody” held the early lead as the breakout single from rap queen Nicki Minaj’s Billboard 200-topping Pink Friday 2 album, it appears that it will soon be lapped by LP-mate “FTCU.” The Waka Flocka Flame-lifting jam has long passed “Everybody” on both the Spotify and Apple Music daily charts (landing in the top 10 on both) and it also appears two spots higher on this week’s Hot 100 (No. 53 vs. No. 55), as a major radio embrace may be the only thing standing in the way of it becoming Minaj’s biggest unaccompanied solo hit since 2022’s “Super Freaky Girl.”
Taylor Swift holds seven of the top 10 titles on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Jan. 6), marking the first time any act has concurrently claimed as many titles in the region since the chart launched in 1991. Previously, Swift held the record for the most concurrent albums in the top 10 on Top Album Sales, with six, on three separate weeks.
Swift leads the latest list with her most recent release, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which rules for a fourth nonconsecutive week. She also populates the top 10 with former chart-toppers at Nos. 2, 4, 6-8 and 10.
The Jan. 6-dated chart reflects album sales in the U.S. in the final tracking week of 2023 (Dec. 22-28), as tabulated by data-tracking firm Luminate, thus capturing some last-minute holiday shopping relating to the Christmas Day holiday on Dec. 25. Most of Swift’s sales for the week were owed to vinyl purchases. Of Swift’s total album sales across all of her albums for the week, including those not in the top 10, vinyl sales accounted for 65% of her total sales.
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 units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) heads up the new Top Album Sales chart, holding at No. 1 with 61,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 28 (down 36%). She’s also in the top 10 with Midnights (holding at No. 2 with 24,000; down 44%), Lover (3-4 with 22,000; down 28%), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (4-6 with 20,000; down 31%), Evermore (12-7 with 17,000; up 5%), Folklore (6-8 with 16,000; down 38%) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (holding at No. 10 with 13,000; down 29%).
The only non-Swift titles in the top 10 are Stray Kids’ ROCK-STAR (7-3 with 23,000; down 3%), Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts (holding at No. 5 with 20,000; down 22%) and ATEEZ’s The World EP.Fin: Will (8-9 with 14,000; down 33%) – all former No. 1s.
In the week ending Dec. 28, there were 2.507 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 29.4% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.172 million (down 32.5%) and digital albums comprised 335,000 (up 0.1%).
There were 755,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Dec. 28 (down 34.4% week-over-week) and 1.409 million vinyl albums sold (down 31.4%).
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 […]
Elvis Presley makes a royal return to the Billboard Hot 100’s top 20 as his classic 1957 carol “Blue Christmas” jumps to No. 18, from No. 25, on the chart dated Jan. 6, 2024.
With the ascent, the late King of Rock and Roll appears in the Hot 100’s top 20 for the first time since the chart dated Oct. 1, 1977, when his track “Way Down” likewise ranked at No. 18, its peak.
Presley died, at age 42, on Aug. 16, 1977.
“Blue Christmas” becomes Presley’s 49th top 20 Hot 100 hit, the fourth-best sum dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, start – after his 1956 commercial breakthrough. Drake leads with 133 top 20 titles, followed by Taylor Swift (85) and Lil Wayne (53).
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The song ascends with 23.3 million official U.S. streams (up 15%) and 7.7 million in radio airplay audience (up 3%) Dec. 22-28 – thus, with only four days leading up to and including Christmas Day in the tracking week – according to Luminate.
Written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson, “Blue Christmas” has hit the Hot 100 in three forms. In addition to Presley’s, The Browns’ version reached No. 97 in 1960 and Kane Brown’s interpretation rose to No. 73 last holiday season.
Going back to even before Presley’s recording, Ernest Tubb sent his take on “Blue Christmas” to No. 1 on Billboard’s Most Played Juke Box (Country & Western) Records chart over the 1949 holiday season.
Meanwhile, Presley, Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and Dean Martin all rank on the latest Hot 100 with holiday titles and share the record for the longest span of appearing on the chart: 65 years and five months; that encompasses the chart’s entire existence to date, as all five legendary artists placed on the inaugural Hot 100.
As previously reported, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” rebounds to No. 1 on the Hot 100. The fellow seasonal standard, from 1958, adds a third week at the summit, four weeks after it led for the first time. Plus, the Hot 100’s top eight titles are holiday songs for the first time ever, while nine of the top 10 are holiday hits for just the second time and a single-week-record 41 holiday songs decorate the entire chart (surpassing the 40 on the survey a year ago this week).
All charts dated Jan. 6 will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 3.
With Christmas classics having been put back into radio stations’ storage until December, regularly scheduled programming has resumed, with a familiar title atop Billboard’s Radio Songs chart.
Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” continues at No. 1 on the Radio Songs ranking (dated Jan. 6, 2024) for a 10th total week on top – becoming her first hit to reign for double-digit weeks. The song drew 64.6 million in all-format airplay audience, up 5%, Dec. 22-28, according to Luminate.
(Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was the top-charting seasonal hit on Radio Songs over the latest holiday season, reaching No. 17 a week ago, when 12 such songs decorated the 50-position list.)
Here’s an updated look at Swift’s eight Radio Songs No. 1s, ranked by most weeks spent at the summit.
Title, Weeks at No. 1, Year(s):
“Cruel Summer,” 10, to date, 2023-24
“Blank Space,” six, 2014-15
“Anti-Hero,” five, 2022-23
“Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar), five, 2015
“Shake It Off,” four, 2014
“I Knew You Were Trouble.,” four, 2013
“Wildest Dreams,” two, 2015
“You Belong With Me,” two, 2009
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“Cruel Summer,” which first hit No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart dated Oct. 7, 2023, was originally released on Swift’s 2019 Republic Records album Lover. The label began promoting the song as a single last June, after Swift began performing it on her The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(“Cruel Summer,” thus, and reflecting its mass appeal, remains atop Radio Songs in winter, after it hit No. 1 in the fall, after becoming a single last spring.)
The song also adds a new milestone on the Adult Pop Airplay chart, where it logs a 17th week at No. 1 – tying Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” for the longest command for a song by a woman (since the survey began in Billboard’s pages in March 1996; overall, the tracks share the sixth-longest rule, with Santana’s “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas, having run up a record 25-week reign in 1999-2000).
Among other chart honors for “Cruel Summer,” it became the landmark 10th of Swift’s 11 career No. 1s on the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, reigning for four weeks, and her record-breaking 12th No. 1, and her longest-leading (10 weeks), on Pop Airplay.
The song ranks at No. 19 on the latest Hot 100 with top Airplay and Sales Gainer honors. In addition to its radio resurgence, it jumped by 41% to 3,000 sold in the tracking week.
All charts dated Jan. 6 will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 3.