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Mariah Carey has notched the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, 19, among soloists in the chart’s history. She has co-written 18 of those songs (her No. 1 haul rounded out by her 1992 MTV Unplugged cover of the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There”) and shares insights into her songwriting process in the new Audible Original Portrait of a Portrait, released Thursday (May 23).
The recording marks the 40th in the storytelling platform’s Words + Music franchise, which originated in January 2020.
While encompassing Carey’s career, which launched with her first Hot 100 No. 1, “Vision of Love,” in 1990, the recording delves deep, per the title of the latest edition, into the song “Portrait” from her most recent studio LP, 2018’s Caution. It also premieres a house remix of the track, transforming the ballad into an extended club anthem.
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“It gave me the ability to talk about these lyrics, which I haven’t done,” Carey says at the close of the Audible Original. “So it’s been a cathartic experience for me.” (“And I hope it’s been … whatever experience you were looking for, hopefully you got it. And if you didn’t, I don’t know what to tell you,” she says with a laugh.)
Among Carey’s biggest chart honors, beyond her record sum of Hot 100 No. 1s among solo acts, her modern classic carol “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reigns as the top title in the history of Billboard’s Holiday 100 chart. She is also the only artist with three songs to top the Hot 100 for at least 14 weeks each: “One Sweet Day” with Boyz II Men (16 weeks, 1995-96), “We Belong Together” (14, 2005) and her yuletide standard, originally released in 1994 (14), while her 93 total weeks atop the Hot 100 mark the most among all acts.
Plus, Carey earned top honors in the Dec. 25, 1999, Billboard issue, in which she was ranked the No. 1 pop artist of the ‘90s and “One Sweet Day” reigned as the decade’s biggest Hot 100 hit. In the Dec. 19, 2009, issue, “We Belong Together” was crowned the leading Hot 100 entry of the ‘10s.
Additionally, Carey has sold 56.1 million albums in the U.S., according to Luminate, six of which have topped the Billboard 200. Her songs (as the sole billed lead artist) have drawn a colossal 85.4 billion in radio airplay audience and 9.4 billion official on-demand U.S. streams.
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Upon the release of Portrait of a Portrait, Carey spoke with Billboard about the different sides of her songwriting, whether she’s been able to tell which of her songs would become her biggest hits, and her vaunted place in Billboard chart history.
Beyond your voice, and so many songs overall, what does it mean to you to have your songwriting, and lyrics, specifically, praised?
I think that’s amazing. Depending on who I’m writing with or just writing by myself, it’s something that I love to do so much. Sometimes I just don’t care [about credit], because I know what I do.
What do you get, personally, out of writing lyrics? What is the reason you write?
It’s hard to explain … and that’s the first line of the song I wrote called “Outside” [from Carey’s 1997’s album Butterfly]: “It’s hard to explain.” It’s really something that … I wouldn’t be happy with my life if I didn’t do. And I don’t just do it for the credit or anything else. I do it because I love to do it.
Some songwriters say that songs are channeled through them, as much as a writer actively creates them.
I agree with that. It is that. Even with a melody, you’re coming up with this melody … and it’s coming through you. Same with the lyrics that go with it.
How much of you, of who you are, do you think that you’ve revealed in your lyrics? You’ve shared everything from misery, as you joke about in the Audible recording, to merry …
I think … it’s a lot. [Chuckles] There can be songs that are merry and that show a specific side of me, and then there are songs that are, I joke, using this word “miserable” … me and my friend made this up when we were editing something. We were like, “Put the misery in!” But it’s true … it’s just a little element that you add to the song.
“Portrait” – there’s a line: “pushing past the parasites.” I put that in and I almost didn’t, [thinking] “Is that too much?” “Is that too intense?” But then I said, “That is exactly what I’m going through” at the time. “There are some people in my life that not good people, and that’s what’s happening.” So I just sometimes feel like it’s OK to be absolutely real.
In my song “Looking In” [from 1995’s Daydream], it’s, “You look at me and see the girl that lives inside the golden world, but don’t believe that’s all there is to see, you’ll never see the real me.” It starts out that way and then goes into, “She smiles through a thousand tears and harbors adolescent fears/ She dreams of all that she can never be/ She wades in insecurity and hides herself inside of me.” That’s not even the whole first verse … but that’s how I felt at the time. So I have to just be who I am. Sometimes it’s just the right course to take.
That seems to be what makes you, and any artist, relatable. We’ve seen that especially with social media. Maybe years ago, the idea of entertainment was of perfection, all the time. But people can take comfort in knowing that everyone goes through the same struggles. A psychology analysis you weren’t necessarily looking for …
I like it, I like it.
You note in the Audible Original that you’re aware that sometimes you’re attempting to write or co-write a hit. Other times, it’s more about what you want to write, such as more spiritual songs, potential album cuts, and not thinking so much about single releases and the business. About the first part of that: Do you know when you’ve written a hit?
Sometimes you’re like, “This feels like a hit,” but I don’t always say that. I don’t want to jinx it. [Laughs]
Certain times I’ve said, “Oh, this is definitely a hit.” Other times, like you said, certain songs, the spiritual songs, you don’t think, “This is going to be a hit,” but it might be your favorite, or a fan favorite.
A song can be a hit even to one person, and can mean so much.
Right.
Not to get you to brag, but can you think of any songs that you had a good idea would be big chart hits after writing them?
I didn’t always know what a big song was. Like, “This is going to be No. 1 for eight weeks!” I felt that “Fantasy” was going to be a big record, but who knows?
Looking at your transition of lead singles, from 1991’s “Emotions” to 1993’s “Dreamlover,” “Fantasy” in 1995, “Honey” in 1997 and more, it seems like you’ve always been on the pulse of where hit music is, watching trends and also setting them, moving sounds forward.
I think so. I think I would always be like, “I want to write a song like this,” and then take my time, do it and luckily have a moment that was very successful. Then again, I would have a song like “Butterfly” and it didn’t get released [as a commercially available single at the time] and it didn’t really do any kind of big numbers on the charts. But I loved it and I think a lot of my die-hard fans loved it and it really was meaningful.
Hopefully you might like a couple of geeky Billboard-related stats, as they also tie in so perfectly to your history: Nov. 1, that’s when the holiday season, of course, starts – not sure if you knew, but that’s Billboard’s birthday, as well, back in 1894.
No! I didn’t know that.
… and Aug. 4, when “Vision of Love” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1990, that’s the Hot 100’s birthday, in 1958.
I love that.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” going to No. 1 on the Hot 100 each year since 2019 reflects how much people love that song and holiday music overall. It was obviously already beloved, but streaming helped push it to the top at last. Had the technology existed earlier, it might’ve been No. 1 many more years before.
That’s amazing, to think of it like that.
What does it mean to you to have 19 Hot 100 No. 1s, the most among soloists and just one below The Beatles’ record 20?
I don’t know what I think about that! [Laughs] I don’t know. I think it’s astonishing.
On one level it’s like, “[I] don’t really care.” But it’s not. To have 19 No. 1 singles and be one away from The Beatles … I don’t know how I can’t acknowledge that. One away from The Beatles … that’s a lot. I think it’s a little hard to wrap my head around.
Kings of Leon scores its sixth top 10-charting effort on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as the band’s latest studio release, Can We Please Have Fun, bows at No. 3 on the May 25-dated tally. The set also makes a splash on a number of other rankings, including top 10 debuts on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Current Album Sales, Indie Store Album Sales and Vinyl Albums.
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Can We Please Have Fun sold 14,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending May 16, according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department holds atop the list for a third nonconsecutive week, Knocked Loose scores its best sales week ever and highest charting album with the No. 2 debut of You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, and Scotty McCreery’s Rise & Fall starts at No. 6 – marking his sixth top 10 set.
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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 Poets captures a third nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on Top Album Sales (41,000; down 19%), while Knocked Loose logs its best sales week and highest charting effort yet, as You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To enters at No. 2 with 18,000 sold.
SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN Best Album ‘17 Is Right Here’ slips 3-4 with 11,000 (down 78%), Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover at No. 5 (8,000; up 9%), McCreery’s Rise & Fall bows at No. 6 (7,000), Swift’s former leader Lover is stationary at No. 7 (nearly 7,000; up 7%), Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism falls 1-8 in its second week (6,000; down 89%) and Swift’s chart-topping Midnights motors 11-9 (just over 5,000; up 4%).
Rounding out the top 10 is Hozier’s Wasteland, Baby!, which jumps 16-10 with 5,000 (up 30%), following the recent release of a new Amazon-exclusive vinyl edition of the album.
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” holds at No. 1 for the 16th week on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart dated May 22.
The MASHLE season 2 opener shows signs of slowing down in all metrics except radio airplay this week, though only slightly. The viral rap banger continues to dominate multiple metrics this week — streaming, video views, and karaoke — while coming in at No. 3 for downloads and No. 37 for radio.
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Ae! group’s “《A》BEGINNING” bows at No. 2. It’s the lead track off the debut single by the five-member STARTO ENTERTAINMENT boy band, released May 15. The CD launched with 782,835 copies and hits No. 1 for sales and comes in at No. 3 for radio and No. 46 for video.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” rises a notch to No. 3 this week. Streaming, video, and karaoke for the Oblivion Battery opener are up 102%, 105%, and 118%, respectively. Other songs by the popular three-man band continue to rise up the chart this week: “Que Sera Sera” moves 14-13, “Ao to Natsu” 24-23, and “Magic” 38-37. Points for “Boku no koto” increased 1.4 times and the track climbs 78-47.
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Juice=Juice’s “Tokyo Blur” debuts at No. 7, selling 73,185 CDs in its first week to hit No. 2 for sales. The girl group’s 18th single also comes in at No. 13 for downloads and No. 17 for radio.
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Debuting at No. 9 after being digitally released May 13 is MY FIRST STORY x HYDE’s “Mugen.” The opening theme song for the Hashira Training arc of the popular TV anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba rules downloads and hits No. 33 for streaming and No. 61 for radio.
Outside the top 10, Noa’s “Hatsukoi Killer” jumps 42-17. Points for the track increased in all the metrics of the chart’s measurement, but streaming in particular gained 1.7 times from the week before. The total is at 169% week-over-week.
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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 May 13 to 19, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Another edition of Eurovision Song Contest – the pan-European Olympics of pop songwriting – has come and gone, but the competition’s impact lingers, with six songs appearing on the May 25-dated Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. Nemo’s “The Code” won for Switzerland and leads all charting songs, debuting at No. 21, while also cracking the Billboard Global 200 at No. 52.
“The Code” arrives with 21.6 million streams worldwide, 20.8 million of which, or 96%, were from outside the U.S., May 10-16, according to Luminate. It crowns Billboard’s Switzerland Songs, while placing in the top 10 on rankings reflecting activity in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg and Sweden.
Eurovision runner-up Baby Lasanga’s “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, representing Croatia, and fourth-place finisher Slimane’s “Mon Amour” (France) also debut on both global charts. The former is new at No. 64 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 139 on the Global 200, and the latter starts at Nos. 61 and 144, respectively.
Plus, third-place finalist “Teresa & Maria” by Alyona Alyona and Jerry (Ukraine) hits Global Excl. U.S. at No. 130 and seventh-place finisher “La Noia” by Angelina Mango (Italy) arrives one spot higher at No. 129.
One other Eurovision song appears on both global charts, but you won’t find it on the competition’s leaderboard. Joost’s “Europapa,” representing the Netherlands, was disqualified from competing after the singer threatened Eurovision’s production crew. The ban may have helped spur global consumption, as its No. 24 re-entry on Global Excl. U.S. comes just below the winning track’s debut, and it leads the Eurovision pack on the Global 200, one spot above “The Code,” at No. 51.
The global success of Joost’s entry, particularly on the Global 200, were U.S. sales and streams are part of the chart’s equation, is unique. On average, this year’s six Eurovision tracks drew 3.65% of their worldwide streams from the U.S. in the frame following the competition’s close, in line with last year’s 3.58%. But “Europapa” is an outlier, more than doubling that average. Of 23 million streams worldwide in the tracking week, 7.44% come from the U.S., marking the highest domestic share of any Eurovision song to have hit the global charts since 2021. The song’s spiked American activity is notable since its lyrics are in Dutch (while “The Code” is performed in English).
The total tally of six Global Excl. U.S.-charting songs improves upon the four from Eurovision’s 2023 haul and matches 2022’s six. Still, 2021’s competition remains unmatched with seven, including Måneskin, which won for Italy with “Zitti E Buoni.” That song got as high as No. 10 but proved an appetizer for the group’s “I Wanna Be Your Slave” and “Beggin,” which climbed to Nos. 8 and 2, respectively, later that year.
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: Winners and other participants post gains from both the ACMs and Eurovision, while a pair of new viral sensations make waves and an expecting pop superstar sees an appropriate song bump.
2024 ACM Awards Spur Streaming Gains for Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson & Kelsea Ballerini
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Last week’s Reba McEntire-hosted ACM Awards (May 16) treated viewers to show-stopping performances and moving acceptance speeches, both of which resulted in impressive streaming gains for some of country music’s biggest stars.
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Chris Stapleton – who took home three trophies, including male artist, artist-songwriter and album of the year – had the night’s buzziest performance thanks to a surprise appearance from Dua Lipa. The pop star joined the soulful country crooner on a duet version of “Think I’m in Love With You,” the second single from his 2023 album Higher. During the Friday and Saturday preceding the ACMs (May 10-11), Stapleton’s track pulled 1.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That number grew by 15% to 1.86 million streams the following Friday-Saturday (May 18-19). Notably, U.S. digital sales for “Think I’m In Love With You” ballooned 908% from 114 copies sold (May 11-12) to 1,149 copies sold (May 18-19). This bodes well for the pair’s upcoming collaboration, slated for release later this year.
Stapleton and Lainey Wilson tied as the night’s most-awarded artists, with the recent Billboard cover star reigning victorious in the categories of entertainer, female artist and music event of the year. Wilson opened the show with a medley of Little Texas’ “God Blessed Texas” and her own “Hang Tight Honey,” the lead single for her forthcoming Whirlwind LP.
Released mid-tracking week on May 13, “Hang Tight Honey” earned just over 223,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the weekend preceding the ACMs (May 15-16). By the following weekend (May 18-19), that figure exploded by 333% to 968,000 streams, likely boosted by both her performance and key New Music Friday playlist placements. Like Stapleton’s track, “Honey” also posted sizable sales gains, more than doubling from 402 copies sold (May 15-16) to 851 copies sold (May 18-19).
Wilson’s win for female artist of the year came at the expense of Kelsea Ballerini, who was recognized in that category at the 2024 ceremony. Nonetheless, Ballerini scored a streaming win of her own thanks to her Noah Kahan-assisted mash-up of her own “Mountain With a View” and his smash hit “Stick Season.”
“Mountain With a View,” the opening track to Ballerini’s Grammy-nominated Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, earned 95,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the weekend preceding the ACMs (May 11-12). Following her beautiful Kahan link-up, that figure rose by 21% to 115,000 streams the weekend following the awards show (May 18-19). – KYLE DENIS
Disqualified Eurovision Single Scores Bigger U.S. Streams Than Song Contest Winner
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Although Eurovision, the long-running international song contest held each spring, has historically had a muted impact on the U.S. charts, recent contests did produce some crossover stars (such as 2021 winners Måneskin) and singles (like Duncan Laurence’s “Arcade,” which became a top 40 hit on the Hot 100 after earning the 2019 Eurovision crown). Following the 2024 edition last week, multiple Eurovision singles are earning sizable weekly streams in the U.S. — although the winning Eurovision single is actually being out-gained by a song that wasn’t allowed to place in the contest.
“The Code,” an operatic drum-n-bass track by Swiss performer Nemo about their self-acceptance as a non-binary artist, emerged victorious in the Eurovision final, and its streams have skyrocketed in the days following the competition. Released in February, “The Code” earned 86,000 U.S. on-demand streams during the week ending May 9, the day the song was featured in the second semi-final, according to Luminate; the following week (May 10-16), that number jumped to 868,000, essentially multiplying its weekly U.S. streams tenfold after winning the competition on May 11.
In a bizarre twist, however, “Europapa,” the Netherlands’ Eurovision nominee by the Dutch artist and former YouTuber Joost, is practically doubling the U.S. weekly streams of “The Code,” earning 1.75 million streams during the week ending May 16. The rave track was disqualified from the Eurovision final “following threatening behaviour directed at a female member of the production crew” by Joost backstage at the contest, according to an official statement. And while “Europapa” may be earning more streams from American listeners, “The Code” is resonating with global listeners, debuting at No. 18 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart this week, while “Europapa” bows at No. 37. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Dallas Rapper Ian Flips Months-Long Marketing Campaign into Breakout Streaming Success
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As the dust around the Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef settled, the hip-hop world’s attention turned to an enigmatic young rapper that simultaneously exists opposite to and in conversation with that generational battle.
After making his recording debut with 2022’s “G63,” the Dallas-bred producer-rapper spent the following two years nurturing fans in various pockets of the underground rap scene with a series of standalone singles. That grind culminated in a breakout 2024 for the artist, with “Grand Slam” — alongside a new Instagram account – launching him further into the mainstream.
Earlier this month (May 13), Ian released the music video for “Figure It Out” via Lyrical Lemonade. The clip featured an appearance from former NFL star Marshawn Lynch, who the rapper namechecks in the song. During the preceding weekend (May 10-12), Ian’s catalog garnered just over 1.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams. In the days following the music video release (May 13-15) that number soared by 63% to 1.83 million streams – but an even bigger boost was on the horizon.
Last Friday (May 17), Ian unleashed his debut mixtape, Valedictorian, featuring a voiceover intro from DJ Holiday and production contributions from Sxprano and Tana. Upon release, Ian effectively became one of the most talked about recording artists in the world, with discourse surrounding his project dominating social media. During Valedictorian’s release weekend (May 16-18), streaming activity for Ian’s catalog soared to 11.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams, posting a jaw-dropping 525% increase.
With hip-hop heavyweights like Cole Bennett and DJ Holiday already in his corner, it looks like the Ian takeover is just getting started. – KD
Rising Artist Lithe Springs Forward With “Fall Back”
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The Australian singer and producer Lithe turned major label heads quickly with “Fall Back,” a slippery, subdued R&B track released on March 21st. His follower count on TikTok — where several “Fall Back” videos have earned millions of views — started to rocket upwards in the first week of April, according to Chartmetric. And his streaming numbers soon followed suit: Plays in the U.S. more than doubled from around 834,000 during the week ending April 25th to 1.76 million the week ending May 2nd. The count has continued to increase, topping the 3 million threshold for the week ending May 16th. “Been vibing with him since early 2023,” one excited fan commented on TikTok of the still-unsigned artist. “Now he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves!” – ELIAS LEIGHT
Season’s Gainings: Happy Mother’s Day, Hailey Bieber
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The pop world was overjoyed a couple Fridays ago (May 9) to hear the news that pop star Justin Bieber and his wife, model and beauty influencer Hailey Bieber, would be expecting their first child. The expecting couple enjoyed their first Mother’s Day just a couple few later (May 12) – and the combination of the holiday and the announcement evidently spurred Beliebers to get a little sentimental with one of Bieber’s (loosely) parentally titled pop classics. “Baby,” the song that confirmed The Bieb as one of the great pop sensations of the early ‘10s, racked up 2.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending May 16 – a 13% gain over the previous week, according to Luminate. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. Next week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated June 1), it’s a superstar showdown between Billie Eilish’s new album and Taylor Swift’s reigning blockbuster.
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Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft (Darkroom/Interscope): Perhaps the most anticipated release of this month, Billie Eilish’s third LP Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted on Friday (May 17). The follow-up to her acclaimed 2021 sophomore set Happier Than Ever marked a first for Eilish, as it featured no advance singles, as the artist encouraged her fans to experience the album – largely focused on her self-discovery in terms of her identity and sexuality as she enters her 20s – all at once.
And it seems many have done just that. Hit Me – which has racked up perhaps the strongest reviews yet of her already highly celebrated young career – has performed very well on streaming through its first five days of release, with every one of its 10 tracks still ranking in the top 25 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart, with each garnering over a million spins each. Of course, there being only 10 tracks on the album may mean the album still ends up with a relatively modest overall stream total compared to some recent blockbusters with more gargantuan tracklists, but its impressive endurance across the board throughout the week should still lead to fairly resounding first-week numbers.
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The set should also sell quite well, with Eilish a reliably strong performer there – Happier sold 154,000 copies in its first week, making for well over half of the set’s overall first-week performance (238,000 equivalent album units). To help with those numbers, Eilish has released nine vinyl editions of Hit Me (one of which, a webstore exclusive, was signed), all in different-colored variants. There are also four separate CD options (standard CD; a signed CD exclusive to her webstore; a “splatter” CD where Eilish splattered paint across the CD booklets en masse, and then those were collated into their packaging; and a Target-exclusive CD containing a poster), as well as a cassette version, and a digital deluxe album that also includes isolated vocal tracks for the 10 songs on the album.
Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (Republic): But of course, to get her third straight No. 1 album, Eilish will have to unseat the album that’s topped the chart for the last month: Taylor Swift’s historic-selling The Tortured Poets Department. This week, in its fourth week on top, Poets posted 260,000 units – mostly in streams, with the set remaining a consistently dominant performer on DSPs with the 31 tracks of its Anthology edition. (It was also assisted in the most recent frame from added interest following the resumption of her Eras Tour in Europe on May 9, with six Poets tracks now newly added to the setlist.)
Revived live attention won’t be the only thing likely to help Poets’ performance on next week’s chart, though. On May 16 – at the end of the last tracking week – Swift posted pre-orders on her site for a May 17 delivery of new digital editions of her latest album, with three different variants that all also offered one “First Draft Phone Memo” version each of one of the album’s tracks (“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” “Cassandra” and ”The Black Dog”). In addition to that, her sales week could also still be impacted by a variety of CD edition releases – featuring bonus tracks and/or other collectibles — posted to her website for pre-order in May prior to this tracking week, whose exact shipping dates are currently unknown.
The race could be a close one, as the excitement over Eilish’s brand-new release competes with the sheer overwhelming volume of Swift’s reigning behemoth. It’s one that’s sure to get a lot of attention in the pop community – particularly after Eilish’s comments in a Billboard March interview decrying artist wastefulness in releasing excessive vinyl variants were interpreted by many Swifties as a shot at Taylor. (Eilish later clarified that she was not singling out any artist with her comments, and acknowledged that she was guilty of the practice herself.)
IN THE MIX
Zayn, Room Under the Stairs (Mercury/Republic): Elsewhere in the pop world: Zayn goes country! The One Direction alum’s latest set is influenced by his love of Willie Nelson and Chris Stapleton, and is even co-helmed by the latter artist’s go-to producer Dave Cobb. The album is not expected to stream in particularly robust numbers – Zayn has not had a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2020 – but it should sell respectably, thanks in part to the availability of six vinyl and four CD variants, as well as a deluxe digital album with five bonus “Z sides” tracks.
New Kids on the Block, Still Kids (BMG): Speaking of boy band vets: Nearly four decades into their career, NKOTB remain hangin’ tough, and just released their eighth album Still Kids, still with the classic Donnie, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan and Danny lineup. The new set – their first since 2013’s 10, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 — features collabs with fellow late-’80s survivors Taylor Dayne and DJ Jazzy Jeff, and is available in four vinyl and two CD variants.
Cage the Elephant, Neon Pill (RCA): Kentucky hitmakers Cage the Elephant have been getting it done on rock radio and on tour for over 15 years now, and though their days of competing for the top of the Billboard 200 – their 2011 set Thank You Happy Birthday peaked at a career-best No. 2 – are likely over, they’re still going to make an impact each time out. Sixth album Neon Pill, featuring the Alternative Airplay-topping title track, is the band’s first album in five years, and is for sale in five vinyl variants and a standard CD edition.
Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” both strike the top 10 on each of Billboard’s global charts (dated May 25) – the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. – joining forces as the first pair of country songs to simultaneously appear in the top 10 of both surveys.
“I Had Some Help” debuts atop the Global 200 with 119 million streams worldwide in the week ending May 16, according to Luminate. In doing so, it becomes Post Malone’s second No. 1 debut on the ranking in just four weeks. Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” on which he’s featured, ruled for two weeks earlier this month. For Wallen, it’s his first leader, surpassing the No. 5 peak of last year’s “Last Night.”
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“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is Shaboozey’s third global chart entry, following his two features on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. Both “Spaghettii” and “Sweet * Honey * Buckin’” logged one week on the April 13-dated list, just two frames before the arrival of “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
Post Malone and Wallen’s team-up is just the third country song to crown the Global 200 in its four-year history (as defined by titles that have hit Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart), following Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” in March and Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021, with each having led for one week.
Shaboozey follows at No. 5 on the latest Global 200, bookending the first pair of country songs to simultaneously appear in the top five.
The breakthrough of both tracks is even more significant on the Global Excl. U.S. chart, where country music has historically struggled, dating to the list’s September 2020 inception. While the Global 200 ranks songs based on sales and streams from over 200 international territories, Global Excl. U.S. removes domestic consumption, revealing the biggest songs in the world outside of the United States.
On Global Excl. U.S., “I Had Some Help” starts at No. 3 and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” rises 13-10, marking just the third and fourth country songs to hit the tally’s top 10, following entries by Beyoncé and Swift.
While Post Malone and Shaboozey’s top five success on the Global 200 are in line with the highs of 2023 hits from Jason Aldean, Zach Bryan, Oliver Anthony Music and Morgan Wallen, their concurrent top 10 placements on Global Excl. U.S. far exceed that group, which, of their tracks, reached a No. 82 high on the tally via Wallen’s “Last Night.” None of the others even hit the top 100.
Plus, Post Malone and Shaboozey’s new hits appear on 13 of Billboard’s Hits of the World charts. “I Had Some Help” replaces “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” atop Norway Songs and leads Ireland Songs, while the latter holds at No. 1 on Sweden Songs. Throughout its run last year, which included 16 weeks atop the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 and a No. 1 finish on the chart’s year-end edition, Wallen’s “Last Night” appeared on just three such international rankings.
Surely “I Had Some Help” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” are both helped by major elements outside of country music. The former is by Post Malone, one of Billboard’s top 10 artists of the 2010s with strong history in pop and hip-hop circles, much like the crossover success of global country hits from Beyoncé and Swift. And while Shaboozey is a new act without ties to other genres, the song interpolates J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” a No. 2 Hot 100 hit that also topped Hot Rap Songs for five weeks. His recent collaborations with Beyoncé can’t hurt, either.
Post Malone and Shaboozey’s chart hits are examples of the broadening borders of the genre, as a wave of new artists gain traction on streaming services and social media internationally. Extending the hot streak, Dasha’s country-pop hit “Austin” went viral on TikTok earlier this year and has since climbed to No. 23 on Global Excl. U.S., almost 60 positions above Wallen’s previous high.
True to its name, Gunna’s new album One of Wun debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The set launches atop the list dated May 25 with 91,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the tracking week of May 10-16, according to Luminate.
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Streaming contributes 90,000 units of One of Wun’s 91,000 start, a figure equal to 118.5 million official on-demand U.S. audio and video streams of the album’s songs. The remaining 1,000 units derive from a mix of traditional album sales and song sales of the album’s cuts. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
With his new champ, Gunna picks up his fifth No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. His last five projects have all ruled the ranking; the streak began with 2019’s Drip or Drown 2 and continued with Wunna (2020), DS4Ever (2022) and A Gift & a Curse (2023). All reigned for one week except DS4Ever, which posted five frames in the top slot.
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Elsewhere, One of Wun starts at No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart, where it likewise becomes Gunna’s fifth leader. It also opens at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and gives its creator his sixth top 10 effort.
Millions of streams for One of Wun result in 13 of its tracks appearing on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, with the title cut’s entrance at No. 10 leading the pack. It secures Gunna’s 16th visit to the top tier and was the album’s most streamed track during its debut week, with 13.9 million official clicks.
Here’s a full review of Gunna’s One of Wun placements on this week’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. As 11 cuts earn their debuts, two previous releases – “Whatsapp (Wassam)” and the Offset-assisted “Prada Dem” — enjoy a respective second and seventh week on the list. The former climbs 28-24 for a new peak, while the latter rebounds 34-23, after having reached a No. 20 best.
No. 10, “One of Wun”
No. 21, “On One Tonight”
No. 23, “Prada Dem,” featuring Offset
No. 24, “Whatsapp (Wassam)”
No. 26, “Neck on a Yacht”
No. 27, “Hakuna Matata”
No. 29, “Collage”
No. 33, “Back in the A”
No. 35, “Treesh”
No. 37, “Still Prevail”
No. 39, “Trio”
No. 43, “Blackjack”
No. 49, “Let It Breathe,” featuring Roddy Ricch
What were the most notable highlights regarding the sonic characteristics of hits on Billboard’s Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales charts in 2023?
AI-powered hit song analytics platform ChartCipher has released its latest report – its first encompassing the Billboard Hot 100’s three weekly component charts – spotlighting key findings from surveys dated Jan. 7 through Dec. 30, 2023.
In October 2023, ChartCipher launched publicly, as announced jointly by MyPart and Hit Songs Deconstructed. The platform utilizes analytics from 10 of Billboard’s most prominent charts dating to the start of the 2000s: the Hot 100, Streaming Songs, Radio Songs, Digital Song Sales, Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Pop Airplay and Country Airplay.
Here are three takeaways from Chart Cipher’s newest report, reflecting performance on the Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales charts for 2023.
Which Genres Led Each Metric
“Hip-hop/rap and pop both commanded the lion’s share of streaming, each accounting for 27%” of all Streaming Songs entries in 2023, ChartCipher’s report notes. “Country followed at one-fifth and rock, at 19%.
“When it came to radio airplay, pop music dominated the airwaves with a 37% share,” per the report’s analysis of the Radio Songs chart for 2023. “Country also maintained a strong presence on the radio with a 31% share. Hip-hop/rap completed the top three, capturing 23% of airplay.
“The rock genre led digital sales with a 35% share,” ChartCipher reports of the Digital Song Sales survey over 2023. “Pop followed close behind at one-third. Country rounded out the top three at one-fifth of songs.”
Country, Latin & Rock on the Rise
Country, Latin and rock made noteworthy gains in streaming, among other metrics, on the Hot 100’s component charts in 2023.
ChartCipher
“Radio has been a stronghold for country music, though it experienced a slight but steady decline between 2019 and 2022, falling from 33% to 27%. However, in 2023, it rose back to 31%,” ChartCipher reports. “Digital sales for country music have been relatively stable, fluctuating between 19% and 24%. Notably, country music surged on the Streaming Songs chart in 2023 to one-fifth of songs, more than double its 2022 presence.”
Regarding Latin, while the genre’s share has been “consistently low” across all three metrics over the last five years, per ChartCipher, it saw “significant growth on Streaming Songs, rising from a steady 1% of the chart between 2019 and 2021 to 6% in 2023.”
As for rock, the genre experienced year-over-year growth across all three Hot 100 component charts in 2019-22, according to ChartCipher. While it “slightly dropped” among radio hits, “rock’s prominence continued to increase in streaming and digital song sales in 2023,” from 12% in 2022 to 19% in the former metric and from 32% to 35% in the latter.
Meanwhile, hip-hop/rap and pop have experienced setbacks. “Since 2020 there has been a clear downward trend in hip-hop’s streaming presence, from 53% in 2019 to 27% in 2023,” ChartCipher reports. Still, “hip-hop’s radio presence declined between 2019 and 2022 before rebounding to nearly one-quarter of songs in 2023.”
For pop, despite taking top honors in streaming (tied with hip-hop/rap) and airplay, as noted above, the genre slipped across all three metrics in 2023. Its 37% share on Radio Songs marks a fall from a leading 54% in 2022, ChartCipher notes. Pop also backtracked slightly from a 38% share of all Digital Song Sales hits to 33% and from a 28% take of Streaming Songs entries to 27% year-over-year.
Brighter Ideas
“Brighter timbres have seen consistent growth” in songs across all three metrics that contribute to the Hot 100 over the last five years, ChartCipher states of titles’ overall tones, with brighter sounds consistently more prevalent in sales and airplay hits than highly streamed songs.
ChartCipher
Still, among Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales hits in both 2023 and the past five years, “brighter-timbred songs saw the greatest growth in streaming,” according to ChartCipher. Their prominence in the metric more than doubled from 16% of entries in 2019 to 37% in 2023, including a vault from 27% in 2022.
Such hits in 2023, covering a wide range of genres, included “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice with Aqua; “Bubbles Up” by Jimmy Buffett; “Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma; “Fast Car” by Luke Combs; and “Snooze” by SZA.
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” (Island) continues to perk in the U.K., where the U.S. singer and actor’s pop hit leads the midweek chart. There’s a contender in the wings, however, in the form of Billie Eilish’s “Lunch.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Based on sales and streaming data […]
