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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: The Bey Hive buzzes over the Cowboy Carter Tour, Mariah the Scientist eyes a proper breakout hit and Katy Perry sees a less-remembered older hit gain newfound interest.

Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Streams Giddy Up 116% Following Tour Launch

If not for the launch of Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s long-awaited co-headlining Grand National Tour last month, the most-anticipated live kickoff of the month would’ve almost certainly been Beyoncé‘s latest stadium trek, the Cowboy Carter Tour. Taking Bey around some of the biggest venues in the U.S. — and a couple in Europe as well — the Cowboy Carter Tour opened to rave reviews at Inglewood, Calif.’s SoFi Stadium last Monday (April 28), with fans around the globe gobbling up any live clips available and prepping their own costumes for when the Queen’s rodeo comes to town.

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And those same fans — whether inspired by the clips that have circulated, or merely attempting to bone up on its deeper cuts before future live dates — are of course also streaming the album in droves. From last Friday to Sunday (Apr. 25-27), the three days before the tour’s launch, Cowboy Carter generated 4.7 million total official U.S. on-demand streams across its tracks, according to Luminate. For the three days after the launch (Apr. 29-May 1), that number was up to over 10.2 million — a gain of 116%. Some of the songs from the album receiving the biggest bumps over that period include “Ya Ya” (up 147% to 544,000), “Protector” (up 207% to 438,000) and of course Bey’s reinvention of Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene” (up 118% to 405,000).

The streaming bump can also be seen in the chart performance of Cowboy Carter — which had slipped to No. 193 on the Billboard 200, at risk of falling off altogether, before rebounding all the way to No. 63 on this week’s chart (dated May 10). Will this be a one-week bump for Bey’s latest, or will it extend throughout the tour, Eras-style? That will certainly be one of the many things we continue to monitor about the Cowboy Carter Tour is it gallops around the country from here.

Mariah the Scientist’s New Song ‘Burning’ Up the Streaming Charts

R&B singer-songwriter Mariah the Scientist has developed a strong fanbase and critical reputation over the course of her three studio albums and a variety of one-off singles and feature appearances — including on Billboard Hot 100 hits by 21 Savage (“Dark Days”) and Tee Grizzley (“IDGAF”). But to this point, despite her burgeoning profile — with an added boost in exposure from her romantic relationship with hip-hop icon Young Thug — she’s still yet to notch a true breakout hit of her own as a lead artist.

Well, not until this week, anyway, following the Friday (May 2) release of Mariah’s new love ballad “Burning Blue” — which many have understandably taken to be about her storied beau, who was recently released from prison after submitting a a non-negotiated guilty plea in his RICO trial that resulted in his being sentenced to 15 years probation but no jail time. “Burning” had been teased extensively by Mariah pre-release, and upon dropping, quickly set fire to the Apple Music real-time chart, rising all the way to the top of the listing. In total, the song has racked up over 7.3 million on-demand U.S. audio streams in its first four days of release (May 2-5), according to early estimates from Luminate — an eye-popping number for a brand-new song by an artist with little chart crossover history.

Now, with the loved-up ballad spreading its way through the internet, the song sets its sights on a Hot 100 debut next week — with a good chance of even entering in the chart’s top half — as Mariah the Scientist takes the first big step on what could be a major 2025 level-up for her.

Fans Still “Thinking” About Overlooked Katy Perry Hit

While the headlines haven’t always been the kindest to Katy Perry the past month, she is off on her Lifetimes Tour, and apparently getting fans wistful about some of older hits. One that’s taken off in the past couple weeks is one that didn’t make the tour setlist: lovelorn ballad “Thinking of You,” the lone hit among breakout set One of the Boys‘ first four hits that didn’t make the top 10, peaking at No. 29 in February 2009.

The song has started to spread on TikTok — with some fans comedically taking on her vocal affectations on the track, and others simply pining for Perry at her most Alanis Morissette, a singer-songwriter mode that Perry rarely returned to on her singles after going pop supernova with 2010’s Teenage Dream blockbuster. Whatever the inspiration, the song’s virality has resulted in it nearly doubling in weekly official on-demand U.S. streams, from 279,000 for the tracking week ending April 24 to 539,000 the week of May 1, according to Luminate.

If it’s too late for Perry to work it into her Lifetimes set, maybe opener Rebecca Black could take it on instead? She has previously shown an affinity for covering less-remembered early Katy Perry singles…

back number’s “Blue Amber” debuts at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, released May 7, becoming the popular band’s sixth leader on the chart.

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The track is being featured as the theme song for the ongoing drama series starring Keiko Kitagawa called Anata wo ubatta sonohi kara. After being released digitally on April 28, the track came in at No. 2 for downloads (14,750 units), No. 7 for streaming (6,154,747 weekly streams), No. 8 for video views, and topped radio airplay. The song gives the three-man J-pop band its sixth No. 1 (nine weeks in all) on the Japan Hot 100.

Four other songs by back number are currently charting, with “Takaneno Hanakosan” rising 38-35, “Suiheisen” 46-44, “Hanataba” 65-56, and “Happy End” 78-75 this week.

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List of back number’s No. 1 Hits:

“Omoidasenakunaru sonohimade” (“Until the day I can’t remember”) “Christmas Song” [Three weeks]“Boku no Namae wo” (“(You called) my name”) “Old Fashion”“to new lovers” (Japanese title: “Atarashii Koibitotachi ni”) [Two weeks]“Blue Amber”

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “KUSUSHIKI” follows at No. 2. Compared to the week before, streaming and video for the The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Part 2 opener decreased to 93%, while downloads and karaoke increased to 108% and 136%, respectively. At No. 3 is the three-man band’s “Lilac,” moving 5-3. Streaming and video for the Oblivion Battery opener gained slightly, while downloads and karaoke showed significant growth of 121% and 135%, respectively.

≠ME’s “Mobunoderella” bows at No. 4. The title track of the group’s 10th double A-side single released April 30 topped sales with 232,441 copies sold in its first week.

King Gnu’s “TWILIGHT!!!” falls a notch to No. 5. The theme song for the animated blockbuster Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback scores its third week on the tally, coming in at No. 5 for downloads (6,333 units), No. 4 for streaming (7,639,298 streams), No. 6 for radio and No. 4 for video.

Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu’s “Sekai de ichiban idol” debuts at No. 7. The title track of the group’s double A-side single was released April 30 and came in at No. 2 for sales (85,438 copies) and No. 45 for radio. 

Also debuting at No. 9 is Travis Japan’s “Would You Like One?” The theme song for the animated movie Tabekko Doubutsu The Movie launched at No. 1 for downloads, No. 67 for streaming, and No. 55 for radio. 

Outside the top 10, Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s new song “Tengoku” debuts at No. 11. It’s the theme song for the movie Shinso wo ohanashi shimasu starring the band’s frontman Motoki Omori (alongside timelesz member Fuma Kikuchi) in a feature film for the first time. The track comes in at No. 3 for downloads and No. 12 for streaming.

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 April 28 to May 4, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.

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 200 dated May 17, we look at the chances of Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos to reclaim the chart’s top spot now that the set’s vinyl has finally shipped.  

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Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Rimas): Bad Bunny’s sixth solo studio album has unquestionably been one of the biggest hits of 2025, spending three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 in January and February, and still residing in the chart’s top 10 three months later. The set stands at No. 7 on this week’s listing (dated May 10), but may very well be headed back to a fourth total frame at pole position next week.  

That jump should be coming thanks to the set’s long-awaited release on vinyl – pre-orders for which were started back in February, but which is only shipping to customers this week. The album was sold on his webstore in a double-vinyl gatefold edition, and had been estimated to ship sometime around the end of April. The physical release is now sold out on Bad Bunny’s webstore — with no plans yet announced for future availability – but the sales boost from it, combined with the set’s continued streaming success, should be enough to put it back in heavy contention for the Billboard 200’s top spot next week.  

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If Fotos does capture a fourth week atop the chart, that will break its tie with SZA’s SOS and Playboi Carti’s Music for the longest-reigning album on the chart in 2025 – though it will still be nine weeks shy of the 13-week run of Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022 for the longest of the singer-rapper’s career.  

Fuerza Regida, 111xpantia (Street Mob/Rancho Humilde/Sony Music Latin): If there is a brand- new album that could provide competition for Bad Bunny on the Billboard 200 this week, it’s likely the latest from música Mexicana star quintet Fuerza Regida. Last Friday (May 2), the group released ninth album 111xpantia — which runs a modest 12 tracks and includes no features on its standard edition but does boast the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Por Esos Ojos,” and follows the group’s Mala Mia EP teamup with fellow hitmakers Grupo Frontera, including the breakout single “Me Jalo.”  

Just as importantly, while many of Fuerza Regida’s previous sets were only available digitally, 111xpantia is getting the full physical push, via the band’s webstore. The album has been released as four different-colored vinyl variants, as well as both a standard and signed CD (by singer Jesús Ortíz Paz) – all with the same standard tracklist – and four deluxe boxed sets, all with a signed CD, but two with a T-shirt and two with a hat. Meanwhile, the set was also issued on a deluxe digital edition, initially released only for sale through the webstore, but later to all digital retailers and DSPs.  

It may not be enough to fend off a big name like Bad Bunny, but it should likely get the group its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200, after previously peaking at No. 14 with 2023’s Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada. 

IN THE MIX 

Key Glock, Glockaveli (Paper Route Empire/Republic): Long-rising rapper Key Glock’s first album since signing to major label Republic, Glockaveli includes 18 tracks but no features – which Glock has explained he doesn’t like hosting on his albums – on its standard edition, with an extra three tracks coming on the deluxe (subtitled The Don). The set is also available on CD and vinyl and via various package sets with additional merch on his webstore. Key Glock’s previous best performance on the chart came with 2022’s Yellow Tape 2, which peaked at No. 7. 

Eric Church, Evangeline vs. The Machine (EMI Nashville): Country star Eric Church has hit the Billboard 200’s top five with each of his last seven studio albums – a streak that began in the early 2010s with the No. 1-reaching Chief (2011) and The Outsiders (2013). That run may be ending with this month’s Evangeline vs. The Machine, which only runs eight tracks and has only one minor Hot 100 hit in the No. 94-peaking “Hands of Time” to its credit so far – though its sales numbers should be helped by its availability for purchase in four vinyl variants, as well as a standard CD, and a boxed set with a shirt and CD.

Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII (Pink Floyd Music/Sony): Originally released as a documentary concert film back in 1972 – just before the band’s true stateside breakout with the release of blockbuster prog-rock opus The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd’s famous show at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy not only gets a theatrical release this year, but also an audio reissue this month on vinyl and CD, and for streaming and digital download. The 11-track, two-disc set includes early Floyd classics like “One of These Days,” “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and a version of the epic “Echoes” split into two separate parts, both of course lasting over 10 minutes.  

Singer-songwriter Brandon Lake scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart as “Hard Fought Hallelujah” ascends a spot to the top of the survey dated May 10. During the April 25-May 1 tracking week, the song increased by 6% to 3.9 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. The 34-year-old Lake, from Charleston, S.C., […]

Billboard’s Dance Moves roundup serves as a guide to the biggest movers and shakers across Billboard’s many dance charts — new No. 1s, new top 10s, first-timers and more.
This week (on charts dated May 10), Beyoncé, Gryffin, PinkPantheress and others achieve new feats. Check out key movers below.

Beyoncé

Beyoncé’s 2022 LP Renaissance rises 8-5 on the Top Dance Albums chart, earning 6,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the April 25-May 1 tracking week (up 26%), according to Luminate, as the superstar kicked off her Cowboy Carter Tour April 28 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. While the setlist primarily highlights her 2024 country album Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé included several Renaissance tracks during the tour’s first three shows (all at SoFi), including “America Has a Problem,” “My House,” “Cuff It” and “Alien Superstar.”

The album wasn’t Beyoncé’s only beneficiary: Her entire solo catalog sports gains following the tour’s launch. Her catalog raked in 57 million official U.S. streams during the tracking week, up 18% from the 48.3 million streams the week before. Cowboy Carter had the largest gains and surges 193-64 on the Billboard 200 with a 73% increase in units.

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Gryffin, Excision & Julia Michaels

Gryffin, Excision and Julia Michaels’ new collaboration, “Air,” debuts at No. 25 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, fueled entirely by its 620,000 first-week streams. The track arrived April 25 via 10K Projects.

“Air” earns Gryffin his 38th career entry on the chart, and his second of 2025, after “In My Head,” with Kaskade and Nu-La, peaked at No. 15 in February. It also becomes Excision’s 10th entry and Michaels’ fifth.

PinkPantheress

PinkPantheress lands her second entry on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart with “Stateside.” Released April 25 on Parlophone/Elektra/Atlantic Records, the track debuts at No. 11 and joins her previous single, “Tonight,” which ranks at No. 13 after debuting at No. 5 in April. Both songs are set to appear on her second mixtape, Fancy That, a nine-track project due out Friday (May 9).

PinkPantheress previously charted two tracks on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs: “Way Back” with Skrillex and Trippie Redd (No. 13 in January 2023), and Kaytranada’s “Snap My Finger,” on which she’s featured (No. 40 last June). Her breakthrough collaboration with Ice Spice, “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2023.

MEDUZA, Innellea, GENESI & Nu-La

MEDUZA, Innellea and GENESI’s “Edge of the World,” featuring Nu-La, debuts at No. 33 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, marking the highest new entry of the week. It gained by 33% in plays among 24/7 dance reporters and pop stations’ mix show hours.

The release marks a milestone for Italian house group MEDUZA, which scores its 10th career entry and first since “Another World,” with HAYLA, hit No. 1 in December, becoming the act’s third leader. It’s also the first entry for both Innellea and GENESI and the second for Nu-La, whose “In My Head,” with Gryffin and Kaskade, rises to a new No. 14 high.

In a fun twist, the chart’s second-highest debut is the similarly titled “End of the World” — Miley Cyrus’ latest single. It enters at No. 35 with a 30% gain in plays, becoming her 12th career hit on the chart.

Leon Thomas’ “Mutt” improves its case as the early breakthrough R&B song of 2025 with a coronation on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart dated May 10. The track jumps 4-1 through an 18% increase in U.S. plays in the tracking week of April 25-May 1, according to Luminate, and wins the Greatest Gainer prize, awarded […]

Gloria Estefan’s “Raíces” lands atop Billboard’s Latin Airplay, Tropical Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts (dated May 10).
Having first led Latin Airplay with “Abriendo Puertas” in October 1995, Estefan boasts the longest span of reigning at No. 1: 29 years, six months and three weeks. She also becomes the seventh act to have topped the chart in the 1990s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s.

“To see ‘Raíces’ reach No. 1 across the Latin Airplay, Tropical Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts is both humbling and incredibly emotional for me,” Estefan tells Billboard. “It’s been over a decade since I’ve had a song connect on this level, and I’m beyond grateful.”

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Estefan last reached the summit on Latin Airplay in 2012, when “Hotel Nacional” ruled for one week. Prior to that, she topped the list with “No Llores” for two weeks in 2007, marking her fifth No. 1 of the 2000s. She earned her first five leaders in the ‘90s (dating to the chart’s 1994 start).

“Personally, this song is a tribute to where I come from — to my heritage, my culture and the rhythms that shaped me,” Estefan adds of “Raíces” (which translates in English to “roots”). “Professionally, it’s a reminder that music truly has no expiration date when it comes from the heart, and to see Latin music elevated and crossing charts globally really is a dream come true and a testament to the growth of our culture and sound.”

“Raíces” makes its No. 1 breakthrough on Latin Airplay as the song soars 11-1 with the Greatest Gainer honors, awarded weekly to the song with the largest increase in audience among the chart’s 50 titles. It earned 13 million impressions, up 123%, in the week ending May 1, according to Luminate. “Raíces,” released on March 20 under Crescent Moon/Sony Music Latin, received substantial support from Spanish Broadcasting System radio stations during the latest tracking week, led by WZNT, WODA. WRXD and WMEG in Puerto Rico, as well as Miami’s WCMQ, Orlando’s WPYO and Tampa’s WSUN in Florida.

As Estefan achieves her 12th ruler on Latin Airplay, she secures her place among an elite group of artists who have logged at least one Latin Airplay chart-topper in four distinct decades. She becomes the third woman artist to achieve the feat, joining Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. The other such acts overall: Enrique Iglesias (who holds a record 32 No. 1 hits, spanning 1995-2024), Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Alejandro Fernández.

With “Raíces” also claiming the top spot on the Tropical Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts, it dons a rare triple crown, becoming the first title to top the three tallies since Carlos Vives and Camilo’s “Baloncito Viejo” held command across the June 18, 2022-dated rankings.

On Tropical Airplay, Estefan scores her first No. 1 since “Hotel Nacional” in 2012. On Latin Pop Airplay, she had last led with “No Me Dejes de Querer” in 2000.

Thanks almost entirely to its radio haul, “Raíces” makes its way to the Hot Latin Songs chart, where it debuts at No. 37. It’s her 31st entry, a total that includes 15 No. 1s among 23 top 10s.

“Thank you to the fans, radio and everyone who’s embraced ‘Raíces’,” Estefan says. “You’ve made this journey back to my musical roots so meaningful and unforgettable.”

It’s been four years since a hard rock band topped the Billboard 200 albums chart — and far longer since such a band did so without having decades of hits already to its name. But this week, Ghost puts an end to both of those droughts.

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The Swedish rock band, with its anonymous lineup and masked on-stage appearance, has grown its devoted cult of fans for over 15 years now, coming ever closer to the top spot on the Billboard 200 with their first five album releases. Now, the group has finally captured its first No. 1, with sixth album Skeletá bowing at pole position, moving 86,000 first-week units, according to Luminate (with the majority coming in physical sales).

How did the group get over the top on the Billboard 200? And which band could be next? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.

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1. Ghost’s Skeletá becomes the band’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with 86,000 units moved. On a scale from 1-10, how surprised are we by that first-week performance?

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: It’s around a 9 or 10 for me. 86,000 units for a ROCK record in 2025 is an unbelievable accomplishment, especially when the band is this gothic and relatively niche. Don’t get me wrong, Ghost’s following has been strong and steady for years now, but I don’t think anyone anticipated their supporters to be this die-hard this many years later. The group has been cranking out records consistently since 2010, so they’re by no means a buzzing new band, nor do they have any sort of obvious mainstream pop culture support. This album is kinda just business-as-usual for them, making the No. 1 debut that much more impressive. 

Lyndsey Havens: 8. Ghost has been around for almost 20 years, having formed in 2006 and released its debut album in 2010. And Skeletá is its sixth album. That’s not to say the group hasn’t had incredible success across that timeline, but to debut atop the all-genre albums chart is indeed impressive — and yes, a bit of a shock. But it’s important to look at the circumstances, too; Skeletá is the only debut in the top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 chart, meaning it wasn’t a particularly crowded week for new releases. Even so, 86,000 units moved isn’t nothing — and I think this No. 1 debut is an important reminder of the ironically quiet yet sturdy interest in hard rock. 

Elias Leight: 7 — the band did hit No. 2 in the past, and it helped that Ghost released Skeletá during a quiet chart week. Still, it’s always surprising when a group with so few streams tops the Billboard 200. 

Andrew Unterberger: Maybe a 6? I’d go higher if I didn’t already know anything about the band’s chart trajectory — and certainly 86,000 units is an eye-opening first-week number — but I can’t really deem it that shocking when a band goes to No. 8 with one album, then No. 3 with the album after that, then No. 2 with the album after that… then No. 1 with the album after that. Not that every band follows such a linear trajectory, but Ghost certainly has to this point.

Christine Werthman: I registered a 3 on the surprise scale, once I knew that their fans love vinyl and the band offered over a dozen vinyl variants of the new album, and that the last album went to No. 2. Traditional album sales accounted for 89 percent of Skeletá’s first-week numbers — and this tracks with the Billboard interview from 2022 after Impera’s big year, where the band’s marketing lead discussed how vinyl was a huge part of Ghost’s strategy. The surprise level is pretty low, considering the band just implemented a strategy it knew to be successful and was already on the right track with the last album. And the competition for the week wasn’t too stiff. 

2. While Skeletá is the band’s first No. 1 album, they’d been getting closer with each successive album, and even scored a No. 2 album earlier this decade with 2022’s Impera. Is this album being the one to put them over the top more about the album itself or more a matter of the band’s overall momentum?

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: In a way, I think it’s both. Skeleta is definitely one of their better, more cohesive records in recent years, but let’s just address the elephant in the room here: There is clearly a growing, reinvigorated interest in masked and disguised rock bands. Sleep Token is arguably the biggest band in the world right now, and they’ve experienced a very similar upward trajectory this decade. Those guys have a very strong chance of debuting at No. 1 two weeks from now, following the release of new album Even in Arcadia this Friday (May 9), which even just five years ago would have been unheard of. Skeleta’s debut I think has to do more with cultural momentum. There’s a strong gravitational pull young music fans are having towards dark and enigmatic rockers. Not to mention they rock hard, too.

Lyndsey Havens: I think it’s both. I actually love to see a trajectory like this, where you can trace a steady incline year over year — across many years. But it does take those two ingredients to get there: great music and an equally great fanbase. Ghost has always had both, with the latter being a tight-knight community that plays into the band’s heavily costumed on-stage presence (with the members being known as a clergy of “Nameless Ghouls” led by frontman Tobias Forge). With this new milestone, I’m curious to see where the band goes from here.

Elias Leight: Ghost’s timing was key. In February and March, stars like Bad Bunny, the Weeknd, PartyNextDoor and Drake, Lady Gaga, and Playboi Carti stormed to No. 1 with new releases. In the three most recent tracking weeks, however, the top album has not earned more than 65,000 album-equivalent units: Ken Carson, who hit No. 1 with More Chaos, managed to summit the chart with the smallest weekly total in three years (a number then lowered by SZA’s SOS in its return to the top spot the following week).  

At the same time, Ghost’s audience has grown with each recent album. The band jumped from a No. 8 debut in 2015 to No. 3 in 2018, more than doubling its first-week total in the process. Four years later, when Ghost reached No. 2 with Impera, the group’s first-week numbers didn’t move much. The band found a strategy to boost numbers again with Skeletá. Combined with a week when no stars were releasing new albums, this put Ghost over the top.

Andrew Unterberger: It’s the momentum. Skeletá is a fine album but hardly a game-changer; if you know Ghost already you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from it. It’s more that a whole lot more people know who Ghost are now than did five or 10 years ago.

Christine Werthman: Ghost didn’t reinvent the wheel on this one compared to the others, so I’d chalk it up to the momentum. A loyal following led the Swedish hard rockers to the top.  

3. While Ghost has scored a handful of Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s and even a minor crossover success with the belatedly viral “Mary on a Cross” in 2022, this new set has yet to spawn a big hit, with “Satanized” its only advance song to even crack an airplay top 10. Do you think a hit single will emerge from Skeletá – and does it particularly matter for the band at this point?

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: I don’t think it matters. The evidence of their growing popularity album-wise proves that point. Even at their earlier peaks, it felt that Ghost scored hit singles almost accidentally. They’ve never catered to radio or any sort of mainstream acceptance, that’s what makes ‘em so epic and cool. So if a hit song does emerge, it’ll just be out of fan-wide love of the song, not because of any major push from them. 

Lyndsey Havens: No, I don’t think it matters. And honestly, I think for a band like Ghost — and this deep into a career — having a full LP hit No. 1 versus a single would mean more to me. That’s not to say it’s too late for a hit from the album to emerge, but is it necessary? I think not.

Elias Leight: This band has excelled at getting fans to buy albums — 61,000 copies of Prequelle, 62,500 of Impera, and now 77,000 of Skeletá — which makes it less dependent on U.S. hits. The success of “Mary on a Cross” presumably helped Ghost reach some new listeners. But even so, the band’s first-week stream count didn’t budge much: 9.11 million on-demand streams of Impera songs compared to 12.45 million of Skeletá songs.   

Andrew Unterberger: Never hurts to have a breakout hit, certainly — and this set could have one, but if it does, it will probably pop off unpredictably, like “Mary” did three years ago. But obviously a consistent sales-drawing power means that you’re not dependent on them from album to album, which is the point that all popular performing artists — not just rock bands — should hope to get to in their careers.

Christine Werthman: “Lachryma” has some higher streaming numbers in its favor right now, but I also feel like “Umbra” might be a sleeper hit. It really builds, has a righteous instrumental break, and it could stir some controversy, with its seemingly religious references to “the chosen one” and “the shadow of the Nazarene.” All hail the blasphemers? Maybe, though it’s not as spicy as “Mary on a Cross.” It doesn’t totally matter though, as it seems like Ghost’s fanbase is in it for the long haul already. 

4. Given that it’s one of the few hard rock bands of a relatively recent vintage to accumulate a devoted enough audience to top the Billboard 200, what lessons do you think other bands might be able to learn from Ghost’s recent chart success?

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: Being authentic, unique and weird will always be cool. There will always be an appetite for it, and that appetite will translate to success if you just give it time. A lot of young bands cater to the algorithm right off the bat, you can hear it in the way they record and promote their albums. Ghost has always been Ghost, they’ve never swayed from that, which is why their fans have stuck by them. Do what creatively liberates you, don’t cater to the data!

Lyndsey Havens: To keep doing what you’re doing. You make music that you love and believe in? Great. You built a fanbase that’s willing to dress up for you at shows? Amazing. You’ve slowly over time played to bigger audiences across the world? Wow! All of these measurements of success, I believe, are what got Ghost to this point — and I haven’t even gotten to their Grammy win (best metal performance for “Cirice” in 2016). Over time, Ghost has created a world for itself and its fans to live in, and a No. 1 album is just proof of concept.

Elias Leight: Ghost employed a strategy initially popularized by K-Pop groups, releasing more than 20 variants of Skeletá across vinyl — including a limited run of 6,000 LPs with three different sets of “mystery” artwork — CD, and cassette. If a band already has an audience that likes to collect physical copies, releasing multiple variants has proven to be a reliable way to increase sales. Ghost fans snapped up 44,000 LPs across the various iterations of Skeletá, giving the band the third-largest vinyl sales week for any rock album in the modern era.

Andrew Unterberger: Embrace theatrics and spectacle! Over the past 30-plus years in rock music, it’s became increasingly normalized for rock bands to be no-frills in nature — but the pool of music fans who default to rock bands is pretty shallow these days, and it’s hard to draw in modern pop audiences while presenting yourselves so statically. If you want to reach Ghost’s commercial strata, you gotta give ’em a little more flair, a little more drama.

Christine Werthman: Don’t worry too much about chasing crossover hits, and find a marketing plan that works and follow it. Ghost didn’t revamp its style to get to No. 1 for the first time. The band just doubled down and gave its fanbase what it wanted — more ripping hard rock and more vinyl for the collection. Sticking to the script doesn’t work for every band, but Ghost identified its strengths and stuck with it. And remember: This is the group’s sixth studio album. Stick with it! 

5. What’s another rock band that you could see topping the Billboard 200 for the first time in the near future?

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady: Mark my words: Sleep Token will go number one next week.

Lyndsey Havens: Our colleague Jason Lipshutz put me on to Spiritbox, and I think they are well on their way to a Billboard 200 No. 1. It would be a much quicker rise than Ghost, but I think the groundwork has been laid — and with Ghost delivering the first hard rock album to top the tally in over four years, I wouldn’t be surprised if the wait for it to happen again is significantly shorter. 

Elias Leight: Falling in Reverse hit No. 12 — their highest position ever — with Popular Monster in 2024. Five Finger Death Punch have eight top 10 albums and have peaked at No. 2 on three separate occasions.

Andrew Unterberger: It’s Sleep Token, and it’s this month. But keep an eye out for The Marías, too — that group’s time might be coming sooner than you think, too.

Christine Werthman: Turnstile!

Lorde fans have been laughing ’til their ribs got soft for the last 12 years, and now they’re laughing all the way to the Billboard Hot 100.
“Ribs,” the long-beloved track from Lorde’s 2013 debut album Pure Heroine, debuts at No. 99 on the Hot 100 dated May 10, largely driven by 5 million official U.S. streams for the tracking week ending May 2 — a 51% gain over the previous week, according to Luminate.

Previously, the moody quasi-dance song — which was never released or promoted as an official single — had peaked at No. 26 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart dated Oct. 26, 2013, following the album’s release, but it had never before appeared on the Hot 100. (“Ribs” also re-enters at a new peak of No. 16 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs this week.)

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The song rides a new wave of streaming momentum following Lorde’s planned pop-up appearance at New York’s Washington Square Park on April 23, designed to promote her new song “What Was That” (which also debuts on the Hot 100 this week, at No. 36). The appearance was canceled and the crowd dispersed by police mandate before Lorde showed up, but the fans assembled still managed to have a singalong moment to “Ribs” first, which drew a ton of attention on social media. (Lorde did later show up to Washington Square to play the new song, with scenes from her appearance making it into the song’s official music video, released just a couple days later.)

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Despite never being a major chart hit previously, “Ribs” has long stood as one of Lorde’s both most acclaimed and best-streamed tracks. In 2017, Billboard‘s editorial staff named the song the 12th-best deep cut by a pop star this century, and in 2023, we also ranked it as the 17th-best pop song to never hit the Hot 100 (though we’ll probably have to replace it on the latter list now). In 2020, the nostalgic song achieved TikTok virality due in large part to millennials feeling wistful while stuck at home during the pandemic, and in the weeks before the recent bump, the song was still regularly pulling official on-demand U.S. stream counts in the low two millions, according to Luminate — weekly numbers superior to even “Royals,” Lorde’s seven-week Hot 100 No. 1 smash from the same album.

Lorde’s upcoming album Virgin is due to arrive June 27th on Republic/Universal New Zealand. “What Was That” marks her first top 40 hit on the Hot 100 since Melodrama single “Green Light” hit No. 19 in 2017.

Cazzu has a lot to celebrate this week with the arrival of her debut studio album, Latinaje, on the Billboard charts. The album comes in at Nos. 4 and 48 on the Top Latin Pop Albums and Top Latin Albums rankings, respectively (charts dated May 10).

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“I’m a bit ignorant about managing badges or when one earns medals, it’s a strange feeling,” Cazzu tells Billboard. “But being on the charts makes me very happy because I think that basically determines that people are liking the album, so it fills me with great satisfaction.”

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Latinaje was released April 24 on Dale Play/Rimas and marks her first entry on any album chart after multiple visits across other songs charts. The 14-track set launches with 3,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 1, according to Luminate. Most of the LPs opening sum stems from streaming activity, which translates to 4.5 million official on-demand streams of the set’s songs.

“The album is full of moments like with [the album’s first single] ‘La Cueva’ which I didn’t want to release,” says Cazzu. “It took a lot of work from my friends and my team to convince me it was a beautiful song. It was decided at the last minute. We shot a video, I didn’t like it, we shot another one in three days, we made a super-quick announcement, and the next day it came out. And well, I was amazed at how well the song did.”

In addition to giving her a No. 27 high on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, which blends streams, radio airplay and digital sales into its formula, “La Cueva” debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Latin Digital Song Sales in January.

“The recording process was so long,” Cazzu remembers. “It was supposed to be an album of collabs, but we changed our minds. It told one story, but it ended up telling another. ‘Con Otra,’ for example, was supposed to be a merengue, and we ended up making a cumbia.”

“Con Otra” is the latest hit on the songs charts for Cazzu, as the tune rallies 45-29 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, after launching at No. 36 on the April 6-dated ranking. The song marks Cazzu’s second visit there, following “Tú y Tú,” with Los Ángeles Azules and Santa Fe Klan, which landed at No. 5, her first top 10. That collaboration was a major achievement for Cazzu, earnin a No. 1 hit on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart, where it ruled for one week in 2023.

Elsewhere, Latinaje opens at No. 48 on the all-genre Top Latin Abums, for the Argentinian’s first appearance there.

About the song she relates with the most: “I love ‘Odiarme,’ it has a lot of Cazzu, of that romantic darkness that I love, but ‘Engreído’ has strong trap lyrics, and the music is a bolero, it is a very beautiful collaboration.” The song is her first pair-up with Venezuelan Elena Rose.