Chart Beat
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It’s victory for Cian Ducrot, the Irish singer and songwriter who races to No. 1 in the U.K. with his debut LP.
Ducrot overcomes a deficit at the midweek stage to snag the chart crown with Victory (via Polydor), ahead of Skindred’s eighth studio album, Smile (Earache).
Few chart races will come any tighter than this. Ducrot’s winning margin over Skindred, the Welsh heavy metal outfit, is just 150 chart units, the Official Charts Company reports.
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Despite missing out on a debut crown, there’s no frowning for Skindred as Smile gives the Newport band its highest chart peak in the U.K., and first top 10 appearance.
Previously, Skindred impacted the U.K. top 40 with 2014’s Kill the Power (No. 28 peak), 2015’s Volume (No. 29) and 2018’s Big Tings (No. 26).
Also, Smile is the week’s most downloaded LP and the best seller on wax.
Completing the top 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Aug. 11, is Travis Scott’s previous leader Utopia (RCA), which dips 1-3.
South Yorkshire, England indie rock act the Sherlocks enjoy a career-best chart performance with People Like Me & You (Teddyboy), new at No. 4. The Sherlocks previously landed top 10 berths with 2017’s Live for the Moment (No. 6) and 2022’s World I Understand (No. 9).
Close behind is Miles Kane‘s One Man Band (Modern Sky), new at No. 5, the British artist’s highest-charting solo album. Kane has two No. 1 albums as part of the Last Shadow Puppets, his collaborative project with Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, and boasts seven top 40 albums, five as a solo artist.
Finally, N-Dubz lands a fourth top 10 in the U.K. and equal career best with Timeless (EMI), the homegrown hip-hop act’s comeback album. It’s new at No. 6, matching their previous chart peak with 2009’s Against All Odds. Timeless is N-Dubz’s first studio album release in 13 years.
Travis Scott’s Utopia rules the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Aug. 19) for a second week, as the set earned 147,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 10 (down 70%), according to Luminate. The album charged in at No. 1 a week ago with 496,000 units earned in its first week — the biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop or rap album in 2023.
Utopia is the first rap album to spend its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in nearly two years, since Drake’s Certified Lover Boy logged its first three weeks at No. 1 (Sept. 18-Oct. 2, 2021 charts), of its five total (nonconsecutive) weeks atop the list. Utopia is the first rap album with more than a single week at No. 1 in over a year, since Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost claimed a total of two weeks at No. 1, in two separate weeks (July 10, 2021, its debut frame, and April 30, 2022, charts).
Utopia leads a sleepy top 10 on the Billboard 200, which is absent of any debuts in the region for the second time in less than a month. Just three weeks ago, on the July 29-dated list, there were also no new debuts in the top 10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. 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. The new Aug. 19, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 15. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Utopia’s 147,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 10, SEA units comprise 110,000 (down 55%, equaling 145.99 million on-demand official streams of the streaming set’s 19 total songs), album sales comprise 37,000 (down 85%) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 (down 58%).
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time rises 3-2 on the Billboard 200 with 92,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%), while the Barbie movie soundtrack steps 4-3 with 74,000 (down 18%), Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) bumps 5-4 with 60,000 (down 9%) and Swift’s chart-topping Midnights ascends 8-5 with 56,000 (up 15%).
Swift’s former No. 1 Lover climbs 10-6 (51,000 equivalent album units; up 17%); Post Malone’s Austin falls 2-7 in its second week (50,000; down 55%); Peso Pluma’s Génesis slips 7-8 (47,000; down 6%); Swift’s former leader Folklore jumps 12-9 (44,000; up 9%) — as she boasts four albums in the top 10 for a third time, having become the first living artist to achieve the feat in nearly 60 years last month — and Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album falls 9-10 (43,000; down 4%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Myke Towers captures his third No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as his latest single, “Lala,” rises 2-1 to lead the Aug. 5-dated ranking. It’s his first champ since “Bandido” ruled for seven weeks in 2021. Since then, the Puerto Rican artist has placed two other No. 2-peaking songs: “Ella No Es […]
Disturbed notches its 12th ruler on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, as “Unstoppable” rises to No. 1 on the Aug. 19-dated tally.
It’s the David Draiman-fronted quartet’s first leader on the list since “Hey You,” which reigned for three weeks in September 2022.
In between “Hey You” and “Unstoppable,” the band reached No. 2 with “Bad Man” this March.
Disturbed first led Mainstream Rock Airplay in November 2006 with its cover of Genesis‘ 1980s classic “Land of Confusion.”
With 12 No. 1s, Disturbed moves into a four-way tie for the fifth-most toppers in the chart’s 42-year history, alongside Foo Fighters, Godsmack and Metallica. Shinedown leads all acts with 18 No. 1s.
Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay18, Shinedown17, Three Days Grace14, Five Finger Death Punch13, Van Halen12, Disturbed12, Foo Fighters12, Godsmack12, Metallica10, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)10, Volbeat
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Concurrently, “Unstoppable” bullets at its No. 9 best on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.9 million audience impressions, up 7%, Aug. 4-10, according to Luminate.
On the most recently published, multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs tally (dated Aug. 12), “Unstoppable” re-entered at No. 23. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 230,000 official U.S. streams in the July 28-Aug. 3 tracking week.
“Unstoppable” is the third single from Divisive, Disturbed’s eighth studio album. The LP debuted at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums list last December and has earned 115,000 equivalent album units to date.
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Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” leads Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Aug. 19) for a second week. His second No. 1, following “Son of a Sinner” for a week in January, drew 32.8 million impressions (down less than 1%) Aug. 4-10, according to Luminate. For the first time since 2006-07, six consecutive songs have led […]
Post Malone’s alternative-leaning new album Austin becomes his first to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts, debuting atop both lists dated Aug. 12.
Austin bows with 113,000 equivalent album units earned July 28-Aug. 3, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 34,000 units are via album sales, with the bulk from streaming equivalent units (78,000).
That 113,000-unit count is the fourth-biggest on Top Rock & Alternative Albums in 2023 (and the most for a solo male), behind, among all acts, only Metallica’s 72 Seasons (146,000, April 29), Melanie Martinez’s Portals (142,000, April 15) and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (115,000, April 8). It’s also the third-largest on Top Alternative Albums this year, trailing only the aforementioned Martinez and Del Rey LPs.
Post Malone makes his first appearance on both charts; although he has logged hits in a featured role on multiple rock- and alternative-focused song charts, none of his albums was classified fully as alternative before Austin.
Concurrently, Austin begins at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200. It’s his second straight title to debut at No. 2, following Twelve Carat Toothache in 2022, and his fourth total within the top two (following Beerbongs & Bentleys in 2018 and Hollywood’s Bleeding in 2019, both No. 1s).
Ten songs from Austin appear on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs survey, paced by “Enough Is Enough,” which debuts at No. 5 with 9.9 million official U.S. streams, 80,000 airplay audience impressions and 2,000 downloads sold. The song also leads a collection of Austin tracks on Alternative Streaming Songs, bounding in at No. 3.
The album’s lead single, “Chemical,” peaked at No. 13 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 dated April 29 (and concurrently ranks at No. 35 on the latest list). It reached Nos. 6 and 8 on Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay, respectively, in June, while also achieving highs of No. 16 on Adult Contemporary, No. 24 on Alternative Airplay and No. 25 on Rhythmic Airplay. Latest radio single “Mourning” this week places at No. 11 on Rhythmic Airplay, after hitting No. 8, and rises to No. 18 on Pop Airplay.
Doja Cat nabs another top 10 spot on Australia’s singles chart, while Billie Eilish enters a second week at No. 1 with “What Was I Made For?” (via Interscope/Universal), one of several major hits from the Barbie soundtrack.
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Eilish, the Californian pop phenomenon, has chalked up 15 ARIA top 10 singles across her young career, including a leader with 2019’s “Bad Guy.” Like her Barbie number, “Bad Guy” also reigned over the chart for two weeks.
A slew of tracks from the soundtrack, Barbie: The Album, make an impact on the latest ARIA Singles Chart, published Aug. 11. Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night” lifts 4-3, its peak position; “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua switches positions, dipping 3-4; and Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive” motors 24-22 (all via Atlantic/Warner).
Doja Cat is on the prowl. The U.S. rapper, singer and songwriter bows at No. 10 with “Paint The Town Red” (RCA/Sony), for the week’s highest debut and only new release in the top 40.
It’s her sixth top 10 hit in the land Down Under, a list that’s led by “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA, which hit No. 2 back in 2021.
Troye Sivan’s “Rush” is on the move, lifting 38-32 in its second week on the ARIA Chart. The Perth, Australia-raised pop artist is just one of two homegrown artists impacting this week’s tally. The other, Vance Joy, with his 16-times platinum certified hit from 2013 “Riptide,” up 43-30.
Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Travis Scott’s Utopia (Epic/Sony) locks up top spot for a second successive week, ahead of the Barbie soundtrack (up 3-2 via Atlantic/Warner) and a trio of Taylor Swift titles, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Midnights and 1989 (all via Universal), respectively.
The top debut belongs to Fanny Lumsden, with Hey Dawn (Cooking Vinyl Australia/Orchard), her fourth studio album. The ARIA and AIR Award-winning Australian country artist, a performer at Glastonbury Festival in late June, drops in at No. 10 on the national tally. Hey Dawn is the followup to 2020’s Fallow, which also peaked at No. 10 on the ARIA Chart, and won the ARIA Award that year for best country album.
What were some of the most notable trends on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in the first half of 2023?
Hit Songs Deconstructed, which provides compositional analytics for top 10 Hot 100 hits, has released its State of the Hot 100 Top 10: Mid-Year 2023 report.
Here are three takeaways from Hit Songs Deconstructed’s latest in-depth research.
Country Remains Tied With Pop
In the first six months of 2023, country and pop remained tied as the most common primary genres in the Hot 100’s top 10, each contributing to 23% of all top 10 hits. Country and pop shared the lead in Q1 2023, at 26% each.
“Country was the big gainer, tying pop for top honors largely thanks to the success of Morgan Wallen,” Hit Songs Deconstructed’s report notes. “The genre skyrocketed from just 4% of songs in 2022 to nearly one-quarter in the first half of 2023, the highest level it’s been in over a decade.”
Wallen’s haul has been led by “Last Night,” which first topped the Hot 100 dated March 18 and has reigned for 15 weeks, matching for the fourth-longest command in the chart’s history.
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As for pop, despite its domination, its 23% share of all Hot 100 top 10s in the first half of 2023 continues a decline for the genre, from 35% in all of 2022; a leading 39% in 2021; 40% in 2020; and a winning 47% in 2019.
At the same time, as Hit Songs Deconstructed noted earlier this year, while country has ascended in the Hot 100’s top 10, driven by Wallen’s hits, the genre boasts notable similarities to pop songs.
Hip-hop’s presence likewise continued to fall among Hot 100 top 10s, with its 14% take in the first half of 2023 good for a third-place tie among primary genres, down noticeably from a first-place 38% finish in 2022; 34% in 2021; a leading 41% in 2020; and 34% in 2019.
“With pop and hip-hop both dropping in the first six months of 2023, the former [sank] to its lowest level in over a decade and the latter plummet[ed] to its lowest level since 2016,” the report points out.
Meanwhile, Latin tied hip-hop in the first half of 2023 with its 14% share of all Hot 100 top 10s. The genre rose to its “highest level in over a decade,” notes Hit Songs Deconstructed, “thanks in part to Bad Bunny and Shakira (two hits each) and Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado’s breakout regional Mexican hit, ‘Ella Baila Sola.’ ”
Country Helps Bring Back Guitars
Hit Songs Deconstructed riffs on the rise of guitars in the Hot 100’s top over the first half of 2023.
“Guitars, both electric and acoustic, rose to their highest levels since 2014 and over a decade, respectively,” in the chart’s top 10 in that span, according to the mid-year recap. “While this is largely due to the influx of country hits in the top 10, guitar was notably used in hits from other genres, as well, including pop (Jimin’s ‘Like Crazy’), R&B/soul (SZA’s ‘Kill Bill’), hip-hop (Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s ‘Princess Diana’), dance/club (Beyoncé’s ‘Cuff It’), rock (Steve Lacy’s ‘Bad Habit’) and Latin (‘Ella Baila Sola’).”
Plus, “acoustic drums tripled in prominence over 2022 to just under one-fifth of songs, its highest level since 2015,” Hit Songs Deconstructed notes of the instrument’s presence in the Hot 100’s top 10 from January through June. “Their use also spanned an array of genres, including country, Latin, pop and R&B/soul.”
Key Change: A Major Development
As country and pop outperformed hip-hop in the Hot 100’s top bracket, “top 10s with a major tonality increased to just over half of songs in the first half of 2023, surpassing minor-keyed songs for the first time since 2014,” Hit Songs Deconstructed further analyzes.
Major-keyed Hot 100 top 10s in the first six months of 2023 squeaked past those primarily in a minor key, 51% to 49%. Minor-key top 10s had won handily in recent years, including in 2022 (58% to 39%), 2021 (59% to 39%), 2020 (60% to 40%) and 2019 (55% to 43%). (In each year noted, between 0 and 2% of all top 10s have been characterized by Hit Songs Deconstructed in both major and minor keys.)
“Outside the hip-hop genre, major was slightly more common (57% vs. 43%), while within hip-hop, minor has been in the majority for over a decade and accounted for 80% of songs in the first half of the year,” Hit Songs Deconstructed adds.
Among notable major-key Hot 100 top 10s in the first half of 2023 were Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car.”
Travis Scott scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart – and first since 2020 – with “Meltdown,” featuring Drake, which debuts atop the Aug. 12-dated tally.
In the July 28-Aug. 3 tracking week, “Meltdown” earned 32.2 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
Scott first led Streaming Songs as a featured artist on Kodak Black’s “Zeze” alongside Offset in 2018. He ruled as a lead artist in 2019 with “Sicko Mode” and “Highest in the Room” and then again in 2020 as part of Kid Cudi collaboration The Scotts on the duo’s eponymous “The Scotts.”
Between “The Scotts” and “Meltdown,” Scott’s top rank had been the No. 3 peak of Drake’s “Fair Trade,” on which he is a featured artist, in 2021, with his best as a lead act being the No. 4 peak of “Escape Plan” that year.
“Meltdown” becomes Drake’s record-extending 17th No. 1 on Streaming Songs, which began in 2013, and his second in 2023, following the one-week reign of “Search & Rescue” in April. Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift are the next closest with six toppers apiece. With five rulers, Scott moves into sole possession of the fourth-most No. 1s all time.
Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs
17, Drake
6, Justin Bieber
6, Taylor Swift
5, Travis Scott
4, Ariana Grande
4, Cardi B
4, Lil Baby
4, Miley Cyrus
In all, seven songs from Scott’s new album Utopia appear in the top 10 of the Aug. 12-dated Streaming Songs list, with “Meltdown” followed by “FE!N,” featuring Playboi Carti, at No. 2 (25.6 million streams). It’s the most Scott has had in the top 10 simultaneously, surpassing the five he had in the top 10 of the Aug. 18, 2018, chart upon the release of his album Astroworld.
Scott now boasts 28 top 10s overall, placing him fifth all time. Drake leads all acts with 86 top 10s.
Most Top 10s, Streaming Songs
86, Drake
39, Taylor Swift
34, Lil Baby
30, The Weeknd
28, Travis Scott
27, 21 Savage
25, Future
24, Kanye West
Each of Scott’s songs from the 19-track Utopia appears on Streaming Songs, down to No. 37, where “Parasail,” featuring Yung Lean and Dave Chappelle, ranks with 10.5 million streams.
Concurrently, as previously reported, “Meltdown” debuts at No. 3 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, while Utopia bows atop the Billboard 200.
A week after Bad Bunny secured his 26th top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart with “Where She Goes,” the Puerto Rican adds a new chart success as the track captures the crown on the Aug. 12-dated ranking.
“Where She Goes” climbs from No. 2 on the overall Latin airplay tally with 9.22 million audience impressions, that’s a 2% gain from the week prior, earned in the week ending Aug. 3, according to Luminate.
With “Goes” Benito pick up his 22nd No. 1 and becomes the seventh artist overall with as many or more champs on Latin Airplay. Plus, he enters a tie with Maluma and Wisin for the fifth-most since the chart’s inception in 1994. Here’s the recap:
35, J Balvin22, Enrique Iglesias32, Ozuna28, Daddy Yankee22, Bad Bunny22, Maluma22, Wisin
“Goes” takes the lead a month after “Un X100to,” with Grupo Frontera, capped its six-week reign (July 8-dated list). The track took over Latin Airplay in its third week, the fastest journey to the top spot among Bad Bunny’s 22 No. 1s.
Latin Airplay is one of nine charts where “Goes” has reached the top 10. In addition to topping Latin Airplay, it has hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, Latin Digital Song Sales, and Latin Rhythm Airplay; No. 2 on Hot Latin Songs; No. 3 on Global Excl. U.S., Streaming Songs, and Latin Streaming Songs; and No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Feid & Sean Paul Link Up with New Top 10: Elsewhere on Latin Airplay, Feid and Sean Paul combine forces for a new top 10 as “Niña Bonita” climbs 11-4.
The song takes the Greatest Gainer honors with a 36% gain in audience impressions, generating 8.6 million, during the same tracking period.
“Niña Bonita” is just the second collaboration with an artist who primarily records in a language other than Spanish to reach the top 10 on Latin Airplay in 2023, after Ozuna paired-up with Congolese French artist Gims on the three-week ruler “Arhbo (Music From The FIFA World Cup Quatar 2022)”, the track held in the top 10 for six weeks between late 2022-23.
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