Chart Beat
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Robbie Robertson, who died Aug. 9 at age 80, made an impression on Billboard‘s charts as the lead guitarist and principal songwriter of The Band. The group landed multiple songs on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning with “The Weight,” one of the quintessential rock releases of the 1960s, in 1968.
Between 1968-76, The Band (during this time comprising Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel) reached the Hot 100 nine times — eight times on its own and once on the Bob Dylan collaboration “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine).” Though Robertson penned many of the band’s lasting hits, he rarely contributed lead vocals, usually deferring to Helm, Danko or Manuel.
Though the band never rose higher than the chart’s top 25, its influence on its contemporaries in the rock scene — and enduring legacy — spurred lasting careers for its members after The Band’s eventual breakup, including Robertson.
In fact, though Robertson never appeared on the Hot 100 solo, he was a prolific presence on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart during the first decade-plus of its existence, paced by a pair of top 10s in “Showdown at Big Sky” (No. 2, 1987) and “Sweet Fire of Love” (No. 7, 1988).
Robertson also became a frequent collaborator of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, contributing to the soundtracks of The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, The Departed and many more.
His success continued into the 2010s, when Robertson earned his highest-charting entry on the Billboard 200, thanks to the No. 13 debut and peak of 2011’s How to Become Clairvoyant. Most recently, Sinematic — Robertson’s final studio album released before his death — appeared at No. 7 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart in 2019.
Below are the biggest Hot 100 chart hits from The Band during that eight-year span of 1968-76. The Band’s biggest Billboard hits chart is based on actual performance on Billboard’s weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart, through Aug. 12, 2023. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks earning less. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.
“Ain’t Got No Home”
The first month of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour situated her atop Billboard’s Top Tours chart in May. With reports for June, the entire European leg of the tour blew past the $150 million mark, making it the biggest non-U.S. leg of any Beyoncé tour. Now, with data for the trek’s first batch of North American shows, the bigger picture is coming more clearly into focus.
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Beyoncé earned $141.4 million on the first 12 Renaissance shows in U.S. and Canada, selling 553,000 tickets. That puts the tour’s overall figures at $295.8 million and 1.6 million tickets, current through her Aug. 1 concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Approaching the $300 million mark, the Renaissance World Tour is now Beyoncé’s highest grossing tour yet, passing 2016’s The Formation World Tour ($256.1 million) and 2018’s On the Run II Tour alongside Jay-Z ($253.5 million).
In exceeding the gross of her own two previous tours, the Renaissance World Tour resets the record for the highest grossing tour by an R&B artist, or any Black artist in Boxscore history. Beyoncé previously held the title with the Formation World Tour and before that, with The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013-14 ($211.9 million).
Beyoncé hasn’t yet eclipsed those runs in terms of tickets sold, though it’s only a matter of time. The Formation World Tour still holds strong with 2.2 million tickets, 600,000 ahead of her 2023 stint. With 23 shows left to report in North America, expect Queen Bey to add close to 1 million more for a total of 2.6 million.
Though it has the earnings record in the bag, the Renaissance World Tour still has room to grow. Its $295.8 million is already in the region of Billboard’s initial projections of $275 million to $300 million plus, based on expected per-show revenues of $6.8 million to $7.5 million. With extra shows added due to high demand, the tour’s routing shot to more than 50 shows, with the low end of our projection ballooning to $380 million.
But Beyoncé hasn’t been earning $7 million per show. The 12 reported North American dates paced $11.8 million and 46,100 tickets each night. Grosses have swung as high as $33.1 million over two shows in East Rutherford, N.J., and as low as $6.5 million in Louisville, Ky.
If the 23 remaining shows can maintain that average or simply stay above the eight-figure mark, the Renaissance World Tour will set a whole new standard for Beyoncé.
To reach $500 million, the Renaissance World Tour will have to gross $8.9 million per show. But that’d represent a 24% drop from the first batch of U.S. & Canada dates, and there’s no reason to expect such a decline considering the remaining dates include highly anticipated shows in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston.
At $10 million per show, Beyoncé will hit $525 million, which would inch her past Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams Tour ($523.3 million). That’d be enough to make the Renaissance World Tour one of Billboard Boxscore’s 10 highest grossing tours ever.
Here’s a graph to show you where the Renaissance World Tour could end up, depending on how the 23 remaining shows perform.
At the current breakneck speed of $11.8 million per show, Beyoncé would be looking at $560 million. On the all-time leaderboard, she’s targeting classic rock heavyweights such as Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones and Roger Waters as peers on the stadium stage.
Even before she gets there, Beyoncé has already broken through some hallowed territory in the Boxscore archives. Across her career as a soloist (including her co-headline tours with Jay-Z, and with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott), Beyoncé has become the 15th artist – and third woman after Celine Dion and Madonna – to gross more than $1 billion. Further, she’s just the second female act (after Madonna) to sell more than 10 million tickets. Over 408 reported shows, she has earned $1.063 billion and sold 10.473 million tickets. By the Oct. 1 close of the Renaissance World Tour, that gross will be about $250 million higher.
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 charts dated Aug. 19), Morgan Wallen is four weeks from making Billboard Hot 100 history – but may not get there, if Luke Combs, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo or other rising hitmakers have anything to say about it.
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Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic): Wallen’s first Hot 100 No. 1 – and a rare country No. 1 with no co-lead artists or obvious pop crossover attempt (though it has still become a top five hit at pop and adult radio) – has slowly but surely elbowed its way into the Billboard record books. With its 15th week at No. 1 (on the Hot 100 dated Aug. 12), “Last Night” ties Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (2022) for both the longest-leading No. 1 of the 2020s, and the longest in the Hot 100’s now-65-year history from an unaccompanied artist.
Next in its sights: 16 weeks and a tie for the second-longest run atop the Hot 100, alongside Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” (1995-96) and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s Justin Bieber-featuring “Despacito” (2017). After that, only one song stands between it and all-time Hot 100 No. 1 supremacy: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, which held on top for a record-breaking 19 weeks in 2019.
Unlike “Old Town Road,” which Lil Nas X worked tirelessly to push to No. 1 and keep there – with a succession of music videos, remixes, high-profile live performances and social media memes – Wallen has leaned almost all the way back for “Last Night,” doing remarkably little public promotion outside of the One Night at a Time World Tour that he’s been on since March. Rather, its reign has been more reminiscent of Styles’ 2022 run at No. 1, where the song’s performance simply held across all categories (streams, sales and radio airplay) both strong enough and long enough to essentially serve as the default Hot 100-topper anytime there wasn’t a major new release.
But how long and how strong is it still holding after 15 weeks at No. 1 (and 27 weeks total on the chart)? There are finally real signs of slippage, as the song falls on each of the Streaming Songs (from No. 1 to No. 3), Digital Song Sales (6-7) and Radio Songs (2-4) charts this week. The door is creaking open, but another song will still have to charge through – and as of this week, “Last Night” remains the only hit in the top 10 of all three charts.
Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (River House/Columbia Nashville/Columbia): The most immediate threat to “Last Night” would have to be the song that’s landed exactly one spot below it on the Hot 100 every week since July 1. Luke Combs‘ “Fast Car” is actually leading “Last Night” on both Digital Song Sales (steady at No. 4 this week) and Radio Songs (climbing 3-2), though it still trails it significantly on Streaming Songs (No. 11, buried under an avalanche of Travis Scott debuts).
The big question for “Fast Car” is if it can gain enough on “Last Night” on radio – the only metric where either song is still growing – to make up for its streaming shortfall. While it’s already had a five-week run at No. 1 on Country Airplay, finally replaced on top this week by Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor,” it still has room to grow on top 40 radio, with the song inching up 13-12 on the Pop Airplay listing this week; it also hits No. 1 on Adult Pop Airplay, while pushing 8-7 on Adult Contemporary. If it continues to grow steadily there, while staying level on streaming, it may close the gap enough with “Last Night” in the next couple of weeks.
Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (Republic): Swift already came close to unseating Wallen earlier this summer, when her Midnights single “Karma” shot to No. 2 (largely thanks to a boost from a new Ice Spice-featuring remix), but could not quite depose “Last Night.” Now she should have another shot – not with a new song, but an older one: “Cruel Summer,” a former deep cut from her 2019 album Lover, which has ridden a wave of fan fervor and seasonal momentum (as well as official label promotion) to become a hit, and reaches a new peak of No. 4 on the Hot 100 this week.
The story with “Cruel Summer” is similar to that of “Fast Car”: “Last Night” has a sizable edge on streaming (“Summer” ranks just No. 19 on Streaming Songs this week), but is starting to fade on radio while “Summer” surges. And “Summer” is really starting to swelter on the airwaves: It became Swift’s record-setting 12th No. 1 on Pop Airplay last week, and breaks the top five on Radio Songs this week in just its seventh frame on the chart. If its velocity keeps up, it may pass both Combs’ and Wallen’s hits in due time, and could be in the hunt for No. 1 shortly after.
An interesting wrinkle in this three-way race: None of these songs have proper music videos or remixes yet on streaming services. This is essentially par for the course for Wallen (who has not historically leaned on remixes or made a music video since last summer’s “You Proof”), and outside of a recently released live clip, Combs has taken a mostly hands-off approach to promoting his “Fast Car” cover, which he did not originally intend to be a single. Swift has extensive recent history of both official videos and remixes, though – albeit only for Midnights singles, so there’s no precedent for her to pull those levers for an older song. If she does so, though, it could give “Summer” the extra heat it needs to get over the top.
IN THE MIX
Travis Scott, Utopia (Cactus Jack/Epic): Morgan Wallen may have the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 this week, but otherwise the chart belongs to Travis Scott: All 19 tracks from his July album Utopia debut this week, led by the Drake-featuring “Meltdown” (No. 3) and the Playboi Carti-featuring “FE!N,” while “K-POP,” with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, is already a rising radio hit. Those tracks will likely lose some ground in streaming next week, but if one of them (or any of the other 17) begins to catch some viral heat, Scott certainly has the streaming juice to become a factor: He’s topped the Hot 100 four times already, including with previous album Astroworld’s breakout single “Sicko Mode.”
Gunna, “fukumean” (YSL/300): While 2023 has been short on breakout hip-hop hits, “fukumean” has been a notable exception since its July release, as part of Gunna’s A Gift & A Curse album. The TikTok-boosted smash has gotten as high as No. 4 on the Hot 100 – it slips to No. 7 this week – but it continues to perform exceptionally on streaming, and is starting to find its footing on radio, surging 28-20 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. If top 40 – which has never been particularly kind to Gunna – decides to give the song (and its radio-unfriendly hook, at least in unedited form) a real chance, he could force his way into the top three before long.
Olivia Rodrigo, “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right” (Geffen): Rodrigo’s lead single from her much-anticipated upcoming sophomore album Guts, “Vampire” actually did already debut at No. 1, but slid in subsequent weeks as first-week streams and (especially) sales declined. The song is still hanging around the lower reaches of the top 10, though– with airplay rapidly picking up (13-11 on Radio Songs this week) – and it may soon be joined in the top tier by new single “Bad Idea Right,” which is due this Friday, and very likely to extend her streak of top 10 Hot 100 debuts.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, 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. This week: The second song from Doja Cat’s new era appears off to a stronger start than her first, a new viral hit injects streaming with a particularly youthful energy, and a TV sync helps a music legend “Shine” even brighter than usual.
Doja Cat “Paints the Town Red” With Ample Streams
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After launching her new musical era with the boom-bap-influenced “Attention” — which debuted and peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Doja Cat has returned with her newest single, “Paint the Town Red.” The Grammy-winner’s latest radio single features a prominent sample of Dionne Warwick’s classic 1964 Hot 100 top ten hit “Walk On By,” accented by subtle brass and finger snaps.
According to Luminate, “Paint the Town Red” earned just over 8.12 million official on-demand U.S. streams between August 4-7, with its biggest daily total (2.47 million) coinciding with its official release date (Aug. 4). Since its debut, “Paint the Town Red” has remained in the top ten of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart, maintaining stronger daily numbers than “Attention” did across its debut week.
Unlike some of her past hits such as the Hot 100-topping “Say So” (with Nicki Minaj), Doja’s latest hit is not riding on a wave of TikTok virality: While the official “Paint the Town Red” TikTok sound currently boasts over 11,500 posts, more of the song’s traction appears to be coming from its horror-themed music video. In the official clip for “Paint the Town Red,” Doja dances with both the devil and a Grim Reaper-esque Death figure. The music video has amassed just under 6 million global views on YouTube in under a week.
Doja’s streaming success comes on the heels of her five nominations at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, including a video of the year nod for “Attention.” – KYLE DENIS
‘Wasted Summers’ Goes Viral Thanks to Little Sister Sing-Along
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Juju
YOASOBI’s “Idol” continues to blaze the trail on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, logging an unprecedented 17th consecutive week at No. 1 on the chart dated Aug. 9.
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During this chart week, the male-female duo of Ayase and ikura traveled to Los Angeles for its first performance Stateside at 88rising’s Head in the Clouds LA Music & Arts Festival. The pair took the stage on Sunday (Aug. 6) and was joined by the offbeat J-pop girl group ATARASHII GAKKO! for a delightful live rendition of YOASOBI’s monster hit track.
While overall points for “Idol” continue to decrease, the Oshi no Ko opener continues to dominate, holding the top spots for downloads, streaming, video views, and karaoke this week. It’s also at No. 17 for radio airplay and with a total of 13,350 points, the song is 3,200 points ahead of its competition at No. 2. YOASOBI is set to keep the momentum going as the headliner for the Rock in Japan Festival scheduled for Aug. 13.
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Debuting at No. 2 this week is THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE’s “Summer Riot -Nettaiya-,“ the 20th single by the dance and vocal group. Released Aug. 2 as a double A-side single with “Everest,” “Summer Riot” is a collaborative number with Japanese drum performance group DRUM TAO. The song launched with 229,498 copies to hit No. 1 for sales and also comes in at No. 3 for radio. The track didn’t fare too well in the digital realm — No. 35 for downloads with 1,642 units, No. 32 for streaming with 3,195,380 weekly streams, and No. 73 for video — and bowed in its current position on the Japan Hot 100 powered by CD sales.
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Jung Kook’s “Seven” featuring Latto holds at No. 3. The youngest BTS member appeared as one of the guests at SUGA’s solo show Agust D TOUR “D-DAY” THE FINAL that took place at KSPODOME in Seoul, South Korea Aug. 4. “Seven” falls 10-14 for downloads, holds at No. 2 for streaming, slips 3-2 for video, and stays at No. 9 for radio this week.
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Tatsuya Kitani’s “Where Our Blue Is” rises 5-4 after the rising singer-songwriter performed the track live on the long-running TV show Music Station Aug. 4. The Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 opener collected points in a balanced way, coming in at No. 3 for downloads and streaming, No. 8 for video, No. 38 for sales, No. 27 for radio, and launching at No. 74 for karaoke.
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Hikaru Utada’s “Gold” jumps 40-10 on the Japan Hot 100 this week after the movie the track is featured as the theme — Kingdom 3 starring Kento Yamazaki — hit Japanese theaters July 28. The latest song by the iconic J-pop singer-songwriter rules radio and comes in at No. 6 for downloads and No. 54 for streaming.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE charts four songs in the top 20 this week as the pop-rock band prepares for its first dome shows set for Aug. 12 and 13. In the top 10, “Ao to Natsu” moves 10-8 with increases in downloads and streams, while “Magic” is at No. 9 with downloads continuing to increase since the track’s release.
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 July 31 to Aug. 6, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Travis Scott storms to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as “Meltdown,” featuring Drake, launches atop the list dated Aug. 12. The track leads a parade of all 19 songs the streaming edition of Scott’s new Utopia album on the chart. The long-awaited parent set, first teased in 2020, debuts at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with the biggest week for any rap album in 2023, and gives Scott his third champ.
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“Meltdown,” released on Cactus Jack/Epic Records, traces its chart-topping start to 32.2 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Aug. 3, according to Luminate, more than enough to secure its No. 1 entrance on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart. The tune also sold 2,000 copies in its debut week, prompting a No. 5 bow on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. For the third and final metric that informs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – radio airplay – the collaboration registered 8,000 audience impressions – well below the threshold of any R&B/hip-hop radio chart, though the song is not being promoted as a single for radio airplay. (“K-POP,” the pre-release track with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, is the current radio focus.)
Thanks to “Meltdown,” Travis Scott achieves his sixth No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Here’s a recap of his now half-dozen leaders:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Travis Scott), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1
“ZEZE,” Kodak Black featuring Travis Scott & Offset, one, Oct. 27, 2018
“Sicko Mode,” 10, Nov. 3, 2018
“Highest in the Room,” one, Oct. 19, 2019
“The Scotts,” with The Scotts & Kid Cudi, one, May 9, 2020
“Franchise,” featuring Young Thug & M.I.A., one, Oct. 10, 2020
Featured artist Drake, meanwhile, adds a record-extending 28th Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs No. 1 to his account. It’s his second visit to the summit in 2023, after his one-week champ “Search & Rescue,” likewise debuted at No. 1 in April. As Drake further distances himself from the competition, here’s a review of the acts with the most No. 1s on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs since the chart became an all-encompassing genre survey in 1958:
28, Drake
20, Aretha Franklin
20, Stevie Wonder
17, James Brown
16, Janet Jackson
15, The Temptations
13, Marvin Gaye
13, Michael Jackson
13, Usher
11, Lil Wayne
11, R. Kelly
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Behind “Meltdown,” Scott floods Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as the entire 19-track Utopia album lands on the list, including five additional tracks in the top 10. Seventeen of the ranks go to debuts, with the lone exception being “K-POP,” which debuted at No. 2 last week.
Here’s the full Utopia recap on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs this week:
No. 1, “Meltdown,” featuring Drake
No. 2, “FE!N,” featuring Playboi Carti
No. 5, “I Know ?”
No. 7, “Hyaena”
No. 9, “Thank God”
No. 10, “Topia Twins,” featuring Rob49 & 21 Savage
No. 11, “K-POP,” with Bad Bunny & The Weeknd
No. 12, “My Eyes”
No. 13, “Modern Jam,” featuring Teezo Touchdown
No. 14, “Delresto (Echoes),” with Beyoncé
No. 15, “Telekenesis,” featuring SZA & Future
No. 16, “Sirens”
No. 17, “God’s Country”
No. 18, “Skitzo,” featuring Young Thug
No. 19, “Circus Maximus,” featuring The Weeknd & Swae Lee
No. 20, “Til Futher Notice,” featuring James Blake & 21 Savage
No. 22, “Lost Forever,” featuring Westside Gunn
No. 23, “Looove,” featuring Kid Cudi
No. 24, “Parasail,” featuring Yung Lean & Dave Chappelle
The Scott show is much of the same on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, where “Meltdown” opens at No. 3 as the highest Utopia track of the week. All 19 Utopia songs are present on the list as well, pushing Scott into the rare triple-digits club as he becomes the 15th act to surpass 100 career hits on the chart.
Billboard has more than 200 different weekly charts in its menu, encompassing numerous genres and formats.
While established artists often compete for a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and Billboard 200 albums ranking, which track the most popular songs and albums of the week, respectively, up-and-coming talents typically start off on genre-specific lists.
Here’s a look at 10 acts who appear on surveys for the first time on the Aug. 12-dated charts.
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Dylan Gossett
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The singer-songwriter enters Billboard’s charts for the first time with his new song “Coal.” The track, which he self-released July 27, debuts at No. 24 on Country Digital Song Sales with 1,000 downloads sold in its first full week of tracking, according to Luminate. Gossett has released one additional song so far, “To Be Free,” on June 30. Gossett rose to prominence through TikTok, where he boasts over 150,000 followers. He had been teasing “Coal” through acoustic snippets for weeks leading up to its official release. One such clip has garnered more than 5 million views on the platform.
MCVERTT
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The New Jersey-based rapper and producer (real name Mohamed Camara) scores his first entry on Billboard’s charts under an artist billing, thanks to his new collaboration with recent First-Timer Sexyy Red and A$AP Ferg, “Face Down.” The song, released July 28 on 100% Pure/1865/Defiant/Warner Records, debuts at No. 3 on both the Rap Digital Song Sales and R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales charts, as well as No. 16 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart with 3,000 downloads sold in its first week (boosted by sped-up and slowed-down versions). “Face Up” interpolates 2 Live Crew’s classic 1990 song “Face Down, Ass Up,” which was also interpolated by Ludacris breakthrough 2000 hit with Shawnna, “What’s Your Fantasy.”
MCVERTT earned his first chart entry as a producer and songwriter in late 2022, as he co-produced and co-wrote Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” with Synthetic. The song spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and reached No. 5 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 10 on the Hot 100. Its success help MCVERTT climb to No. 2 on both the Rap Songwriters and Rap Producers charts, plus No. 25 on Hot 100 Songwriters. MCVERTT has released one solo EP so far: the three-song President Obandman (along with sped-up and slowed-down versions of the set) in April.
Dennis Quaid
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The actor is officially a Billboard-charting artist thanks to his new 12-track album, Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners. The set, released July 28 on Gaither Music Group/Capitol CMG, debuts at No. 15 on Top Christian Albums, No. 46 on Top Current Album Sales and No. 79 on Top Album Sales with 2,000 copies sold in its opening week. It contains a blend of original songs and covers of gospel standards “Amazing Grace,” “Just As I Am,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “The Lord’s Prayer.” Several of the tracks on the album were inspired by Quaid’s struggle with addiction, according to Gaither. “I’m grateful to still be here, I’m grateful to be alive really every day,” he recently told People about his struggles. “It’s important to really enjoy your ride in life as much as you can, because there’s a lot of challenges and stuff to knock it down.” Quaid has starred in numerous box office hits, including Any Given Sunday, The Day After Tomorrow, The Parent Trap, The Right Stuff and The Rookie.
Flamy Grant
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The drag queen (real name Matthew Blake) arrives on Billboard’s charts for the first time with her breakthrough song “Good Day” featuring Derek Webb. Released in October via Glam & Glory Records on her debut studio album Bible Belt Baby, the cut debuts at No. 20 on the Christian Digital Song Sales chart. Grant is a self-described “shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing-songwriting” drag queen making Christian music from her perspective as a queer person. After Christian singer and preacher Sean Feucht targeted Grant on Twitter with homophobic remarks, Grant began a campaign among her TikTok followers to get “Good Day” to chart. “It’s wild because the album is 10 months old,” Blake recently told Billboard. “I’m still in that touring phase, but this certainly brought it up to a level I did not anticipate 10 months into the release of this.” Blake developed their Flamy Grant persona, a play on Christian mainstay Amy Grant, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Ryan Jesse
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The upstate New York native, now based in Nashville, reaches Billboard’s charts for the first time with his breakthrough song “Outrunning.” The track, which he self-released July 28, debuts at No. 5 on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales with 1,000 downloads sold in its opening week. TikTok has been a major factor in the song’s growing profile. Jesse, who has over 100,000 followers on the platform, had been teasing the song with various snippets leading up to its official release. Jesse has released four additional songs to date: “Like I Do” (in 2021), “Too Far Gone,” “This Damn Town” (both in 2022) and “You’re Tellin’ Me” (this March).
Yung Wylin’
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The Miami-based artist, whose music blends hip-hop and Afrobeats elements, notches his first Billboard chart appearance with “Good Energy.” The song, which he self-released in December, debuts at No. 11 on the World Digital Song Sales chart and No. 45 on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart. TikTok has helped the track reach new heights, as it’s been used in more than 60,000 clips on the platform to date. Yung Wylin’ has released five other songs so far: “Shoot My Shot” (in 2020), “Wiin” (2021), “Smoke With Me” (2022), “My Girl,” with S.K and Soulsa (this May) and “The Way of Life” (this June).
Natalie Layne
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The singer-songwriter, based in Nashville via Colorado Springs, Colo., hits Billboard’s charts for the first time with her breakout single “Amen.” Released July 14 via Centricity Music, the song debuts at No. 48 on Christian Airplay (up 48% to 106,000 in audience). It appears on her new six-track EP Amen, released July 28. Layne self-released her debut studio album, Be Human, in 2020, followed by the five-track EP Castles in 2021. She has opened for fellow Christian music acts Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin and We the Kingdom. Her major-label debut album (on Centricity) is due this year.
London Cheshire
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The 16-year-old actor, model and singer makes his first visit to Billboard’s charts with his debut release “Uncomfortable.” The song, released July 28 through Blackground Records, begins at No. 35 on Digital Song Sales with 2,000 downloads sold in its first week. He also starts at No. 42 on the Emerging Artists chart. Cheshire has a recurring role in CBS’ Young Sheldon as Marcus Larson. His other credits include the series 9-1-1 and Gordita Chronicles.
SUM SUN
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The New York-based DJ duo — comprised of Nick Benton and Ilan Pomerance — arrives on Billboard’s charts with its new collaboration with BONNIE X CLYDE, “Memory.” The song, released May 26 on the independent label Lowly, debuts at No. 34 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart (up 30% in plays). In an interview with People in March, the pair said they’re working on their debut EP, due this year.
Hades66 & Dei V
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Both Latin rappers reach Billboard’s charts for the first time with their team-up with Jay Wheeler, Anuel AA and Bryant Myers, “Pacto.” Released July 28 on Linked/Dynamite/EMPIRE, the single debuts at No. 29 on the Hot Latin Songs chart with 4.5 million official U.S. streams. The track is a remix of Wheeler, Dei V and Hades66’s original recording, featuring Luar La L, released in April. (All versions of the song are combined into one listing for Billboard’s charts.) The song is also building internationally, as it debuts at No. 168 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 171 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Hades66 released his debut studio album, El 6EI66EI6, in April. Dei V dropped his debut LP, Yin Yang, in 2021.
In its 29th week on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated Aug. 12), Jovonta Patton’s first entry, “Always,” ascends to No. 1. In the tracking week ending Aug. 3, the single increased by 18% in plays, according to Luminate.
Patton, who is based in Minneapolis, solo-authored “Always.”
“As an independent artist, the internet has been a blessing to me in the music industry,” says Patton, referencing his reach on TikTok. “‘Always’ is a personal monumental milestone for me. The pandemic put the world in a state of the unknown. So, instead of using fear, I decided to use prayer. I wrote this song to trust God to heal and provide for me, and the song’s impact has overwhelmed me, how it has connected through radio.”
Previously, Patton notched two No. 1s on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart, both of which debuted at the summit. “Way Maker” ruled in February 2018 and “Worth It,” with his daughters Ella and Zoe, led in October 2020. He also boasts two No. 1s on Top Gospel Albums: Finally Living (2016) and EP Sanctuary (2019).
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Meanwhile, “Always” marks an act’s third initial entry to top Gospel Airplay in 2023. In July, Otis Kemp’s “Daily Bread” reigned for two frames, after Marcus Jordan’s “Call on the Name” led for a week in February.
Quaid’s New Act
Actor Dennis Quaid, who played a quarterback in director Oliver Stone’s 1999 hit film Any Given Sunday, then a pitcher in the 2002 baseball drama The Rookie among many other popular roles, makes his opening pitch on Top Christian Albums.
Released July 28, Quaid’s Christian and country LP Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners arrives at No. 15 with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week.
The 12-song set was co-produced by Quaid, who wrote five of the songs solo. It’s not his first foray into music, as he has been performing, writing and recording for many years.
The Houston native, 69 (and younger brother of fellow actor Randy Quaid), also debuts on the Emerging Artists chart at No. 29.
When country tracks ranked at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in history, it happened in part as a result of reverberations from a significant change in consumption measurements 11 years ago.
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” succeeded on country radio before it spread to other formats. Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” is a remake of a 1988 pop single that earned airplay on multiple formats after it broke out via streaming. Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” owes its rise to streaming and downloads spurred by a video controversy.
A study by a Cornell researcher released earlier this year suggests that the introduction of Billboard’s multimetric Hot Country Songs chart in October 2012 changed the industry’s understanding of consumer behavior. In turn, it made gatekeepers and creators more accepting of crossover elements and widened country’s potential in the marketplace. It also allowed Aldean’s release, a song that is far from the most-played one on current radio playlists, to top the charts through other means.
“A Change of Tune: The Democratization of Market Mediation and Crossover Production in the U.S. Commercial Music Industry” — authored by Yuan Shi, assistant professor at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business — suggests that when the primary chart expanded from radio-only data to a list built on airplay, sales and streaming, consumers replaced broadcasters as the ultimate arbiter of the format’s most popular songs. Those fans are less apt to put boundaries on the definition of country.
“The chart change, what it really does is give more voice to the consumers,” Shi says. “The creators and labels can now see, ‘Oh, this is what consumers want,’ even though they may not get played on radio.”
Exemplifying that phenomenon is “Heartbroken,” a new track by producer/DJ Diplo,pop singer Jessie Murph and hip-hop artist Polo G. Though none of the acts are country-centric, the song fits current standards in the genre and debuted at No. 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated Aug. 5, despite a general lack of airplay.
It’s not that the chart single-handedly changed country. But it did reflect consumer interest generated by means other than the radio, where programmers filter the music that’s exposed on the station. Those programmers have a vested interest in maintaining a sound distinct to their format. Shi’s study, which used metadata from crowd-sourced MusicBrainz.com, evaluated 20,000 songs released from 2010-2014. It found that the crossover components of country records released in the two years before the 2012 chart change vacillated frequently. But within three months after the shift to multimetric measurement, the crossover elements in country records became consistently more prominent.
Other significant events occurred at that time. Nashville songwriters began writing more frequently around 2010 with laptops, which led to a larger volume of programmed drums and more acceptance of computer plug-ins, which in turn allowed a wider variety of sounds. Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” marketed to both pop and country, arrived in August 2012, and Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” enhanced by a remix featuring Nelly, was a trend-setting release that same year. “Cruise” topped Hot Country Songs a then-record 24 weeks, demonstrating a level of popularity beyond the three-week No. 1 it achieved on Country Airplay.
At the same time, increases in streaming expanded the titles that were exposed to existing country fans. Simultaneously, younger listeners, some of them attracted by the Swift and FGL singles, began adopting country.
“Gateway drugs — man, they’ll get to you,” jokes 615 Radio Promotions president/radio consultant Brian Jennings, noting that crossover records often bring new fans to the format.
Jennings points to the rise of Kane Brown as one of the early beneficiaries of Hot Country Songs influence. Brown’s early consumption was rooted in streaming, and country radio accepted his blend of ’90s country, hip-hop and pop only grudgingly. He is now one of the genre’s core artists, but might have been missed had the chart not reflected consumers’ interest.
“It accurately tells the music makers, the music consumers and the music spreaders or radio stations that this format can be far more diverse than we’ve been treating it,” says Jennings. “The audience figured it out long before we figured out how to do the correct chart for it.”
The creators have definitely responded. Songwriters and producers were previously driven almost exclusively by the tastes of country broadcasters, who tend to make safe programming choices to avoid tuneout. With Hot Country Songs reflecting consumer enthusiasm, the increased acceptance of unusual sounds and pop influence have made creators feel more freedom to take risks.
“It’s impossible to say that you’re never thinking about genre,” notes songwriter Jordan Reynolds, a co-writer of Dan + Shay’s broadly influenced “Save Me the Trouble” (see page 10). “But when you’re not as concerned about where it may land, things can get interesting. It’s either going to be really bad or really good.”
The really good chart performances definitely get noticed. Reynolds says Wallen’s chart successes with a variety of styles have made country’s creative community less conscious of boundaries. Shi believes that increased variety has given the genre more entree into the playlists of non-country fans and made those other audiences more curious about country. And that 2012 chart change, while not the sole driver, likely influenced the Wallen/Aldean/Combs trifecta.
“It has gotten bigger — in my opinion, based on my study — in part because country music has now crossed over into these other genres,” Shi says. “It’s bringing together a lot of ingredients from other popular genres like pop, rock, hip-hop, dance, and to an extent, it also brings together the audiences associated with these genres. I think that’s a big driver of the popularity that we’re seeing and also the historic moment.”
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Tyler Childers is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as his new single “In Your Love” debuts on the Aug. 12-dated survey at No. 43.
“In Your Love,” released July 27 on Hickman Holler/RCA Records, debuts with 11.4 million U.S. streams, 690,000 radio airplay audience impressions and 9,000 downloads sold in its opening week (July 28-Aug. 3), according to Luminate. It also starts at No. 7 on Hot Country Songs, marking Childers’ first top 10.
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The track is the lead single off Childers’ sixth studio album, Rustin’ in the Rain, due Sept. 8.
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Childers has maintained a steady presence on Billboard’s charts since his breakthrough second LP, and major-label debut, Purgatory, in 2017. The set has reached No. 2 on Americana/Folk Albums, No. 9 on Top Country Albums and – as of this week – No. 71 on the Billboard 200.
Since that release, Childers has charted four additional albums on the Billboard 200: Country Squire (No. 12 peak, 2019), Long Violent History (No. 45, 2020), Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven (No. 8, 2022) and Live on Red Barn Radio I & II (No. 196, this April).
Country Squire also hit No. 1 on the Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums charts, while Long Violent History debuted at No. 1 on Americana/Folk Albums.
Childers previously landed four tracks on Hot Country Songs: “All Your’n” (No. 46 peak in 2019; the song has spiked in recent years thanks to activity on TikTok), “Long Violent History” (No. 48, 2020), “Angel Band” (No. 41, 2022) and “Way of the Triune God” (No. 37, this year).
He has also charted two songs on Adult Alternative Airplay: “All Your’n” (No. 16, 2019) and “House Fire” (No. 40, 2020).
Childers — whose music blends folk, bluegrass, and traditional country elements — hails from Lawrence County, Ky. He self-released his first album, Bottles and Bibles, in 2011 when he was 19 years old. He returned with Purgatory, which was produced by Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson.
Outside of his solo work, Childers has collaborated with the likes of Colter Wall (“Fraulein”) and Bob Weir (“Greatest Story Ever Told”).
Childers is currently touring through the end of the year.