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Last week, we counted down our Billboard staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2023. While it was a pretty good year across the board for pop stars showing out at the highest levels, we’d be lying if we said it was ever a particularly close race for No. 1.
It was, after all, Taylor Swift‘s year, pretty much from beginning to end. With three Hot 100 No. 1 singles, two Billboard 200-topping Taylor’s Version re-recordings and a tour expected to end up the highest-grossing in recorded history (and a box office-topping documentary to accompany it), it was an absolute 2023 for the ages for Swift — one whose enormity is almost impossible to put in proper perspective.
Still, we tried this week to answer some of the bigger questions surrounding Swift’s year: How do we try to explain the dominance of it? And can she do it again? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. We were unanimous as a staff in agreeing that Swift was the No. 1 Greatest Pop Star of 2023 — and maybe even that no one else was particularly close. If you were trying to explain to someone what made her year so different (without using stats), what’s the main thing you’d focus on?
Katie Atkinson: Her ubiquity. Whether you’re a day one Swiftie or don’t know a single song (I honestly have no idea how this could happen, but let’s imagine), I guarantee you heard her name at some point this year. Every state she brought her Eras Tour to gave her a queen’s welcome, as she transformed local economies in her wake. And if you somehow missed her stadium concert tour, maybe you caught her stadium suite tour as she also infiltrated the NFL. She also released two re-recorded albums and brought two songs (one four years old, one originally conceived nine years ago and one holding over from last year) to No. 1 on the Hot 100. Taylor Swift was completely and utterly unavoidable this year and she somehow found new heights to her already-stratospheric levels of fame and acclaim.
Kyle Denis: Taylor understands pop stardom. She knows that the show doesn’t stop once you’ve stepped off stage, and that’s what made her year so different. From a whirlwind controversial boyfriend (Matty Healy) and a link-up with the year’s hottest new star (Ice Spice) to music videos that expand on her already storied lore (“I Can See You”) and a very public-facing romance with Travis Kelce, Taylor performed pop stardom better than anyone else this decade. Each new occurrence in her personal life came accompanied by a new single, re-release, music video, or tour announcement, further expanding and cementing her hold on the mainstream this year.
Jason Lipshutz: The best way I could explain it would be to describe Taylor Swift’s place in popular music this year as an all-consuming force that anyone remotely paying attention to pop culture in 2023 was familiar with to some degree. Over the past 20 years, the proliferation of the Internet has weakened the monoculture by giving us more entertainment options to focus on and discuss — but Swift’s cultural standing harkened back to a time when we were all listening to the same hit singles and watching the same things on television, cultural moments that were far-reaching enough to be inescapable. I didn’t think an artist in our current culture could recall a fervor like Beatlemania or the peak of Michael Jackson’s reign; Taylor Swift proved me wrong.
Meghan Mahar: Aside from the money she has earned and records she has broken, Taylor’s No. 1 spot on our Greatest Pop Stars list stems from her cultural ubiquity. She was already a household name but this year, she was truly inescapable, whether you were trying to watch a football game and saw Swift in the stands or saw yet another Swift-soundtracked trend on social media. The Eras Tour gave superfans yet another reason to celebrate their fandom, encouraged new listeners to dive into Swift’s discography, and emboldened fans who may have been a bit shy with their support to be loud and proud. This year, liking Taylor Swift wasn’t just commonplace — it felt cool and exciting to be part of something so massive.
Andrew Unterberger: The thing I keep coming back to is just how much Taylor Swift’s star status this year transcended any one of her hit songs or albums. She had plenty of both of those in 2023, but you didn’t necessarily need to be familiar with any of them to know that she was the biggest pop star in the world having the best year of her career — you just kinda knew from living in the world. It’s not something I ever remember experiencing before, at least not on this level.
2. And if you were using numbers — what’s the one that you think best captures how dominant Taylor Swift was this year?
Katie Atkinson: I’d say our headline last week estimating that Swift grossed almost $2 billion this year from her music, movie, touring and concert merch is about as mind-blowing as it gets. So basically she’s racking up numbers that are akin to the GDP of a small country (we’re looking at you, East Timor).
Kyle Denis: Definitely the fact that she became the first living artist to simultaneously chart five projects in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It genuinely doesn’t get much more dominant than that.
Jason Lipshutz: It’s the five albums in the Billboard 200’s top 10, at the conclusion of a year in which Swift did not release a new studio album. Those five included 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the two re-recorded albums that Swift released this year and spent 5 combined weeks at No. 1; Lover, which included the non-single “Cruel Summer” that Swifties sent to the top of the Hot 100, four years after its release; Folklore, Swift’s 2020 indie-folk pivot which has proven to be one of the most lucrative left turns in pop history; and of course, Midnights, which boasts Swift’s longest-running No. 1 single in “Anti-Hero” and could win the album of the year Grammy in February. Half of the top 10 being Swift albums — all of which posted that chart ranking for a different reason — demonstrates just how massive her year turned out to be.
Meghan Mahar: $838 million: the projected dollar amount of gross ticket sales of the Eras Tour’s U.S. leg in 2023. In a post-pandemic concert boom, Swift made Eras likely the second highest-grossing U.S. tour of all time, only behind the iconic Elton John and his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. This achievement is insane when you consider how far along Elton was in his career when he set this record and how much music he had behind him. Swift is only 34 years old and putting numbers on the board. For scale: according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median price for a home in the U.S. is $431 thousand dollars. This means that Swift could buy almost 2,000 homes with her U.S. Eras grosses alone.
Andrew Unterberger: The Billboard 200 and tour stats are remarkable, but I go back to the first-week number for 1989 (Taylor’s Version): 1.653 million units. Not only is that the biggest debut week of Swift’s career — bigger than Midnights, bigger than the original 1989 — but it’s a full 1.15 million larger than any week posted by a non-Taylor Swift artist this year. And it’s not even for a new album — it’s for a re-recording, basically a deluxe reissue with some new bonus tracks. In 2021, we were talking about how impressive it was that Fearless (Taylor’s Version) moved 291,000 units in its first week; just two years and three TVs later, she’s doing nearly six times that. It’s mind-boggling.
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3. While Swift had three No. 1 hits and 53 Hot 100 entries this year, it wasn’t necessarily her biggest year in terms of new music. Nonetheless, if you had to define her 2023 in one song of hers, which would it be?
Katie Atkinson: Definitely “Cruel Summer.” The Lover song never had its moment in the sun when it was first released, so it was really magical to watch it become an honest-to-god organic hit four years later, even without a music video or other gimmicks. As the opening song on the Eras Tour setlist, it felt like a celebration of the career-defining trek to have it climb all the way to the top.
Kyle Denis: I think it would still be “Anti-Hero.” It felt like the Swift song people kept returning to despite the subsequent Midnights singles and From the Vault tracks.
Jason Lipshutz: The obvious choice is “Cruel Summer” — Swift’s commercial enormity, exemplified in a years-belated hit — but I’m going with “Anti-Hero,” not only because it started the year on top and turned into Swift’s longest-leading No. 1 single on the Hot 100, but because it’s one of the best singles of her career, immediately catchy and self-lacerating, steeped in imagery but able to push a phrase like “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me” into the cultural lexicon. It’s easy to forget that the centripetal force of Swift’s gargantuan success still has to be great music; the tour, awards, visual projects and general celebrity don’t hit as hard if the hits are subpar. “Anti-Hero” was a revelation in the midst of Midnights, though, and if I’m explaining her recent musical success to someone, I’m starting there.
Meghan Mahar: “Karma.” Swift’s success can be traced back to various factors, whether it’s how she has stayed true to her art, employed brilliant marketing tactics, or built a strong relationship with her fans. However, the two things that stood out to me this year more than ever were how intentional and positive Taylor was with her actions. An artist can’t reach this level of success without being widely loved, and I believe that Taylor has made genuine connections in the industry that continue to fuel her success. Take Kelly Clarkson, for example, who suggested that Swift re-record her older works, laying the groundwork for all the Taylor’s Version releases. “Karma” is how Taylor turned a bad situation into everything her “eras” have become, including nearly $2 billion grossed across merchandise, movie tickets, and music sales.
Andrew Unterberger: Yeah, it’s gotta be “Karma” for me — the Ice Spice remix, the Eras Tour debut, the general victory-lappy vibe of it all. It won’t go down as her most beloved song from this period, but it’s the first one I’ll think of when recalling what the era felt like.
4. Is there anyone else currently impacting the pop mainstream who, if they do absolutely everything right from here, you think might one day be capable of a year comparable to Swift’s 2023?
Katie Atkinson: Whew. It’s hard to imagine, but it feels like the start of Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo’s careers mirror some of the hallmarks of Swift’s beginning – like starting out as a teenager, racking up both commercial and critical success. They’re building bases that could possibly rise to that level is everything is nurtured and continues at this A-list pace. But even then, it’s hard to imagine another pop star who is going to reach their commercial peak at age 34 like Swift has accomplished. And who knows? She could go higher.
Kyle Denis: Olivia Rodrigo. Her fan base is still relatively young so she can spend the next few years cultivating a special relationship with them to lay the foundation for a year like Swift’s one day. Her music and brand also have a comparable reach to Taylor’s, which will make it easier for her to reach those kinds of commercial heights.
Jason Lipshutz: Not really? The two names that come to mind immediately, Adele and Drake, could release hits-packed commercial juggernauts, and possess the back catalogs to mount in-demand tours… but even if everything did go right in that promotional blitz, they probably couldn’t muster the level of all-out cultural fascination that Taylor Swift has reached. These runs come along once in a generation, so I’d guess that, if another artist could in fact replicate Swift’s 2023, we haven’t met them yet.
Meghan Mahar: There are two major keys to success that an artist would need to reach Swift’s level of 2023 success: a consistently rich, impactful discography and a wide-reaching, highly-favored public persona. Based on these criteria, I think the only pop star who’s fully active at the moment who can truly be in the conversation is Beyoncé. While she didn’t have as big a year as Taylor by the numbers, Renaissance and its corresponding tour proved that she can reinvent herself and still reach tremendous heights. If we are still waiting on two more acts of the Renaissance project, Queen Bey might bless us with a wild 2024. I think Ariana Grande could rise to this potential as well, and I’m excited to see how she returns to the spotlight next year. I’m hoping that she has a major comeback in which she releases a new album and does a press run for Wicked: Part One.
Andrew Unterberger: I don’t really see it happening for anyone else. Olivia Rodrigo would be the only newer artist whose trajectory to this point looks to be even remotely similar to Swift’s at this point in her career — but she’s got so long and so far to go to get there that it’s unreasonable to expect or even hope for. I wouldn’t say it’ll never happen again, but when it does, chances are it’ll be with someone totally unfamiliar to us currently, and in a totally new way that we never could have seen coming in 2023.
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5. If you had to bet right now, do you think Taylor Swift will also be the runaway pick for our Greatest Pop Star of 2024 around this time next year?
Katie Atkinson: I don’t want to bet against Taylor ever. I guarantee she’s on that list, given we have another full year of The Eras Tour ahead of us, but we’ll have to see whether she might take a (much-needed) break from the prolific pace of her album and re-recording releases next year. She’ll be top five regardless.
Kyle Denis: I won’t say she’ll be the runaway pick, but I do think she’ll be in the top five or top three contenders. The tricky thing with a year like the one Swift has had is that the pendulum eventually swings in the other direction.
Jason Lipshutz: It’s simply too early to tell. I do want to point out a pattern, though: Swift released two re-recorded albums in 2021, then a new studio album in 2022, then back to two re-records in 2023… Could the cycle continue, and we get a new Swift album next year? If we do, then yes, she is the prohibitive favorite for our Greatest Pop Star of 2024. Bet against Taylor at your own risk.
Meghan Mahar: Absolutely. There are Eras Tour dates lined up through December of 2024, and every show will generate new content now that Swift’s slate of surprise songs will be reset at the top of the year. In addition to surprise songs, the Reputation and Taylor Swift debut eras that are incorporated into the show will continue to fuel the anticipation of the Taylor’s Version releases — and I would bet that we are getting at least one of those albums next year. The fact that Taylor has two more potentially career-defining projects in the pipeline is insane, and her dominance over the news cycle goes beyond her professional endeavors. Between her high-profile friendships and budding romance, I don’t think we will hear the end of Swift anytime soon.
Andrew Unterberger: Between her and the field I’ll probably take the field — there’s just too much competition out there, and it’s hard enough to sustain a year like Swift’s 2023 for 12 months let alone for 24 — but she’s certainly got the best odds of anyone on the field. It may come down to how much she wants that title again, or whether she’d rather give herself (and by extension everyone else) a little bit more of a break instead.
In the 36 years since The Pogues released the band’s now-seminal “Fairytale of New York,” the acerbic holiday classic has occupied every single position on the Official U.K. Singles Chart’s top 20 — except for No. 1.
If there was ever a year when that changed, this would be it.
Following frontman Shane MacGowan‘s death on Nov. 30, “Fairytale of New York” is once again in the running for the coveted top spot on the annual “Official Christmas Number 1” chart put out by the U.K.’s charts organization, The Official Charts Company (OCC). On Monday, the track was No. 5 on the preliminary Christmas chart, which closes at midnight on Thursday (Dec. 21); the winner will be announced on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart show the following day. A mix of fan engagement and label strategy may push it up the ranking — but, as in previous years, the song faces strong competition, and a fairy tale ending is far from guaranteed.
“It’s going to be very, very tight this year and it’s not really until the week itself that you can tell who the main contenders are going to be,” says Martin Talbot, chief executive of the OCC.
Sales for MacGowan’s duet with Kirsty MacColl, co-written with Jem Finer, climbed to 77,000 in the week after MacGowan’s death, a rise of 170% from the week before, according to the OCC.
U.K. streams of “Fairytale of New York” crossed 9 million over the same period, reports OCC, giving the song its biggest-ever streaming total in the country outside the Christmas period. Total U.K. streams over the past month stand at just under 23 million, up 13% on average compared to the same period over the past five years.
The singer’s death also saw several covers of the song generate renewed traction on TikTok — including clips of Ed Sheeran, Saoirse Ronan and, of course, Travis Kelce, who recently earned his first Billboard chart-topper with “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a spoof on The Pogues’ original version featuring his brother, Jason Kelce.
Despite the song’s New York setting and memorable black and white video (featuring a cameo from Pogues fan and Hollywood star Matt Dillon), “Fairytale of New York” has proved considerably less popular in the United States, where it has never reached the Billboard Hot 100. It has charted on Billboard‘s Holiday Digital Song Sales chart, climbing to a new peak of No. 16 in the wake of MacGowan’s passing (on the chart dated Dec. 9, 2023). According to Luminate, “Fairytale of New York” also earned just under 400,000 on-demand U.S. streams the day MacGowan passed (Nov. 30), marking a 227.2% increase in streams from the day prior.
Tom Gallacher, the London-based senior director of digital and marketing at Warner catalog imprint Rhino Music, which owns the worldwide rights to The Pogues’ repertoire, including “Fairytale of New York,” says that organic searches for the song and the group’s catalog on streaming services were “significantly up” across multiple markets in the week following MacGowan’s passing, with the biggest surges taking place in the United Kingdom and Ireland. (The song returned to No. 1 in Ireland in early December).
In tribute to the late frontman, who was born on Christmas day 1957 and died from pneumonia in a hospital aged 65, Rhino is re-releasing “Fairytale of New York” on 7-inch vinyl (limited to 5,500 copies) in the United Kingdom, with all proceeds going to homeless charity Dublin Simon Community. The direct-to-consumer release shipped on Monday (Dec. 18), meaning that those sales will count towards the all-important Christmas week tally.
“When you have a very tight chart race, physical product can make the difference,” says Talbot. “It also acts as a good marketing tool, reminding people about a record.”
MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, has meanwhile given her backing to a fan-led social media campaign to get the song to No. 1 almost four decades after it was first released in 1987.
“Fairytale of New York” propelled The Pogues to a new level of mainstream success and is the band’s highest charting song to date; when it peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. chart, it was behind only the Pet Shop Boys‘ version of “Always On My Mind.”
The song served as a single from the Pogues’ 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God — which became their highest-peaking entry on the Billboard 200, at No. 88 — and is routinely voted the U.K. public’s favorite Christmas song in polls.
Despite its enduring popularity, “Fairytale of New York” has also generated controversy over the years concerning its lyrics, in particular the Kirsty MacColl-sung line “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy fa–ot.”
Shane MacGowan of The Pogues performs at 02 Arena on December 20, 2012 in London, England.
Caitlin Mogridge/Redferns/Getty Images
In 2007, BBC Radio 1 announced that it would be bleeping out the slur to avoid offending listeners before immediately reversing its decision following complaints by fans and MacGowan’s mother, Therese.
In 2020, the BBC Radio 1 again announced that it would play a censored version of the track with the offending word, along with “slut,” removed. In response, musician Nick Cave accused the broadcaster of “mutilating” the festive classic.
Addressing the issue in 2018, MacGowan said that the words were not intended to offend but reflected the language that the song’s female character — “a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history… down on her luck and desperate” — would use.
“Sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively,” said MacGowan.
Currently leading the race for the U.K. Christmas No. 1 is pop duo Wham!, whose evergreen 1984 single “Last Christmas” has spent the past two weeks at the top of the British charts.
The Yuletide-themed George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley song first went to No. 1 on New Year’s Day 2021, at the time breaking a chart record — now held by Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” — for the longest time a track has taken to top the U.K. singles chart.
“Last Christmas” has now topped the Official U.K. Singles Chart on five non-consecutive occasions, but never on the “Official Christmas Number 1” tally — traditionally seen as the most coveted chart position in the U.K. music industry.
To give “Last Christmas” a final push, Wham’s label, Epic, is releasing a limited-edition vinyl version of the track as well as a CD single release, complete with download promotion.
Hot on Wham’s heels is U.K. Eurovision 2022 entry, Sam Ryder, whose original song “You’re Christmas To Me” (East West/Rhino) climbed eight places to No. 2 in the first 48 hours of the current Dec. 15-21 chart week.
Other front runners include Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (currently No. 3 based on preliminary sales), Ed Sheeran and Elton John‘s “Merry Christmas” (No. 4), Noah Kahan‘s “Stick Season” (No. 6) and British TikTok collective Creator Universe’s charity fundraising cover of Wizzard‘s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday,” which is just outside the top 10.
If “Fairytale of New York” does finally top the charts on Friday it would be a “beautiful and fitting” tribute to the late singer, reflects Gallacher, who says MacGowan’s best-known song continues to resonate with audiences because “it goes beyond the usual saccharine sentiment of a lot of Christmas songs.”
“It’s totally unique,” adds Mike McCormack, U.K. MD of Universal Music Publishing Group, which represents “Fairytale of New York” on the publishing side.
“Only a lyricist as gifted and uncompromising as Shane could have written a Christmas song so joyfully sad and unconventional,” McCormack continues. “It’s the antithesis of all the other mainstream perennial hits but is honest and heart-warming… I don’t think it’ll ever be beaten as the greatest Christmas song.”
Rapper Nicki Minaj’s “Blessings,” featuring gospel star Tasha Cobbs Leonard, blasts in at No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs chart (dated Dec. 23). It becomes Minaj’s second No. 1 and Leonard’s fifth.
The pair previously teamed for “I’m Getting Ready,” which led Hot Gospel Songs in its debut week in September 2017.
In the Dec. 8-14 tracking week, “Blessings” garnered 3.1 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. It also sold 3,000 downloads and arrives atop both Gospel Streaming Songs (where it’s Leonard’s fifth No. 1 and Minaj’s first) and Gospel Digital Song Sales (marking Leonard’s 10th leader and Minaj’s second).
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The collaboration is from Minaj’s album Pink Friday 2. Released Dec. 8, it enters the all-genre Billboard 200 at No. 1 with 228,000 equivalent album units in its first week, including 92,000 in album sales. It marks Minaj’s third chart-topper.
Along with “Blessings” and “I’m Getting Ready,” Leonard has led Hot Gospel Songs with her initial entry, “Break Every Chain,” for 12 weeks beginning in June 2013; “For Your Glory,” for 14 weeks starting in January 2015; and “Put a Praise on It,” featuring Kierra Sheard, for five weeks beginning in August 2016.
Leonard extends her record for the most Hot Gospel Songs No. 1s among female soloists since the chart began in 2005. She ties Maverick City Music and Kanye West for the second-most among all acts, after Kirk Franklin with eight.
Meanwhile, “Blessings” marks the second Hot Gospel Songs No. 1 debut in three weeks. Bobbi Storm’s “We Can’t Forget Him” opened atop the Dec. 9-dated tally and reigned for two weeks.
‘One Night’ Is No. 1
Tye Tribbett scores his fifth Gospel Airplay leader as “Only One Night Tho” jumps 5-1. The song, which Tribbett solely penned, increased by 21% in plays during the tracking frame.
The song gives the New Jersey-based Tribbett his fourth straight Gospel Airplay No. 1, as it follows “New,” which led for a week in February; “Anyhow” (two weeks, June 2021); and “We Gon’ Be Alright” (one, September 2020). He banked his first leader when “Victory,” with backing group G.A., ruled for three weeks beginning in September 2006.
Billboard has been publishing weekly rankings in one form or another for over a century.
Early in the 1900s, Billboard published charts detailing the popularity of sheet music in the U.S. In July 1940, Billboard unveiled its first chart ranking the sales of recorded songs, the 10-position “National List of Best Selling Retail Records,” with Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller among its ranks.
Billboard expanded its number of weekly charts over the next few years, starting recaps for R&B in 1942 and country in 1944. In March 1956, the weekly Billboard 200 albums chart premiered (at just 10 positions deep). Two years later, in August 1958, the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart began.
At the end of 1958, Billboard printed a recap of the year’s biggest songs for the first time (that year also encompassed songs’ performance on pre-Hot 100 charts leading up to the list’s August launch). Domenico Modugno’s “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)” finished as Billboard‘s first year-end No. 1 Hot 100 song. The track, which spent five total weeks at No. 1, became the second song to top the weekly Hot 100, after Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool.”
Also in the 1958 year-end issue, Billboard continued its tradition of surveying the music industry via “The Billboard Eleventh Annual Disc Jockey Poll,” which “Volare” also crowned. “[The song] was really a left-field hit … one of the few disks in recent years with a non-English lyric to reach the top,” Billboard wrote at the time. In 2023, such hits are plentiful, as seven non-English language songs reached the top 10 alone during the year — the most ever in a calendar year. Thus, this line from that 1958 issue proved prophetic, given the sonic, and geographic, scope of that year’s, and this year’s, biggest titles: “The preference in tunes indicates that no one type of song or artist reigns supreme among jockeys. The list also includes several types of songs with many extremes, ranging from an old folk song to European, Latin American and tunes by American cleffers.”
Jumping to the latest year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking — with the weekly chart now blending streaming, radio airplay and sales data — Morgan Wallen’s 16-week No. 1 “Last Night” finished as 2023’s top track. It’s the first single that topped the Hot Country Songs chart to wrap at No. 1 since Faith Hill’s “Breathe” in 2000, and the first by a male artist since Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans” in 1959.
Today, Billboard not only has the year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking, but also annual recaps for all 200-plus weekly charts, reflecting chart performance of songs, albums, artists and more over a 12-month tracking period.
From “Volare” to “Last Night” and every top title in between, here’s a look at every year-end No. 1 Hot 100 single since 1958, as published in each year-end Billboard issue.
Additional research by Gary Trust, Paul Grein and Alex Vitoulis
2023
Taylor Swift spends a record-extending 90th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Dec. 23), thanks to 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and three songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) leads Swift’s titles on the Billboard 200, ranking at No. 2 with 109,000 equivalent album units earned in the Dec. 8-14 tracking week, according to Luminate, after spending three weeks at No. 1.
Here’s a recap of Swift’s 10 current Billboard 200-charting albums:
No. 2, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
No. 7, Midnights
No. 9, Lover
No. 10, Folklore
No. 19, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
No. 25, Red (Taylor’s Version)
No. 32, Evermore
No. 34, Reputation
No. 52, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
No. 82, 1989
Swift also places three songs on the Hot 100: “Cruel Summer” (No. 13, following four weeks at No. 1), “Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” (No. 36, after spending one week at No. 1) and “You’re Losing Me (From the Vault)” (No. 68, after reaching No. 27).
Just below Swift, Nicki Minaj re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 2, returning to her best rank thanks to her new album, Pink Friday 2. The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 228,000 equivalent album units earned, becoming her third leader. She also debuts 14 songs on the Hot 100, upping her total to 147 career entries, the sixth-most of all time after Drake (328), Swift (232), the Glee Cast (207), Lil Wayne (186) and Future (168).
Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Morgan Wallen holds at No. 3, Drake holds at No. 4 and Tate McRae jumps 33-5, marking her first week in the top 10 thanks to her new album, Think Later. The set debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 (66,000 units), becoming her first top 10.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Tate Kobang and Lourdiz are officially Billboard Hot 100-charting artists. Both musicians earn their first career entries on the latest Dec. 23-dated chart, thanks to their featured appearances on Nicki Minaj’s new LP, Pink Friday 2. The set’s “RNB,” featuring Lil Wayne and Kobang, debuts at No. 80 on the Hot 100, led by 7.2 […]
Nicki Minaj has a big week on Billboard’s charts thanks to the arrival of her new LP, Pink Friday 2.
The set, released Dec. 8 via Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 23) with 228,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week, according to Luminate. It’s the rapper’s third leader, after 2011’s Pink Friday and 2012’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
As the new album opens at No. 1, Minaj also debuts 14 songs from the set on the Billboard Hot 100. Here’s a recap:
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Hot 100 Rank, Title:
No. 26, “Everybody,” feat. Lil Uzi Vert
No. 34, “Needle,” feat. Drake
No. 42, “FTCU”
No. 58, “Barbie Dangerous”
No. 60, “Are You Gone Already”
No. 63, “Let Me Calm Down,” feat. J. Cole
No. 64, “Beep Beep”
No. 73, “Big Difference”
No. 74, “Fallin 4 U”
No. 80, “RNB,” feat. Lil Wayne & Tate Kobang
No. 82, “Pink Friday Girls”
No. 87, “Cowgirl,” feat. Lourdiz
No. 89, “Pink Birthday”
No. 95, “Bahm Bahm”
(Three other tracks on Pink Friday 2 previously charted on the Hot 100: “Super Freaky Girl,” which debuted atop the chart in August 2022, becoming Minaj’s third No. 1, and first in a lead role; “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” which was No. 13, this March; and “Last Time I Saw You” at No. 23 in September.)
The 14 debuts bring Minaj’s total to 147 career Hot 100 entries — the most ever among female rappers. She passes Lil Baby and Kanye West for the sixth-most overall in the chart’s 65-year history, after Drake (up to 328, thanks to his feature on “Needle”), Taylor Swift (232), the Glee cast (207), Lil Wayne (186) and Future (168).
Minaj also lifts her career count to 73 top 40 Hot 100 hits, the fifth-most after Drake (202), Taylor Swift (138), Lil Wayne (88) and Elvis Presley (81).
Thanks to their featured appearances on the album, Tate Kobang and Lourdiz also score their first Hot 100 hits.
As Pink Friday 2 includes prominent samples on nine of its 22 tracks, several former Hot 100 hits are reintroduced to the chart in a new form, including Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” a No. 29 hit in 2019, via “Are You Gone Already,” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (No. 2, 1984; “Pink Friday Girls”). Other samples include Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “Notorious Thugs” (on “Barbie Dangerous”), Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet” (on “Everybody”) and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” (on “My Life”).
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” adds a record-breaking 16th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart (dated Dec. 16).
The modern holiday classic also tops the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for an 11th frame.
Plus, Sia’s “Snowman” reaches the Global Excl. U.S. top five for the first time, rising to No. 5.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
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Carey’s ‘Christmas’ Rewrites Global 200 No. 1 Record
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” leads the Global 200 for a third consecutive week with 102.5 million streams (up 1%) and 12,000 sold (up 32%) worldwide Dec. 8-14. The song, originally released in 1994, has now spent a record-breaking 16 weeks at No. 1, following four weeks in both the 2020 and 2021 holiday seasons and five frames over last year’s holidays. It surpasses the 15-week command of Harry Styles’ “As It Was” in 2022.
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” holds at its No. 2 high on the Global 200; Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” keeps at No. 3, after reaching No. 2 last holiday season; Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” again rings in at No. 4, its best rank; and Tate McRae’s “Greedy” rebounds 9-5, following two weeks at No. 1 beginning in November.
Carey’s ‘Christmas’ Tops Global Excl. U.S., Sia’s ‘Snowman’ Hits Top 5
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” concurrently tops the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for a third week in a row, with 64.8 million streams (down 4%) and 5,000 sold (down 2%) outside the U.S. Dec. 8-14. The song tallies an 11th total week at No. 1, following one in the 2020 holiday season, three weeks the next year and four last season.
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” repeats at its No. 2 Global Excl. U.S. high; Tate McRae’s “Greedy” rebounds 4-3, three weeks after it hit No. 1; and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” dips to No. 4 from its No. 3 best.
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Rounding out the Global Excl. U.S. top five, Sia’s “Snowman” makes a festive 8-5 flight, marking its, and Sia’s, first week in the region. The song, from 2017, with its profile boosted by TikTok, drew 34 million streams (up 2%) and sold 2,000 (up 18%) outside the U.S. Dec. 8-14.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Dec. 23, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 19). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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.
Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as it adds a 13th total week at the chart’s highest bough.
The carol reigns in a record-extending fifth holiday season. It was originally released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in November 1994 and, as streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists, it hit the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in December 2017 and the top five for the first time in the 2018 holiday season. It led at last, prior to this week, over the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), 2021 (three) and 2022 (four).
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marveled of “Christmas” in 2021. “I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
The song tops the Hot 100 after Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” spent the last two weeks at No. 1, having led for the first time 65 years after its release.
Plus, two fellow holiday classics return to the Hot 100’s top 10: The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” (14-8) and Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!” (12-10).
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Dec. 23, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 19). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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Streams, airplay & sales: Carey’s “Christmas,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings, rises 2-1 on the Hot 100. It drew 42.2 million streams (up 10%, boosted by the Dec. 8 premiere of its “Festive Lambs Edition” video, which features the song’s original audio) and 26.1 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 8%) and sold 8,000 downloads (up 68%, aided by the iTunes Store’s 69-cent sale-pricing, for multiple holiday titles) in the U.S. Dec. 8-14, according to Luminate.
Also during the tracking week, Carey continued her Merry Christmas One and All! tour, including her Dec. 9 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The single holds at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart, following 18 weeks at No. 1; jumps 7-3 on Digital Song Sales, following four frames at the summit; and pushes 29-22 on Radio Songs, where it hit a No. 11 best last season.
Holiday hits atop the Hot 100: Now up to 13 weeks, Carey’s “Christmas” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time tallied atop the Hot 100, among three such No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, spent four weeks on top beginning in December 1958, followed by Lee’s two weeks on top with “Rockin’.”
Thanks to Carey’s and Lee’s No. 1s, two holiday songs have led the Hot 100 in the same holiday season for the first time.
No. 1 in a fifth season: Carey’s “Christmas” is the first song to top the Hot 100 in five distinct runs on the chart, its latest coronation following its commands in the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 holiday seasons. (Just one other song has led in each of even two stays: Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” in in 1960 and 1962.)
Plus, “Christmas” makes its record-breaking sixth nonconsecutive ascent to No. 1 on the Hot 100, having previously led for three straight weeks in the 2019 holiday season; two nonconsecutive weeks over the 2020 holidays; three weeks in a row during the 2021 holidays; and four straight weeks last season. With its sixth distinct rise to No. 1, it surpasses Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” both of which made five separate climbs to the top, this year and in 2022, respectively.
No. 1 in 63rd week: Carey’s “Christmas” rules the Hot 100 in its 63rd week on the chart. It ties Glass Animals’ seasonally-opposite “Heat Waves” for the latest, by total chart weeks, that a song has led the list. The latter completed a record 59-week trip to No. 1 in March 2022 and reigned for five consecutive weeks, through its 63rd frame; it went on to log a record 91 weeks on the chart.
Carey’s third No. 1 of 13 weeks or more: Carey ties Boyz II Men as the only artists with three songs that have topped the Hot 100 for 13 or more weeks each. Notably, Carey and the group teamed for one smash that contributes to the feat: “One Sweet Day.”
Mariah Carey:
16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Boyz II Men, 1995-96
14 weeks, “We Belong Together,” 2005
13 weeks (to-date), “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” 2019-23
Boyz II Men:
16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Carey, 1995-96
14 weeks, “I’ll Make Love to You,” 1994
13 weeks, “End of the Road,” 1992
Carey’s record 92nd week atop Hot 100: With “Christmas,” Carey adds her record-extending 92nd week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100:
92, Mariah Carey
60, Rihanna
59, The Beatles
56, Drake
50, Boyz II Men
47, Usher
43, Beyoncé
37, Michael Jackson
34, Adele
34, Elton John
34, Bruno Mars
34, Taylor Swift
“Christmas” became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among soloists and one away from The Beatles’ overall record 20. It also made Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades, dating to her first week on top in August 1990 with her debut hit, “Vision of Love.”
No. 1 on Holiday 100: Carey’s “Christmas” concurrently rebounds to No. 1 on the multi-metric Holiday 100 chart, which uses the same methodology as the Hot 100, for a 59th week at the apex, of the chart’s 66 total weeks since the it originated in 2011. It also rules as the top title on the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.
At No. 2 on the Hot 100, Lee’s “Rockin’ ” adds a fourth week atop Streaming Songs (42.4 million streams, up 3%).
Rounding out a fully festive top five on the Hot 100, Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” released in 1957, holds at its No. 3 high; Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” from 1984, keeps at its No. 4 best; and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” from 1964, climbs 7-5, having hit No. 4.
Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” dips 5-6 on the Hot 100, three weeks after it became his third No. 1. The chart’s top nonholiday title becomes Harlow’s fourth leader on Digital Song Sales (2-1; 8,000 sold) and notches a fifth week each atop the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” from 1963, lifts 8-7 on the Hot 100, having reached No. 5. The late singer now sports a record span of 64 years, two months and two weeks from his first week in the top 10 with “Lonely Street” in October 1959 through his latest week in the region.
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The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” dashes 14-8 on the Hot 100, hitting a new high, led by 23.7 million streams (up 16%). Originally released in 1963, the same year that the act posted its lone other top 10 – the iconic No. 2-peaking “Be My Baby” – “Sleigh Ride” previously ranked in the top 10, at No. 10, for a week over the 2021 holidays (shortly before the passing of group co-founder Ronnie Spector). The Ronettes now boast a span of 60 years and three months in the Hot 100’s top 10 – the longest among groups. (Excluding holiday fare, The Beatles broke the record for the longest top 10 span among all acts last month: 59 years, nine months and three weeks, from “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in 1964 to the debut of their newly-released single “Now and Then.”)
Tate McRae’s “Greedy” rebounds 16-9 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 7, as her new album Think Later debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, marking her first top 10 set.
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Wrapping the Hot 100’s top 10, Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!,” from 1959, rises 12-10 (22.3 million streams, up 5%). The song hit a No. 8 best in the 2020 holiday season, having become the fourth top 10 for the late legendary singer. He posted his first three top 10s in 1964-65: “Everybody Loves Somebody” (No. 1, one week), “The Door Is Still Open to My Heart” (No. 6) and “I Will” (No. 10).
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on Billboard’s social accounts, and all charts (dated Dec. 23), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 19).
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.
Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 debuts atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 23), marking her third leader — and the most No. 1s among female rappers. She previously led the tally with Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in 2012 and her debut studio set Pink Friday in 2011.
Pink Friday 2 launches with 228,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 14, according to Luminate. That sum marks the largest week for a rap album by a woman in the 2020s decade, and the biggest for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman this year.
The set also sold 25,000 copies sold on vinyl — the largest week for a rap album by a woman since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991.
Pink Friday 2 was preceded by a trio of charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Super Freaky Girl” (No. 1 in 2022), “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (No. 13, 2023) and “Last Time I Saw You” (No. 23, 2023).
In total, Pink Friday 2 marks Minaj’s seventh top 10 album, the entirety of her charting efforts, on the Billboard 200. She has also hit the region with The Pinkprint (No. 2, 2015), Queen (No. 2, 2018), Beam Me Up Scotty (No. 2, 2021) and the best-of compilation Queen Radio: Volume 1 (No. 10, 2022).
Also in the new top 10 of the Billboard 200, Tate McRae lands her first top 10-charting set with the No. 4 arrival of Think Later.
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 Dec. 23, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 19. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
With a third No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Minaj breaks out of a tie with Foxy Brown for the most leaders among female rap artists. Minaj is also the first female rapper with No. 1 albums in two different decades, as she logged her first two leaders in the 2010s, and her third came in the 2020s.
Of Pink Friday 2’s 228,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 14, SEA units comprise 129,000 (equaling 169.87 million on-demand official streams of the 22 songs on the streaming edition of the album), album sales comprise 92,000 and TEA units comprise 7,000.
With 169.87 million on-demand official streams generated by Pink Friday 2’s songs, the set garners Minaj’s largest streaming week ever, the 2020s decade’s biggest streaming week for a rap album by a woman, and 2023’s largest streaming week for any R&B/hip-hop album by a woman.
As Pink Friday 2 sold 92,000 copies, the album registers the biggest sales week for any rap album by a woman in the 2020s decade and the largest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman in 2023.
Pink Friday 2‘s sales were bolstered by the album’s availability across a range of variants, in both digital download and physical configurations on its street date (Dec. 8). It was issued as a 10-track album in two CD editions (a standard version and a signed version sold through Minaj’s webstore) and four vinyl editions (including three retailer-exclusive versions, all with different covers and color vinyl).
Concurrently, an expanded 22-song version of Pink Friday 2 was issued via digital retailers, in both a clean and explicit edition. Four later iterations of the digital album were released through the tracking week through Minaj’s webstore, in both clean and explicit versions, all with alternative cover art, and sold for $5 each. On Monday (Dec. 11), a 23-track version added a remix of the album’s “Beep Beep” with 50 Cent. Tuesday brought a 23-track edition with the bonus track “Love Me Enough,” featuring Monica and Keyshia Cole. Wednesday saw the 22-track edition drop with a new alternate cover. Finally, on Thursday, a 24-track version dropped containing both the “Beep Beep” remix and “Love Me Enough.”
Pink Friday 2 sold 25,000 copies on vinyl in its first week, scoring the largest sales week for a rap album by a woman since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
At No. 2 on the Billboard, Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover with 109,000 equivalent album units earned (up 7%). It’s the first time in nine months that the top two albums are by female artists. It last happened on the March 11-dated list, when Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito was No. 1 and SZA’s SOS was No. 2.
Interestingly, this week marks the fifth time Minaj and Swift have occupied the top two positions on the chart together. They first did so on the Jan. 22, 2011-dated chart, when Swift’s Speak Now was No. 1 and Minaj’s Pink Friday was No. 2. Then, for three weeks in a row in January of 2015 (Jan. 3-17), Swift’s 1989 was No. 1 while Minaj’s The Pinkprint was No. 2.
Minaj’s frequent collaborator Drake is No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with his former leader For All the Dogs, which is steady with 68,000 equivalent album units (down 10%). Drake is also a featured artist on Pink Friday 2, along with fellow Billboard 200 chart-toppers 50 Cent, J. Cole, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne and Monica.
Tate McRae lands her first top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Think Later bows at No. 4. The set starts with 66,000 equivalent album units — her biggest week yet. Of its starting sum, SEA units comprise 58,000 (equaling 75.99 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 8,000 and TEA units comprise less than 1,000.
Think Later was preceded by McRae’s first top 10-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100, “Greedy,” which reached the top 10 in November and has so far climbed to No. 7 (as of the most recently published chart). The album also houses her latest Hot 100 entry, “Exes,” which has thus far peaked at No. 34.
The rest of the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is comprised of former No. 1s, including three more Swift titles. Michael Bublé’s Christmas is a non-mover at No. 5 (64,000 equivalent album units; up 7%); Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time falls 4-6 (63,000; down 3%); Swift’s Midnights dips 6-7 (57,000; up 4%), SZA’s SOS descends 7-8 (53,000; up 2%); Swift’s Lover climbs 11-9 (49,000; up 13%) and Swift’s Folklore falls 9-10 (49,000; up 5%).
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.
