Chart Beat

Thanks to Dolly Parton, The Beatles’ legendary chart history has added a first.
Parton’s version of The Beatles’ classic “Let It Be” – featuring Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – arrives at No. 2 on Rock Digital Song Sales, No. 15 on Country Digital Song Sales and No. 22 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart (all dated Sept. 2), with 3,000 downloads sold Aug. 18-24, according to Luminate. A week earlier, it debuted at No. 3 on the Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by X.

The Fab Three’s song is set to be on Parton’s 30-song album Rockstar, due Nov. 17. The Beatles’ original led the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1970.

Notably, the remake is the first song on which McCartney and Starr – or any of the four Beatles, including the late George Harrison and John Lennon – have shared credited billing with one another on an entry on a Billboard songs chart outside the group.

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The closest such occurrence previously: McCartney and Starr both received credit on Give My Regards to Broad Street, which hit No. 17 on Top Videocassettes Sales and No. 30 on Top Videocassettes Rentals in 1985. (Both charts were shuttered in 2010.) The film stars McCartney and Starr, among others, depicting a fictional day in McCartney’s life. The soundtrack, credited solely to McCartney, and on which Starr plays drums on multiple songs, hit No. 21 on the Billboard 200.

While “Let It Be” is the first hit crediting two Beatles by name on a Billboard songs chart, the members have collaborated on prior projects outside the group, which disbanded in 1970 (with Harrison, McCartney and Starr having updated archived tracks by the late Lennon for The Beatles’ Anthology series in 1995-96, with its three editions all hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200).

Starr played drums on several tracks on Harrison’s solo album All Things Must Pass, which ruled the Billboard 200 for seven weeks in 1971. Musicians in that era often contributed their skills without seeking official credit (and both subsequently stated in interviews that they didn’t recall who played on which tracks on the set).

Starr also worked with Harrison on the latter’s album Cloud Nine, including on “Got My Mind Set on You,” which led the Hot 100 in 1988, marking the most recent No. 1 by a solo Beatle.

Starr and McCartney have also appeared on each other’s LPs through the years, beyond Broad Street. Starr played drums on McCartney’s “Take It Away,” which reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 in 1982, while McCartney joined Starr as recently as 2021, on Starr’s song “Here’s to the Nights,” from his EP Zoom In.

Both McCartney, 81, and Starr, 83, have busy schedules. Starr resumes touring with his All Starr Band Sept. 15 in Lake Tahoe, Nev., and will release the four-song EP Rewind Forward on Oct. 13. McCartney’s Got Back Tour heads to Australia on Oct. 18.

Plus, McCartney has revealed a forthcoming Beatles track. “Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created,” he teased in June. “It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”

Making for even more star power on the new “Let It Be” cover, Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac, provides percussion and Peter Frampton plays guitar.

Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, adds a sixth week at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Sept. 2), encompassing its entire run on each survey. Upon its debut, the song became the first leader on the lists for a member of BTS as a soloist.
Plus, Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” vaults 17-3 on the Global 200 and 27-7 on Global Excl. U.S.

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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‘Seven’ Scores 6th Week Atop Global 200

Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, logs a sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, with 94.1 million streams (down 10%) and 2,000 sold (down 45%) worldwide Aug. 18-24.

The song is just the second of 2023 to debut atop the Global 200 and spend its first six weeks at No. 1, after Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” logged its first six weeks on the chart on top beginning in January.

Oliver Anthony Music’s breakout hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” holds at No. 2 on the Global 200, where it launched a week earlier. The song by the Farmville, Va.-based singer-songwriter drew 28.5 million streams (up 41%) and sold 127,000 (down 19%) worldwide in the tracking week.

“Richmond,” which has drawn the attention of both the right and left politically in the U.S. for its lyrical focus on issues including taxes, welfare and more, also enters Global Excl. U.S. at No. 117, with 5.8 million streams (up 110%) and 10,000 sold (up 9%) outside the U.S. Of the song’s total consumption in its second week, 80% of its streams and 92% of its sales were from the U.S. (In its first frame, those figures were 88% and 95%, respectively.)

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Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” roars 17-3 on the Global 200, with 49.6 million streams (up 53%) and 6,000 sold (up 71%). In its third week on the chart (it debuted at No. 20), the song, which has gone viral on TikTok, becomes the rapper/singer’s fourth top 10 and ties “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA, in May 2021, for her best career rank on the chart.

Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” dips to No. 4 from its No. 3 Global 200 high and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” holds at No. 5, also after reaching No. 3.

Jung Kook No. 1, Swift Top Five on Global Excl. U.S.

Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, concurrently commands the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for a sixth week, with 85.8 million streams (down 10%) and 2,000 sold (down 26%) outside the U.S. Aug. 18-24.

As on the Global 200, the song is the second this year to begin atop Global Excl. U.S. and spend its first six weeks at No. 1, following Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” starting in January.

Myke Towers’ “LaLa” is steady at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S., after it led the list for a week in July; Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” holds at its No. 3 high; and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” is likewise stationary, at its No. 4 best.

Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” pushes 7-5 for a new Global Excl. U.S. top rank, marking her seventh top five hit (among 11 top 10s), and her first week in the region in 2023. She had last placed in the tier in December with her former No. 1 “Anti-Hero.”

Plus, Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” flies 27-7 on Global Excl. U.S., with 29.3 million streams (up 55%) and 1,000 sold (up 44%). The song is her third top 10 on the chart and first since she scored her first three in 2021.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Sept. 2, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Aug. 29). 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.

Oliver Anthony Music’s viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. A week earlier, the song rocketed in on top, making the singer-songwriter the first artist ever to launch atop the survey with no prior chart history in any form. It now takes over as the most-streamed song of the week, continues as the top-selling track and is gaining in radio airplay.
Plus, Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” jumps from No. 15 to No. 5 on the Hot 100, marking her seventh career top 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 Sept. 2, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Aug. 29). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

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“Rich Men North of Richmond” drew 22.9 million streams (up 31%) and sold 117,000 downloads (down 20%) in the Aug. 18-24 tracking week, according to Luminate. Not being promoted to radio, the song also tallied 2.3 million airplay audience impressions (up 310%).

The single logs a second week at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart and surges 4-1 on Streaming Songs. Notably, it makes a rare second-week gain in streams for a No. 1-debuting Hot 100 hit: Of the 34 songs to premiere atop the Hot 100 this decade, it’s just the second to increase in streams (17.5 million to 22.9 million) in its second week, following Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” (43.2 million to 62.7 million) on the charts dated May 29-June 5, 2021 – and Rodrigo’s hit was boosted by the No. 1 Billboard 200 arrival of her debut album, Sour.

As previously reported, “Richmond” also debuts on Country Airplay at No. 45, with 90% of its overall airplay (2 million of 2.3 million in reach) from the chart’s panel of reporting stations.

“Richmond” has become a lightning rod for both the right and left politically since its official release Aug. 11, even spurring the opening talking point in the first Republican presidential primary debate last Wednesday, Aug. 23. (“The one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up into this,” Anthony responded in a YouTube clip.)

The track by the Farmville, Va.-based singer-songwriter and former factory worker, born Christopher Anthony Lunsford (whose stage name honors his grandfather, Oliver Anthony), first drew buzz online, including on TikTok, where he boasts 2.1 million followers (up from 1.5 million a week ago), prior to its Aug. 11 posting on the radiowv YouTube account, which spotlights unsigned Americana and country acts in the Virginia/West Virginia region.

“Richmond” concurrently tops Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, which uses the same methodology as the Hot 100, for a second week.

The song has also, unsurprisingly, sparked the curiosity of chart fans. Jesper Tan, of Subang Jaya, Malaysia, wrote in noting that Oliver Anthony Music is just the second act with “music” in its name to top the Hot 100, following C+C Music Factory with “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” in 1991. Tan also shouts out the two No. 1s with “music” in their titles: “Play That Funky Music,” by Wild Cherry, in 1976 and “Music,” by Madonna, in 2000.

Plus, Jeff Lerner points out that “Richmond” is only the eighth Hot 100 No. 1 to name-check a U.S. city in its title (two are odes to Philadelphia), and the first since 1985:

“Rich Men North of Richmond,” Oliver Anthony Music (2023)

“Miami Vice Theme,” Jan Hammer (1985)

“Philadelphia Freedom,” Elton John (1975)

“The Night Chicago Died,” Paper Lace (1974)

“T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia),” MFSB (1974)

“El Paso,” Marty Robbins (1960)

“The Battle of New Orleans,” Johnny Horton (1959)

“Kansas City,” Wilbert Harrison (1959)

(Lerner adds that The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville,” from 1966, “is not on this list as lyricist Bobby Hart has insisted that he wrote the song about a fictional town, not the real city of Clarksville, Tenn.” Meanwhile, Baauer’s 2013 No. 1 “Harlem Shake” also doesn’t count, as Harlem is a neighborhood in New York City. The last city at all named in the title of a Hot 100 No. 1 prior to “Richmond”? Cuba’s capital, as Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, led in 2018.)

Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” posts a seventh week at its No. 2 Hot 100 high, where it’s steady in rank, and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” holds at No. 3, following 16 weeks at No. 1 – the most ever for a non-collaboration. Thanks to “Richmond,” “Fast Car” and “Last Night,” country hits (as defined by those that have hit Hot Country Songs) claim the Hot 100’s top three spots in a single week for only the third time, following the same songs a week earlier and Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” “Last Night” and “Fast Car,” at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the Hot 100 dated Aug. 5.

“Last Night,” meanwhile, tops Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart for a 13th week, having led each week since the list returned.

Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” keeps at No. 4 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 3.

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Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” roars 15-5 on the Hot 100, with 22.6 million in airplay audience (up 37%), 21.1 million streams (up 49%) and 5,000 sold (up 81%), as it takes top Streaming and Sales Gainer honors.

The song, which debuted at No. 15 on the Hot 100 two weeks earlier and has since ridden a wave of virality on TikTok, becomes Doja Cat’s seventh top 10, following “Vegas” (No. 10 peak, October 2022); Post Malone’s “I Like You (A Happier Song),” on which she’s featured (No. 3, October 2022); “Woman” (No. 7, May 2022); “Need To Know” (No. 8, November 2021); “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA (No. 3, July 2021); and “Say So,” featuring Nicki Minaj (No. 1, one week, May 2020).

Meanwhile, “Paint the Town Red” samples Dionne Warwick’s standard “Walk on By,” which hit No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1964. Thanks to its inclusion, legendary late songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David appear in the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time since Twista’s “Slow Jamz,” featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, reigned for a week in 2004; that song samples Luther Vandross’ cover of Warwick’s fellow 1964 release “A House Is Not a Home.”

Bacharach, who passed away Feb. 8, wrote seven Hot 100 No. 1s, which reigned in four distinct decades (the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and 2000s). David died in 2012. Notably, the Songwriters Hall of Fame annually presents (this year to Post Malone) the Hal David Starlight Award, which, according to the organization, is given to “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs.”

“Paint the Town Red” concurrently bounds to the top of the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (5-1) and Hot Rap Songs (4-1) charts. Doja Cat earns her second No. 1 on the former, following “Say So,” and her first on the latter list.

Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” descends 5-6, after reaching No. 3, on the Hot 100, as it claims a 10th week atop the Radio Songs chart (83.5 million, down 3%). It tops the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for a 52nd week, extending the longest command since the ranking began over a year ago.

Gunna’s “Fukumean” repeats at No. 7 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 4, and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” falls 6-8, after it debuted as her third No. 1 in July.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10 are two hits from the soundtrack Barbie: The Album: Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” dips 8-9, after reaching No. 7, although it wins the chart’s top Airplay Gainer award (57.7 million, up 16%), and Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World,” with Aqua, descends 9-10, also after climbing to No. 7.

Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Sept. 2), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Aug. 29).

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.

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