Chart Beat

It was an eventful week on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 29), as the continued reign of Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (14 weeks so far) was interrupted by two chart debuts: BTS alum Jung Kook‘s “Seven,” featuring rap hitmaker Latto, and veteran country star Jason Aldean‘s “Try That in a Small Town.”

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The high debut of “Seven” was more foreseeable, given the longtime success of BTS and its members on the Hot 100 and the song’s strong start in both streaming and sales upon its Friday (July 14) release. But the conservative anthem “Try That in a Small Town” came from close to out of nowhere, zooming up the sales and streams charts after its controversial music video (featuring images from the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020) led to it being banned on CMT last week.

How did the two songs make such rapid impacts? And which of the two is more likely to stick around the top of the charts from here? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.

1. Jung Kook has scored a handful of Hot 100 entries before, most notably as a guest on Charlie Puth’s No. 22 hit “Left and Right,” but never really threatened the top spot before. What’s the biggest reason to you that “Seven” has launched him into a new chart stratosphere as a solo artist?

Katie Atkinson: Just like they did with Jimin’s “Like Crazy” back in April, the BTS ARMY clearly rallied around Jung Kook’s debut solo single. The streaming and sales numbers are absolutely massive, and that’s thanks to this tireless fan group. And thankfully, Jung Kook came through for them with an upbeat sing-along of a song that recalls my very favorite Craig David hit “7 Days” for a new generation of pop fans.

Eric Renner Brown: I’m not familiar with the personal fanbases for each BTS member, so my answer is more macro: As a group, BTS was so prolific for so long, and then in 2022 and even early in 2023, we were seeing a healthy flow of solo releases from its members; that flow now seems to have slowed to a drip, and I think fans are simply hungry for more BTS. And while some BTS releases – both group and solo – have featured Western artists, many haven’t, which makes me think Latto’s inclusion might’ve extended this track’s release to another base of listeners.

Jason Lipshutz: Casual chart watchers would probably chalk up the Hot 100-topping success of Jung Kook’s “Seven,” and Jimin’s “Like Crazy” before it, as the results of the BTS Army rallying behind any of the group members’ solo efforts. That’s partially true, but also, both “Like Crazy” and “Seven” are catchy, compelling pop singles that make sense sonically and stylistically atop the chart. The rhythmic, sexually suggestive “Seven” showcases more personality and a stronger hook than “Left and Right,” while Latto slots in nicely as a guest rapper with pop prowess; the single certainly received a boost from the fandom around Jung Kook, but the building blocks of “Seven” compose a successful whole.

Joe Lynch: The devotion and persistence of ARMY is certainly a factor here (regarding “Left and Right,” it’s only natural that Stans are gonna push harder for a song where their fave is the main credited artist and not the featured one). This sales total — 153,000 combined digital and CD singles — is a big part of this No. 1 debut, certainly. But compare it to the No. 1 debut for BTS bandmate Jimin’s “Like Crazy”: that one had a bigger sales total (254,000) but a smaller streaming total – 10 million as compared to the whopping 21.9 million streams for “Seven.” Part of that is the Latto boost, but to my ears, a lot of it has to do with the kind of song “Seven” is — it’s akin to the radio gold Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran have struck with similar mixtures of sweet acoustic guitars and swinging hip-hop beats. 

Andrew Unterberger: It helps that “Seven” is a really good song — and given its explicit chorus, a particularly ear-catching one. That may sound like a superficial explanation, but given how much better the song has streamed than most BTS-related songs (especially globally), it’s pretty clear it’s not just ARMY soldiers flocking to this one. You have to catch a decent amount of non-superfan interest to put up those kinds of numbers, and you do that by releasing undeniable pop singles.

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2. It’s also the first No. 1 for Latto, who came two spots away in early 2022 with her “Big Energy” and also scored a big hit this year along side Cardi B with “Put It on Da Floor Again.” Do you think this achievement is particularly notable for her career?

Katie Atkinson: It’s funny: When BTS first started making English-language songs, they often enlisted more established artists (Nicki Minaj, Halsey, Charli XCX) for features to boost their profile in America. But now, it’s often the opposite, with BTS and all its members boosting another artist’s profile via features. Latto is reaping the benefits of the ARMY putting their weight behind Jung Kook’s new song, and it can only help her in the long run to have the good will of this fierce fanbase behind her moving forward.

Eric Renner Brown: I don’t think the achievement is too notable, other than her ability to now say she’s topped the Hot 100 (which isn’t nothing!). No shade to Latto, but this chart success feels mostly predicated on its BTS affiliation; it’s easy to imagine this track going No. 1 with another American rapper on it.

Jason Lipshutz: The timing is certainly notable: Latto’s first Hot 100 No. 1 comes as the featured artist on a pop single, one month after she re-established herself as a ferocious rapper on “Put It on Da Floor Again.” Cardi B’s appearance on the remix helped the song reach the top 10, but Latto also sounded reinvigorated on the track after a few singles that had failed to take off. The success of “Put It on Da Floor Again,” followed by the even bigger win that “Seven” represents, secures Latto’s standing as a mainstream star, transcending the pop-rap success of “Big Energy” in 2022 by splitting those two sounds in half this summer.

Joe Lynch: It’s huge for Latto. Her follow-up singles to the undying radio smash “Big Energy” whiffed on the Hot 100, so even when she returned to the top 20 this year alongside Cardi, it’s fair to say she needed to keep the momentum going. And a No. 1 debut for a song she prominently features on is definitely a huge win that bodes well for the rest of her year.  

Andrew Unterberger: It’s another nice win during a particularly successful few months for Latto. I doubt it will change her career arc dramatically, but it may win her some new fans — and a pretty nice one-week financial windfall, given all the consumption.

3. Underneath “Seven,” Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” debuts at No. 2, largely thanks to a late-chart-week push after its video (and its subsequent CMT banning) resulted in an explosion of controversy. We’ve seen plenty of songs with implicit or explicit conservative leanings debut on the Hot 100 over the past couple weeks — by artists like Aaron Lewis, Tom MacDonald and Bryson Gray — but none quite with this velocity. What do you think the biggest reason is that “Try That” is speeding to new heights so quickly?

Katie Atkinson: The way the uproar unraveled, whether you agree or disagree with Jason Aldean’s political leanings, you wanted to watch the video to see what all the fuss was about. On top of that, it’s clear from the sales numbers that people who wanted to show their support for his musical message purchased the song in droves. We’ve seen the way Morgan Wallen’s sales and streams erupted following his own controversy when he was caught on camera saying the N-word in 2021, but this scenario is different, because the controversy was around a specific song and centered on a country star with an already-established fanbase after nearly two decades of Nashville stardom. It was a perfect storm for a political powder keg to explode.

Eric Renner Brown: “Who are Aaron Lewis, Tom MacDonald, and Bryson Gray?” That’s the biggest reason I think this track has blown up so quickly. Conservatives are eager to boost right-wing tracks, but those other three artists are relative no-names — Staind’s frontman and a pair of artists who had virtually no profile until they made MAGA-bait songs. Aldean, on the other hand, is an established, Grammy-nominated star who headlines arenas and is heavily decorated by the country-specific awards shows. It’s not surprising to me that his conservative dog-whistle track has outpaced similar songs by less-known performers; likewise, if an even bigger star than Aldean released this type of song, I bet they’d shoot up the chart quicker and stay there longer.

Jason Lipshutz: The commercial explosion of “Try That in a Small Town” rests in the coded messaging of the song and video: As Aldean pointed out, there are no explicit calls to violence or racist lyrics, but by implying that vigilante justice is justified as a pro-gun rights tactic in the song and depicting protesting as violent crime in the video, Aldean has created a conservative anthem with a degree of plausible deniability. Other hard-right songs in recent years haven’t climbed as high on the Hot 100, because they’ve been so straightforward with their agendas that they haven’t been able to court a wide amount of controversy. With “Try That in a Small Town,” however, left-leaning country fans became outraged by the obvious dog whistles, right-leaning country fans became outraged by their outrage, CMT banned the video, conservatives supported the song on iTunes in response, and Aldean rode the discourse all the way to the No. 2 spot on the Hot 100.

Joe Lynch: Those other artists aren’t exactly household names, so Aldean’s profile is the big difference here. He has 10 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. Plenty of people have a warm association with him already, so they’re likely to get more emotional and worked up when they hear he’s being criticized, and therefore more likely to engage with the song by streaming it, sharing it with others, buying it, etc. I could see this happening with another country artist of Aldean’s caliber in the next year — as long as conservative media picks up on it as a culture war cause célèbre.  

Andrew Unterberger: It’s a combination of Aldean’s existing stardom and sorta built-in credibility with country audiences, and the fact that pundits on one of the country’s most watched (and most influential) TV channels are actively calling on viewers to stream the thing on repeat to send a political message. It’s also just good timing, with the news story gradually building to a fever pitch over the course of the Friday to Thursday chart week.

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4. Both “Seven” and “Try That” achieve their top two positions largely on the back of sales, which usually (but not always) drop significantly from week to week. Do you think either of these songs will still be in the hunt for No. 1 next week?

Katie Atkinson: I think they both could be in contention for No. 1 next week, but I’d say Aldean has the better shot as this controversy continues to smolder. A quick search of social media shows that Aldean’s supporters are not letting this high-profile musical moment die down anytime soon, so it could have a real shot to climb to the top next week – especially if some like-minded radio programmers give it extra play.

Eric Renner Brown: I doubt either will remain in the hunt next week. Conservative outrage cycles pass quickly, and with both artists, there’s probably a ceiling of how many people will buy the songs to support them – a ceiling that both Jung Kook and Aldean are likely approaching already. And for the week after, if we’re getting a new Travis Scott album this Friday after all…

Jason Lipshutz: I could actually see both challenging for No. 1 either next week or in the coming weeks. “Seven” sounds like a slam-dunk radio hit, and as sales dip following its first-week explosion, I’d guess that top 40 programmers help Jung Kook and Latto make up some of the difference in Hot 100 points. Meanwhile, something tells me that we’re just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the “Try That in a Small Town” controversy — Jason Aldean will continue drawing attention to the song, conservatives will continue downloading it, country radio will continue wading into the interest around it, and next week we might be seeing it atop the chart.

Joe Lynch: Definitely Aldean. The furor isn’t tapering here, as folks on various sides are chiming in with their hot takes, and it will likely last long enough to keep “Try That” in contention for reaching No. 1. Which would never have been imaginable if CMT hadn’t pulled the video in the first place (after all, this song came out months ago).  

Andrew Unterberger: Aldean certainly has the inside track, especially because while consumption of “Seven” was strongest on its Friday release date (as is the case with most new songs) at the beginning of the tracking week, the furor of the “Try That” backlash-to-the-backlash was only beginning to crest at the end of last tracking week, and was still very high at the beginning of this one. Plus, having already gotten their No. 1, “Seven” fans are likely less ravenous about keeping it there than “Try That” boosters are about pushing their anthem over the top. (I do hope “Seven” gets back in the mix soon, though, just as a result of the radio play it deserves to build.)

5. They’re hardly the only ones, but K-pop fans and conservative-leaning music listeners are two groups of consumers who have, over the past few years, shown a steadfast willingness to continue buying digital songs as a way to express support for songs and artists, even as song sales on the whole have continued to slide annually. Is there another group of music fans who you could see adopting (or who have already adopted) this strategy to support their favs?

Katie Atkinson: Not that she needs the extra help, but an artist like Taylor Swift has figured out how to deliver release-week digital extras that give her insatiable fans more ways to support her – I’m thinking especially of lead Evermore single “Willow” in late 2020 and its successive “Dancing Witch,” “Lonely Witch” and “Moonlit Witch” remixes that helped propel the ballad to No. 1 on the Hot 100. In that case, the artist is pulling out all the stops, but the fans are all too eager to collect ’em all.

Eric Renner Brown: I truly have no idea. Whenever I hear about these things, my first reaction is, “Wait, people still buy digital songs?” And my second reaction is, “Wait, people buy digital songs to prove a point, and not because that’s the only way to hear the music?” I’m a huge Deadhead, and I buy their CD-only archival releases, but that’s because there’s no other way to hear them. I can’t imagine buying the CDs as a form of virtue-signaling or to help ensure their chart success – but I also can’t imagine buying a case of Bud Light just so I can destroy it to protest something Anheuser-Busch did, or buying multiple versions of the same vinyl release for collectible reasons.

Jason Lipshutz: I’d expect this to become standard procedure for superstar acts around their biggest releases — which has already happened to some degree, but has not come to define every major pop rollout quite yet. Plenty of dedicated fan bases want to support their favorite A-lister, and digital downloads have become something of a fast track for that support. In the coming months and years, it wouldn’t be a shock to see digital sales ploys become further engrained into all types of big pop arrivals.

Joe Lynch: The LGBTQ community is already pretty good at doing this to support their faves, but to my mind, it’s hard to imagine this trend still being a thing in a decade as everything digital moves into the cloud. As for physical copies, even as tactile music makes an industry comeback, I can’t imagine CD singles (famous last words, perhaps) enjoying the same comeback staying power that full-length albums on CD and vinyl have.   

Andrew Unterberger: I’m a little surprised that influencers on TikTok and IG looking to get into music haven’t yet totally utilized the digital sales route via their rabid fanbases — though their audiences may be too young to properly motivate to actually spend money on digital music, many likely for the first time in their lives.