State Champ Radio Chart Beat
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Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone, notches a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (fittingly given its title). A week earlier, Swift made history by infusing the Hot 100’s top 14 positions, all from her new Republic Records LP, The Tortured Poets Department, which concurrently adds a second week […]
Sixty-eight years ago this week, the original cast album to the Broadway smash My Fair Lady, starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, vaulted from No. 30 to No. 8 in its second week on the Billboard 200. The album logged 173 weeks in the top 10, which set a record which still stands for the longest run in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.
The astoundingly good score, composed by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, includes such standards as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “The Rain in Spain” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.”
Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times’ influential theater critic at the time, touted My Fair Lady as “one of the best musicals of the century” – a line that, naturally, was plastered atop the show’s theatrical poster. In most cases, extravagant praise like that would reek of hyperbole. In this case, saying “one of” showed considerable restraint. Name one musical more chock-full of famous and beloved songs.
Incredibly, Andrews played a leading role on three of the eight albums with the most weeks in the top 10. The 1965 soundtrack to The Sound of Music is in fourth place on the all-time list with 109 weeks. The 1961 Broadway cast album to Camelot is tied for seventh place with 87 weeks.
Here’s the top 10 as it currently stands. Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which returns to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week, is currently in second place.
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956142, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 196090, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 195887, Original Cast, Camelot, 196187, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 195685, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 196284, Adele, 21, 201184, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984
Andrews has had a very unique history on the Billboard charts. She starred in two Broadway musicals with cast albums that topped the Billboard 200, as well as two films with soundtracks that topped that chart, but her only album under her own name to make the chart is Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, the soundtrack to a 1962 TV special in which she starred with another future legend, Carol Burnett. It peaked at No. 85.
Andrews has also had only one entry on the Billboard Hot 100, “Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious,” a novelty song from Mary Poppins on which she teamed with Dick Van Dyke and The Pearlies. The tongue-twister single reached No. 66 in 1965.
Andrews had a glorious singing voice, but for some reason it didn’t translate to the pop music world. Still, her work in soundtracks and cast albums can’t be denied.
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In 2011, Andrews received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. She was part of a wildly diverse class that also included country queen Dolly Parton, punk band The Ramones, pop-folk trio The Kingston Trio, gospel singer George Beverly Shea, classical ensemble Juilliard String Quartet and jazz drummer Roy Haynes.
Andrews attended the Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to receive her lifetime achievement award on Feb. 12, 2011. Making it even sweeter, the following night, she won a competitive Grammy – her second – best spoken word album for children for Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies. She won the award alongside her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.
Andrews’ generations-spanning appeal was seen in 2015, when Lady Gaga sang four songs from The Sound of Music score on the Oscars, to mark the film’s 50th anniversary. At the end of her performance, Andrews came out from the wings and embraced her. Gaga introduced with these warm words, “Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Julie Andrews.”
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It was also seen when the American Film Institute unveiled its roster of 25 Greatest Movie Musicals in 2006. Andrews starred in two of the top 10 musicals – The Sound of Music at No. 4 and Mary Poppins at No. 6. Gene Kelly also starred in two of their top 10 musicals (Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris). Judy Garland topped them both, starring in three of the top 10 (The Wizard of Oz, A Star Is Born and Meet Me in St. Louis.) That’s pretty good company.
Andrews is three-quarters of the way to EGOT status. She has won two Emmys, two Grammys (plus that lifetime achievement award) and an Oscar, but has yet to win a Tony, despite three nominations. (Considering that Andrews has appeared on Broadway in only four shows, to have been Tony-nominated three times is a quite a feat.) She appeared to finally be headed for a Tony win in 1996 for her lead role in the Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria, but when she was the only person from the show to receive a nomination, she famously declined the nod, telling a matinee audience two days after the nominations were announced: “I have searched my conscience and my heart and find that I cannot accept this nomination, and prefer instead to stand with the egregiously overlooked.”
That rather arch phrasing was mocked, but Andrews’ principled stand was admired. Andrews remained on the ballot, but having signaled disinterest in the award, it was no surprise when she lost to Donna Murphy for The King and I.
Despite that kerfuffle, Andrews remains strongly identified with Broadway. She won a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for hosting Broadway: The American Musical on PBS, which was voted outstanding non-fiction series. She has received two Grammy nominations for best traditional pop vocal performance, both for Broadway collections – Julie Andrews Broadway/Here I’ll Stay (1997) and Julie Andrews – Broadway – the Music of Richard Rodgers (1995).
Andrews has received 11 Primetime Emmy nods, spanning a remarkable 65 years. She received her first in 1958 for actress – best single performance – lead or support for Cinderella; her most recent just last year for outstanding character voice-over performance for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Andrews has received a slew of career achievement awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors (2001), a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild Awards (2006) and the American Film Institute’s life achievement award (2022).
Here’s more background on the four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 on which Andrews played a lead role. They are shown in chronological order:
‘My Fair Lady’ original cast album
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Taylor Swift reigns again on the U.K. albums chart with The Tortured Poets Department, and narrowly misses out on the chart double.
The leader at the midweek phase, Tortured Poets (via EMI) holds on for a second week atop the U.K tally, to become her fifth studio album to log more than one week at No. 1, the Official Charts Company reports.
Tortured Poets, Swift’s 11th studio album, joins multi-week leaders folklore (three weeks in 2020) and evermore (two weeks in 2020), Midnights (five weeks in 2022) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (three weeks in 2023).
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On the Official U.K. Singles Chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” edges Swifts’ “Fortnights” featuring Post Malone, by fewer than 500 chart units.
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The top new release on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Friday, May 3, belongs to Pet Shop Boys’ Nonetheless, at No. 2. Nonetheless is the 15th studio album from the veteran electronic-pop duo, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe; their 19th top 10 effort, and highest-charting LP in 31 years, since Very led the chart back in 1993.
U.S. alt-pop star St. Vincent completes the podium with All Born Screaming, new at No. 3. That’s a career best and third top 10 appearance after 2017’s Masseduction (No. 6) and 2021’s Daddy’s Home (No. 4).
English singer and songwriter Jess Glynne grabs a third U.K. top 10 appearance with JESS (EMI). It’s new at No. 6, following the chart-topping success of her 2015 debut I Cry When I Laugh and 2018 sophomore effort Always In Between.
Finally, the Zutons enjoy a top 10 start with The Big Decider (Icepop), the Liverpool, England band’s first studio release in 16 years. The Big Decider is new at No. 7, for their fourth top 10 after 2004 debut Who Killed……The Zutons? (No. 6 peak), 2006’s Tired Of Hanging Around (No. 2) and 2008’s You Can Do Anything (No. 6).
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” (via Island) is just too hot, as it starts its first stint at No. 1 in the U.K.
The U.S. singer and actor’s hit lifts 5-1 in its third week on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, for her first leader.
The best-seller at the midweek point, “Espresso” clocked up a market-leading 8.8 million streams, and completed nail-biting finish to bump Taylor Swift’s former leader “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone by fewer than 500 combined units, the Official Charts Company reports.
“Espresso” is Carpenter’s first top 10 and fourth U.K. top 40 single after “Nonsense” (No. 32 peak), “Skin” (No. 28) and “feather” (No. 19).
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Hozier’s former No. 1 “Too Sweet” (Island) dips 2-3, to complete the podium on the latest chart, published Friday, May 3.
Shaboozey bags his first U.K. 10 single with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (American Dogwood/Empire), the hip-hop-country number which rises 16-6.
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Taylor Swift bags another U.K. top 10 single — her 29th in her career — with “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” the fourth single from The Tortured Poets Department to crack the top 10 in two weeks. “Broken Heart” is new at No. 8, following “Fortnight,” “The Tortured Poets Department” (No. 3 peak) and “Down Bad” (No. 4). “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is the highest debut on the latest Official U.K. Singles Chart.
The only other debutant in the top 40 is Virginia, U.S. singer and rapper Tommy Richman, with “Million Dollar Baby” (ISO Supremacy/Pulse). The viral cut is new at No. 31, for Richman’s first entry on the Official Singles Chart.
Finally, two classic Amy Winehouse songs return to the top 40, powered by Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic, Back to Black. The late singer’s cover of the Zutons’ “Valerie” (with producer Mark Ronson, via Columbia) returns at No. 38 and “Back to Black” (lsland) reenters at No. 39.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department holds steady at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated May 11) in its second week, earning 439,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending May 2 (down 83%), according to Luminate. It arrived atop the chart a week ago with a massive 2.61 million units.
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Though the set declines by 83%, it still logs the biggest second-week, by units, for any album since Adele’s 25 tallied 1.162 million units in its second week (Dec. 12, 2015-dated chart, down from its 3.482 million in its opening week).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, PARTYNEXTDOOR debuts at No. 10 with PARTYNEXTDOOR 4 (P4).
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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 May 11, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 7. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s second-week unit sum of 439,000, SEA units comprise 330,000 (down 52%, equaling 428.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 107,000 (down 94%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 82%).
The rest of the top four titles on the Billboard 200 comprises former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time rises 4-2 (69,000 equivalent album units; up 8%), Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You falls 2-3 (61,000; down 11%) and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter dips 3-4 (52,000; down 21%). Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rounds out the top five, stepping 7-5 (41,000; down 10%).
Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 11-6 (its highest rank since it was No. 5 on the July 29, 2023, chart) with 40,000 equivalent album units (up 9%). Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 8-7 (40,000; down 1%), Future and Metro Boomin’s former leader We Still Don’t Trust You falls 6-8 (39,000; down 28%) and SZA’s chart-topping SOS is steady at No. 9 (nearly 39,000; down 1%).
Closing out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 is PARTYNEXTDOOR and the arrival of his PARTYNEXTDOOR 4 (P4) at No. 10. It launches with 37,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 34,000 (equaling 45.94 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. PARTYNEXTDOOR4 marks the third top 10-charting set for the singer/songwriter and producer, following PARTYMOBILE (No. 8 in 2020) and PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 (P3) (No. 3 in 2016).
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.
Aptly given its title, Sia’s “Unstoppable” becomes the first song in nearly a quarter-century to spend 100 weeks on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
The track hits triple-digits on the list dated May 11, where it holds at No. 4. It notched 12 weeks at No. 1, nonconsecutively, between charts dated Nov. 12, 2022, and March 18, 2023.
Below is a look at the select four songs to have logged at least 100 weeks on Adult Contemporary over the chart’s history, which dates to July 1961.
Notably, three are by Australian acts: Above Sia’s song, the top two are by pop duo Savage Garden. (LeAnn Rimes, also on the list below, is from Jackson, Miss.)
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Most Weeks on Adult Contemporary Chart:
124, “I Knew I Loved You,” Savage Garden (No. 1 for 17 weeks, beginning Dec. 25, 1999)
123, “Truly Madly Deeply,” Savage Garden (No. 1, 11 weeks, beginning April 11, 1998)
104, “I Need You,” LeAnn Rimes (No. 2 peak, Oct. 7, 2000)
100, “Unstoppable,” Sia (No. 1, 12 weeks, beginning Nov. 12, 2022)
through the chart dated May 11, 2024
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Rules regarding the removal of songs from Adult Contemporary due to their age have varied over the years. On average, titles began having longer stays once the survey adopted electronically monitored Luminate data in July 1993. Check out Billboard’s charts legend for more details.
Meanwhile, the longevity of “Truly Madly Deeply” helped spark its No. 1 status on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Adult Contemporary Songs chart.
“Unstoppable” has charted in the top five of Adult Contemporary for a record 84 weeks, all consecutively since the ranking dated Oct. 8, 2022. Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” follows with a likewise active run of 66 weeks in the top five, placing at No. 5 on the latest list. (The latter hadn’t yet been released when “Unstoppable” started its top five stay; it arrived on Swift’s album Midnights that Oct. 21.)
Mirroring its lengthy chart run, “Unstoppable” has a winding history, as it was originally released on Sia’s 2016 LP This Is Acting. It was used promos for Major League Baseball’s 2016 postseason and in a Lancôme Idôle commercial, starring Zendaya, in 2019. It subsequently became prominent on TikTok and soundtracked a Samsung Galaxy ad.
Radio promotion followed, at last, in 2022, and the song entered the Adult Contemporary chart dated that June 18. “We started talking about it [that] January. The question was, ‘How are we going to do this?’ ” Erik Olesen of Crush Music told Billboard of the airplay campaign. Complicating the push, Sia’s most recent material has been released on Atlantic Records and “Unstoppable” was originally on RCA Records, and later moved to Sony Music’s catalog division under the Legacy label. However, “both RCA and Legacy were very supportive and were all about us going for this,” Olesen said.
In its favor, “Unstoppable” was among other older songs cutting through in 2022. As it built at radio, Kate Bush took off with her 1985 classic “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” spurred by its synch in Netflix’s Stranger Things. Noted Olesen, “At least ‘Unstoppable’ was 30 years younger!”
As momentum continued to build for the song, Olesen “asked several format captains at different radio chains both domestically and internationally to put it into their callout research. After a couple of weeks, it started to raise its hand and had huge familiarity. One of the most important ingredients for radio is familiarity.”
Since its release, “Unstoppable” has drawn 2.8 billion in airplay audience among reporters to Billboard‘s all-format Radio Songs chart. It has also run up totals of 438.1 million official streams and 494,000 sold in the U.S.
All Billboard charts dated May 11 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, May 7.
Ashley Cooke notches her first top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Your Place” rises from No. 11 to No. 9 on the list dated May 11. It advanced by 5% to 17.9 million audience impressions April 26-May 2, according to Luminate. The song is the 26-year-old Parkland, Fla., native’s second Country Airplay entry […]
After notching its first No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart last November, Beartooth scores its second on the May 11-dated survey with “I Was Alive.”
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The song follows the group’s one-week rule with “Might Love Myself.”
The two No. 1s mark new heights for the band from Columbus, Ohio, on Mainstream Rock Airplay, which the act first hit with the No. 33-peaking “Beaten In Lips” in 2015. It logged two initial top 10s with “Hated” (No. 6, April 2017) and “Disease” (No. 9, December 2018). Beartooth boasts 12 total career entries on the chart, all on Red Bull Records.
Concurrently, “I Was Alive” ranks at No. 15, after reaching No. 13, on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, up 5% to a new weekly-best 2.6 million audience impressions April 26-May 2, according to Luminate. The track is Beartooth’s second-highest-ranking hit on the list, after “Might Love Myself” rose to No. 11 in November.
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On the most recent multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (dated May 4, reflecting data April 19-25), “I Was Alive” placed at No. 19, after reaching No. 10 in April. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 306,000 official U.S. streams in that span.
“I Was Alive” is the second single, after “Might Love Myself,” from The Surface, Beartooth’s fifth studio LP. It debuted at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart in October 2023 and has earned 91,000 equivalent album units since its release.
All Billboard charts dated May 11 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, May 7.
Following its ascent to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 27, Hozier’s “Too Sweet” rules its first radio chart.
The song crowns Adult Alternative Airplay, where Hozier earns his sixth leader – and his fourth in a row. It leaps 5-1 on the May 11-dated ranking, up 18% in plays at the format April 26-May 2, according to Luminate.
“Too Sweet” follows the Irish singer-songwriter’s reigns with Noah Kahan’s “Northern Attitude,” featuring Hozier (five weeks at No. 1 beginning in January), “Francesca” (one week, September 2023) and “Eat Your Young” (two weeks, May 2023).
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Four No. 1s in a row mark the longest streak for any act on Adult Alternative Airplay in more than a decade and a half, since Counting Crows achieved four consecutively in 2004-08. The all-time record belongs to U2, who strung together six straight in 2001-05.
Hozier has also topped Adult Alternative Airplay with “Nina Cried Power,” featuring Mavis Staples (two weeks, 2018), and his breakthrough hit “Take Me to Church” (one week, 2014).
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Concurrently, “Too Sweet” vaults 22-15 on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, it zooms 14-7 with 3.3 million audience impressions, up 36%. It’s Hozier’s third top 10 on the latter list, following “Eat Your Young” (No. 7, 2023) and “Take Me to Church” (No. 3, 2014).
A multiformat hit beyond rock radio, “Too Sweet” also jumps 14-11 on Adult Pop Airplay as the chart’s Greatest Gainer (up 49%) and 17-15 on Pop Airplay. It brings Hozier’s best showing on the former since “Someone New” hit No. 10 in 2015. On the latter, it’s his second entry, after “Take Me to Church” rose to No. 2.
On the most recent multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated May 4, reflecting data April 19-25), “Too Sweet” notched a fifth week at No. 1. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 29.5 million official U.S. streams and sold 6,000.
“Too Sweet” is from Hozier’s four-song set Unheard, a collection of previously unreleased material recorded for his 2023 full-length Unreal Unearth. The EP debuted at No. 3 on the Top Alternative Albums list dated April 6 and has earned 151,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated May 11 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, May 7.
Taylor Swift notches a second successive chart double in Australia with The Tortured Poets Department and its lead single “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone.
Swift’s record-breaking 11th studio album retains top spot on the ARIA Chart, published Friday, May, 3, ahead of SZA’s SOS, which is boosted by the U.S. R&B star’s Australian arena tour which wrapped earlier in the week.
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Tortured Poets smashed a spread of chart marks in his first week, when it opened at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart for TayTay’s lucky 13th leader. With that feat, Swift has the most No. 1 albums for a solo female artist in ARIA chart history, moving ahead of Madonna to claim outright third place. At the same time, she became the first artist to hold the entire top 10 on the singles chart, led by “Fortnight,” which continues its reign.
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Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys return to the upper echelon of the Australian albums chart with Nonetheless, the British electro-pop duo’s 15h LP. It’s new at No. 3. The group’s best performing collection here was Very, ARIA reports, which peaked at No. 2 in 1993, while their last effort, 2020’s Hotspot, hit No. 8.
Close behind is 5 Seconds of Summer’s Luke Hemmings with Boy, his sophomore album. It’s new at No. 4. Hemmings’ first LP, 2021’s When Facing The Things We Turn Away From, reached the summit for one week.
Icelandic jazz musician Laufey enjoys a magical ride with Bewitched, which flies to No. 6 following the release of an expanded edition. Bewitched had previously peaked at No. 46 in 2023.
Also new to the national albums tally is the Dreggs’ Caught In A Reverie (at No. 29) and Justice with Hyperdrama (at No. 52).
While Swift holds the fort on ARIA Singles Chart with “Fortnight,” Sabrina Carpenter has a hot hit on her hands with “Espresso,” up 17-2. That’s easily her career best result in Australia, flying higher than “Feather” which reached No. 22 last year. “Espresso” led the midweek chart in the U.K., where it’s predicted to become her first No. 1.
Finally, American singer and producer Shaboozey completes Australia’s podium with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The country track, which interpolates J-Kwon’s “Tipsy,” bolts 34-3 on the ARIA Chart.
