Chart Beat
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Argentinian trap artist Brian Sánchez, who goes by stage name BM, crosses off a new career achievement as “M.A (Mejores Amigos)” rises 5-1 to lead the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated April 15). The song lands at the summit after the remix with Callejero Fino, La Joaqui and Lola Índigo dropped April 5th.
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The new champ sends Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino’s “En La Intimidad” to No. 3 after its seven-week domination. Big One, Ke Personajes and FMK’s “Un Finde l Crossover#2” takes the Greatest Gainer honor of the week with a 68-rank climb, as the song rallies 70-2 in its second week. Luck Ra’s “Ya No Vuelvas,” featuring La K’Onga and Ke Personajes, drops 3-4, while Karol G & Shakira’s “TQG” dips 5-2. Elsewhere, Spaniard singer Aitana adds a fourth chart entry and scores the Hot Shot Debut of the week with “Los Angeles” at No. 76.
Ke Personajes collects eight simultaneous tracks on the current chart, as “Disfruto” debuts at No. 87, while “Otro Día Más,” featuring La Contra, and “Adios Amor/ Oye Mujer” re-enter at No. 89 and No. 100, respectively. With eight total entries in the same chart week, the Argentinian ensemble joins five other artist who have also placed at least eight concurrent titles in the same chart week in 2023: Callejero Fino (March 18, March 25, April 8, and April 15-dated rankings) TINI (chart dated March 14), La Joaqui (Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 4, Feb. 11, and Feb. 18-dated lists), Maria Becerra (Jan. 28 and Feb. 18-dated recaps) and Bad Bunny (Jan. 7 and Jan. 14-dated charts). Among all acts and periods, Bad Bunny continues to lead with a total of 17 concurrent tracks on chart dated May 21, 2022.
David Rodriguez, who goes by Papichamp, returns with “Vamos a Amanecer,” with Ecko and Alejo Isakk, at No. 92. He last scored an entry through another Ecko collab, “Combi Nueva,” which also includes Blunted Vato and L-Gante, in 2021.
Linkin Park’s Meteora motors back to the top of multiple Billboard album charts following its 20th anniversary deluxe reissue. The set, released in 2003, was reintroduced in an expanded edition on April 7 with bonus tracks and available in multiple formats.
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The band’s second studio effort re-enters the Top Album Sales chart (dated April 22) at No. 3, jumping 23-1 on Top Hard Rock Albums, and re-entering straight in at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums, Catalog Albums and Vinyl Albums. On the latter four charts, it’s the first week at No. 1 for the album. On the Billboard 200, Meteora – which marked the group’s first of six No. 1s – re-enters at No. 8.
Meanwhile, also on Top Album Sales, NF collects his third No. 1, as his new studio effort Hope arrives atop the list, while Daniel Caesar notches his first top 10 with the No. 10 arrival of Never Enough.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Catalog Albums rank the week’s most popular rock, hard rock and catalog releases, respectively, by equivalent album units. (Catalog albums are older albums, generally those at least 18-months old.) Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. (The Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts were started in 2006 and 2007, respectively, years after Meteora’s initial release and success on the Billboard 200.)
Meteora sold 19,500 copies in the United States in the week ending April 13. In the previous week, it sold less than 500 copies. Of its 19,500 sold, physical sales comprise 18,000 (13,000 on vinyl and 5,000 on CD) and digital download sales comprise 1,500.
Meteora marked Linkin Park’s first of six No. 1s on the Billboard 200, when it debuted atop the chart dated April 12, 2003. The group’s second studio album spent two weeks atop the list. Previous to Meteora, the band logged a pair of No. 2-peaking efforts with its debut studio set Hybrid Theory and the remix project Reanimation (both in 2002).
Following Meteora’s initial release, the set spun off five No. 1s on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart: “Somewhere I Belong,” “Faint,” “Numb,” “Lying From You” and “Breaking the Habit.”
The 20th anniversary reissue was led by its first single, the new from-the-vaults track “Lost” that was recorded for Meteora but didn’t make the original album’s final tracklist. The cut – one of the new tracks added to the reissue – features the vocals of the band’s late lead singer Chester Bennington, who died in 2017. “Lost” debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Feb. 25, 2023 chart) and marked the group’s first new top 40 hit in over a decade. It also topped the Alternative Airplay chart. Other new bonus tracks on the Meteora reissue include demo recordings, live cuts and other rarities.
Meteora was reissued in multiple expansive formats, including an 89-track digital download and streaming edition, a three-CD set, a four vinyl LP box and a super deluxe boxed set priced at $199.98 (containing five vinyl LPs, four CDs, three DVDs, a book and collectibles). All versions of the album, new and old, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Also in the top 10 of the Top Album Sales chart, NF lands his third No. 1 as Hope bows atop the tally with 80,500 copies sold – his second-largest sales week ever. Its sales were bolstered by the album’s availability in an autographed CD edition in his webstore, a Target-exclusive CD with a poster packaged inside, four deluxe CD/merch boxed sets and a both a white vinyl and a standard black vinyl edition.
Melanie Martinez’s Portals falls to No. 2 in its second week with 20,000 sold (down 80%) after debuting at No. 1 a week ago. Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. dips 3-4 (14,000; down 45%), Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights is steady at No. 5 (nearly 14,000; down 3%), Jimin’s former leader FACE falls 4-6 (12,000; down 38%). Boygenius’ The Record drops 2-7 in its second week (11,000; down 79%), TWICE’s chart-topping Ready to Be: 12th Mini Album descends 6-8 (10,000; down 23%) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation is a non-mover at No. 9 with 9,000 (down 13%).
Daniel Caesar’s new Never Enough rounds out the top 10, as it bows at No. 10 with nearly 9,000 sold.
In the week ending April 13, there were 2.014 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 4.5% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.667 million (down 6%) and digital albums comprised 347,000 (down 3.2%).
There were 696,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 13 (down 4.9% week-over-week) and 961,000 vinyl albums sold (down 6.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 9.770 million (up 3.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 13.522 million (up 27.6%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 28.763 million (up 9.2% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 23.441 million (up 16%) and digital album sales total 5.321 million (down 13%).
David Guetta, Anne-Marie and Coi Leray leap onto Billboard’s multimetric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated April 22) with “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” at No. 8. The track starts with 2.5 million official streams, 1.4 million radio airplay impressions and 900 downloads sold in the April 7-13 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The reworking of Haddaway’s Eurodance classic “What Is Love,” which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993, amounts to Guetta’s 21st Hot Dance/Electronic Songs top 10, the fourth-most among all acts since the chart began in January 2013; Kygo leads with 24 top 10s, followed by Calvin Harris and The Chainsmokers, each with 22. “Hurt” is singer Anne-Marie’s second top 10 and rapper Leray’s first.
The debut also gives prolific DJ/producer Guetta a record-extending 76th charted title, the most of all acts. (Kygo is next, with 62.)
Concurrently, “Hurt” begins on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart at No. 3.
The track traces the model of Guetta’s collab with Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue),” a reimagination of another Eurodance smash, Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” a No. 6 Hot 100 hit in 2000. “Good” scores a 30th frame at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, becoming only the fourth track to have logged 30 or more weeks on top, after Marshmello and Bastille’s “Happier” (69 weeks; 2018-20), Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” (36; 2021-22) and Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey’s “The Middle” (33; 2018).
‘Dancing’ to No. 1
Frank Walker and Ella Henderson ascend to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay summit with “I Go Dancing.” The first leader for both acts, among three and four top 10s, respectively, is drawing core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, KMVQ-HD2 San Francisco and WCPY (Dance Factory FM) Chicago, among other supporters.
It’s a busy week on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, with three tracks reaching the top 10. John Summit scores his third top 10 and Hayla, her second, with “Where You Are” (12-6); Kaleena Zanders earns her inaugural top 10 and Shift K3Y presses his second with “V I B R A T I O N” (15-8); and Duke and Jones draws their first top 10 and Marlhy, her second, with “State of Mind” (21-10).
(The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
‘Hammer’ Time
On the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, Brooklyn-based DJ/producer/singer Yaeji arrives at No. 9 with her first album, With a Hammer. The set arrives with 3,500 equivalent album units, including 2,600 from traditional album sales. With vocals in Korean and English, the release also hits World Albums (No. 13) and Heatseekers Albums (No. 18).
Yaeji is known for her underground hit “Raingurl,” from her five-track EP2. The short set hit No. 5 on the now-defunct sales-only Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart following its November 2017 release.
The Revivalists reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart for a third time with “Kid,” which jumps to the top of the April 22-dated survey.
The song is the band’s first leader since “All My Friends,” which ruled for three weeks in 2018.
Previously, the band led with “Wish I Knew You” for two weeks in 2016.
In between “Friends” and “Kid,” The Revivalists appeared on the chart twice, paced by the No. 2-peaking “Change,” the other of its four top 10s, in 2019.
Concurrently, “Kid” bullets at its No. 3 high on Alternative Airplay. There, it’s the band’s top-charting song since “Wish” ruled for a week in 2017; in between those hits, the group notched its other of three top 10s, “Friends,” which rose to No. 7.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Kid” rises 5-4 with 4.1 million audience impressions, a 10% boost, according to Luminate. The band’s best is “Wish” which peaked at No. 2.
The Revivalists’ new Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 follows the solo sojourn of lead singer David Shaw, who released an eponymous album in May 2021. “Shaken,” a song from the set, hit No. 21 on the chart that January. He told Billboard ahead of the project’s release, “From the beginning, this album was all about self-exploration and the joys that come from finding strength and confidence in places that might not have been accessible before.”
“Kid” is the lead single from Pour It Out Into the Night, The Revivalists’ upcoming fifth studio album and first since 2018’s Take Good Care. The new LP is due June 2.
NF reasserts his rule on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as his newest album, Hope, starts at the summit of the chart dated April 22. The set begins with 123,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 13, according to Luminate.
With Hope, the rapper achieves his third No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. His first two entries, 2017’s Perception and 2019’s The Search, both debuted at No. 1 and held the rank for one week, while 2021’s Clouds (The Mixtape), entered and peaked at No. 2.
In addition to its Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums coronation, Hope likewise opens at No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart.
Eighty-one thousand units of Hope’s debut sum come from traditional album sales, bolstered by the album’s availability in an autographed CD edition in his webstore, a Target-exclusive CD with a poster packaged inside, four deluxe CD/merch boxed sets, and a both a white vinyl and a standard black vinyl edition. The figure makes Hope the top-selling album of the week across all genres and debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.
Of the outstanding balance, 42,000 units derive from the streaming sector, equal to 56.8 million official on-demand streams of Hope’s songs. The remaining 1,000 units are from track-equivalent units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
As Hope arrives, five of the album’s tracks debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “Careful,” with Cordae, enters the highest, at No. 29, followed by “Pandemonium” (No. 41), “Mama” (No. 46), “Suffice” (No. 47), “Bullet” (No. 48). Plus, two previous Hope releases return to the 50-position list: The title track re-enters at No. 33 after having reached a prior No. 16 peak, while “Motto” comes back at No. 40 after a No. 29 best.
A huge week for NF’s Hope album and its songs prompt the rapper’s re-entry at No. 3 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart, which measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption — album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming — to provide a weekly multidimensional ranking of artist popularity. By earning the bronze medal on this week’s recap, NF earns his highest Artist 100 rank since he claimed a week at No. 1 in August 2019.
Drake widens his lead for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart as “Search & Rescue” debuts atop the tally dated April 22.
In its first week (April 7-13), the track earned 33.8 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
The song’s sum of raw streams marks the week’s second highest, after Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night”; “Search,” however, tops the chart due to the application of weighting to all titles’ paid/subscription and ad-supported on-demand streams and programmed/radio streams.
“Search” is Drake’s leading 16th No. 1 on Streaming Songs – 10 more than the next-closest acts, dating to the ranking’s 2013 inception. Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift are tied for the second most with six apiece.
Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs:
16, Drake
6, Justin Bieber
6, Taylor Swift
4, Cardi B
4, Miley Cyrus
4, Ariana Grande
4, Lil Baby
4, Travis Scott
Drake achieves his first Streaming Songs No. 1 of 2023. He last reigned with the three-week leader “Rich Flex,” with 21 Savage, beginning with its debut atop the Nov. 19, 2022, list.
On R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, “Search” is Drake’s 19th ruler (over The Weeknd, his closest competitor, with eight). On Rap Streaming Songs, he notches his 16th (ahead of runner-up Lil Baby with eight).
Concurrently, as previously reported, “Search” bows at No. 2 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, where it’s Drake’s record-extending 68th top 10. It launches at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, where Drake claims his record-furthering 27th leader.
“Search” is currently a stand-alone single. Drake’s last full-length, the 21 Savage collaboration Her Loss, was released in November, after his dance detour, Honestly, Nevermind, arrived in June.
Following a four-month hiatus, Coldplay returned to the stage in March to extremely efficient effect. Despite playing just three Brazilian markets, the band still compiled numbers large enough to secure honors as the top-grossing live act of the month. According to figures reported to Blilboard Boxscore, the British act earned $65.4 million and sold 736,000 tickets between March 10 and March 28.
That eye-popping total was amassed from $40.1 million over six shows in Sao Paulo, $8.1 million from two shows in Curitiba and $17.2 million across three dates in Rio de Janeiro.
The slate of stadium concerts in Sao Paulo marks the seventh-largest engagement in Boxscore history, both in terms of gross and paid attendance. Further, that run helps Coldplay become the third consecutive act to simultaneously lead Top Tours and Top Boxscores, following fellow Brits Elton John in January and Ed Sheeran in February.
The Brazil shows averaged $5.9 million and 67,000 tickets per show, in step with previous legs in the U.S. ($5.7 million; 53,200 tickets) and Europe ($6.4 million; 66,400 tickets). But it’s a boost from previous plays in Latin America.
Coldplay opened the tour with shows March and April 2022 in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, pacing $4.1 million and 52,600 tickets. The band returned last September for concerts in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, running $4.6 million and 58,900 tickets per show. The Brazil run marks a 30% bump from the previous South American lap.
March is Coldplay’s second month at No. 1 on Top Tours. The band’s first trip to the top was last July with almost identical totals, when they grossed $66.7 million and sold 730,000 tickets. The 736,000 haul this month is the second-biggest monthly attendance count, only behind Sheeran’s 750,000 in June 2022.
In total, the Music of the Spheres Tour has grossed $407.7 million and sold more than 4.5 million tickets since launching in March 2022, approaching the all-time top 10 in both metrics. The band’s previous tour, the A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2016-17), sits at No. 7 on the historical ranking, with $523.3 million and sold 5.4 million tickets.
The Music of the Spheres Tour resumes in May in Europe before returning to North America in September. With close to 40 scheduled shows left to play, the entire run could be heading toward the all-time top five with more than $600 million in the bank and six million tickets sold.
Sheeran backs off from No. 1 in February to No. 2 in March, adding $43.1 million and 409,000 tickets for The Mathematics Tour. He is followed by Harry Styles at No. 3, enjoying his seventh consecutive month in the top five.
It’s the fifth month with an all-British top three since Billboard launched the monthly rankings in February 2019. All five of those occurrences have featured at least one of this month’s leaders, with Sheeran participating in four of those sweeps.
SZA is No. 4 with $23.2 million and more than 150,000 tickets on the SOS Tour. Matching Carrie Underwood last month and Karol G in October, it’s the highest rank for a female artist in more than a year based on reported figures. The only women to reach higher since returning from the pandemic were Billie Eilish, Reba McEntire and Alanis Morissette, each hitting No. 3 in February 2022, January 2022, and September 2021, respectively.
Much ado was made of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ double-duty in February, appearing twice in Top Tours’ top 10 – once by themselves and once with co-headliner Post Malone. A version of that phenomenon happens on March’s Top Boxscores ranking, as Billy Joel hits No. 27 on Top Boxscores with his latest Madison Square Garden concert, but also No. 6 with co-headliner Stevie Nicks. The first date of their brief collaborative tour earned $10.9 million at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Both acts have further scheduled dates separately and together.
Coldplay’s dominance extends to the venue charts. Sao Paulo’s Estadio do Morumbi, home of their mammoth six-show run, is the top-grossing venue of the month, No. 1 on the ranking for venues with a capacity of 15,001 or more, but out-grossing every venue on the other capacity-specific charts as well. Estadio Nilton Santos, the band’s Rio de Janeiro stadium, follows on the 15,001+ ranking at No. 7.
T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) and Madison Square Garden (New York) follow at Nos. 2-3, leading the month for arenas. Las Vegas scores No. 1 rankings on the 10,001-15k chart with MGM Grand Garden ($6.8 million) and 5,001-10k list with Dolby Live ($13.5 million).
The tally for venues with a capacity of 5,000 or less is led by Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Fla., earning $6.7 million from 26 shows during March. Vegas’ Resorts World Theatre follows at No. 2 ($5.2 million), giving Sin City a top two rank on all four venue charts.
Post-pandemic album cycles for A-list pop acts have often been accompanied by major, career-high concert announcements. Bad Bunny’s all-stadium World’s Hottest Tour preceded the release of Un Verano Sin Ti, Taylor Swift’s Midnights was followed by The Eras Tour, and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is being supported by his first run in stadiums. For the Jonas Brothers, similar announcements would trickle out. But before going big, they went intimate.
In March, Joe, Kevin & Nick Jonas put on five shows at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre, recently the home to stage musicals Beetlejuice, Tootsie and Evita. Located on 46th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, the Jonas Brothers took on Broadway with a series of (relatively) small shows that set the stage for the year ahead.
Titled Jonas Brothers on Broadway = 5 Albums 5 Nights, the band played its entire discography dating back to 2007, one album at a time: Jonas Brothers on the 14th, A Little Bit Longer on the 15th, Lines, Vines and Trying Times on the 16th, Happiness Begins on the 17th, and this year’s as-yet-unreleased The Album on the 18th.
Speaking to Billboard, Brad Wavra (SVP Global Touring, Live Nation) commented, “The Jonas Brothers’ Broadway shows were all about doing something unique and special for their fans. The intimate setting combined with the format of celebrating five albums over five nights was meant to bring fans along on the band’s personal journey from day one all the way into their new upcoming album.”
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Jonas Brothers grossed $1.6 million and sold 7,291 tickets over these five consecutive shows.
Scaling for the week of shows was relatively consistent, ranging from 1,387 tickets on the final night to 1,500 on the 16th. Accordingly, grosses barely budged, from $298,000 to $322,000. Tickets were priced between $299 and $89, averaging out at $213.
Having toured arenas and amphitheaters for the last 15 years, the Marquis Theatre is the smallest venue the Jonas Brothers have played since 2008, dating back to a sold-out underplay at London’s Carling Academy Islington (591 tickets, now known as the O2 Academy). To further illustrate the Broadway run’s rare intimacy, it’s the first reported engagement at the venue in Boxscore history.
Since the Jonas Brothers’ 2019 reunion, the band’s New York presence has been spread between Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, the Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.) and Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater (Wantagh, N.Y.). Those five shows (there were two at MSG) averaged $2.2 million and close to 15,000 tickets.
But the Marquis Theatre shows don’t represent a step down from historical business. Since their Broadway concerts, the JoBros announced a two-night stay at Yankee Stadium, marking the biggest area play of the band’s career. “The momentum is only going to build from here with their stadium shows coming in August, and with what more lies ahead for 2023,” says Wavra.
Throughout their history in arenas and amphitheaters, the Jonas Brothers have dipped their toes in the stadium circuit. Most recently, they played one show at Boston’s Fenway Park (Oct. 1, 2021) and two at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Penn. (Aug. 31, 2019 and Sept. 24, 2021). Those shows peaked at 31,000 in attendance and $2.6 million, leaving room to grow for Yankee Stadium’s 45,000 capacity.
Since the group’s earliest Boxscore reports in 2006, the Jonas Brothers have grossed $326.8 million and sold 4.5 million tickets across 359 shows. With three secret-location shows later this month in Los Angeles (April 25), Dallas-Fort Worth (April 26) and Baltimore (April 28), plus the Aug. 12-13 New York dates, those numbers will continue to grow in 2023.
YOASOBI’s “Idol” rules this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Apr. 19, coming out on top among six songs that bowed on the chart this week.
The lineup of the top 10 changed dramatically in a rare week in which the top six tracks were debuts. In particular, the top three songs respectively earned more than 9,000 total points and any of them could have taken the top spot.
YOASOBI’s “Idol” won this close race, racking up points mainly through streaming with 8,868,810 weekly streams and video views with 4,334,923 views, ruling both metrics. The opener for the anime series Oshi no Ko also launched at No. 2 for downloads and No. 22 for radio airplay.
Spitz’s “Utsukushii Hiré” (“Beautiful Fin”) — the theme of the latest Case Closed (Detective Conan) movie Kurogané no Submarine — follows at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100, ruling radio and coming in at No. 3 for downloads, No. 4 for sales, No. 7 for streaming, and No. 13 for video. With a new album set for release in May, the veteran four-man pop-rock band is off to a great start with its first collaboration with the beloved series.
At No. 3 is SixTONES’s “ABARERO,” launching with 434,274 singles to rule sales and coming in at No. 2 for radio and No. 10 for video. The six-man Johnny’s group’s ninth single sold approximately 35,000 copies more than its previous single, “Good Luck!” (398,252 copies), indicating the band’s growing popularity.
Bowing at No. 4 is MAN WITH A MISSION × milet’s “Kizuna no Kiseki,” the opener of the highly anticipated latest Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV series, depicting the Swordsmith Village story arc of the popular manga. The collaboration between the anonymous wolf-masked band and enigmatic singer came in at No. 1 for downloads with 38,843 units, No. 20 for streaming with 4,105,630 streams, and No. 12 for radio.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from to Apr. 10 to 16, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated April 22), one of the biggest rock bands of all-time hopes to score their seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 – but it still has to get through today’s top country artist to do so.
Metallica, 72 Seasons (Blackened): Metallica’s first original album in seven years arrives with no shortage of hype or promotion. The band released four songs in advance of the 12-track set’s April 14 release (including the Mainstream Rock Airplay-topping lead single “Lux Eterna”), held a four-night residency on Jimmy Kimmel Live! during its release week, and even launched a Metallica Logo Generator website last Thursday, which allowed fans to make versions of the cover titled after themselves to share on social media.
And of course, as one of the best-selling bands in rock history, Metallica has no shortage of physical options available for 72 Seasons. There are six vinyl variants for purchase, including standard black, an midnight violet-colored indie store exclusive, a red smoke-colored Target exclusive, a yellow and black swirl-colored Walmart exclusive, and both a smoky black-colored yellow and a black splatter-colored fan club exclusive. There are also two cassette options: a widely available transparent yellow variant, and a smoky black-colored Spotify exclusive.
Will it all be enough to unseat Morgan Wallen’s reigning five-week No. 1, One Thing at a Time – which earned 167,000 equivalent album units in its sixth week atop the chart? It may be close: Metallica should have a clear sales advantage, but without a major streaming hit on the set, it will of course be lagging behind Wallen’s juggernaut in that area (which also has 36 tracks to stream, rather than 72 Seasons‘ 12). The metal gods do have history on their side – their last six official studio albums have all topped the Billboard 200, dating back to their 1991 self-titled blockbuster.
IN THE MIX
Yung Bleu, Love Scars II (Moon Boy University / EMPIRE): Yung Bleu broke out at the beginning of the 2020s as one of the most promising rising singer-rappers, thanks to the Drake-assisted hit “You’re Mines Still” from his successful Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions EP. Three years and a couple studio albums later, he’s back with that mini-set’s sequel – this time a 15-track effort with features from Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign and Tink, as well as an Acoustic Deluxe edition featuring four unplugged bonus cuts.
Waterparks, Intellectual Property (Fueled by Ramen): They’ve never had conventional hit singles on radio or streaming, but pop/rock trio Waterparks have been one of the more consistently performing rock acts of the past decade, notching three consecutive albums in the Billboard 200’s top half. This month’s Intellectual Property looks to make it four for four, with four different vinyl variants, four different CD releases and even a pair of cassette options looking to help its cause.
Ice Spice, Like..? (10K Projects/Capitol): Rap phenomenon Ice Spice’s debut EP has been a fixture on the Billboard 200 since debuting at No. 7 in early February, ranking at No. 187 on this week’s chart (dated April 22). The six-track set should make a sizable jump this week, however, following the Nicki Minaj-assisted remix to Like..?’s “Princess Diana,” which has been one of the best-selling and best-streaming new songs since its Friday release — metrics that will count towards the EP’s totals.