Chart Beat
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Nicki Minaj captures back-to-back No. 1 debuts on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs as her latest single, “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” starts at the summit of the chart dated March 18. The track follows Minaj’s last appearance on the list, “Super Freaky Girl,” which likewise opened at No. 1 on its way to an 11-week reign.
With “Sleeze,” Minaj collects her ninth No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. She extends her record as the woman with the most champs in the chart’s history, which dates to 1989, and moves out of a tie with LL Cool J for sole possession of fifth place on the overall leaderboard. Drake, with 27 No. 1s, heads the list, with Lil Wayne (11), Diddy and Kanye West (10 each) next in line.
As “Sleeze” joins the club, here’s a recap of Minaj’s nine chart-toppers on Hot Rap Songs:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Nicki Minaj), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1“Your Love,” eight, July 10, 2010“Moment 4 Life,” featuring Drake, nine, Feb. 19, 2011“Make Me Proud,” Drake featuring Nicki Minaj, one, Feb. 11, 2012“Anaconda,” six, Sept. 6, 2014“Only,” featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown, one, Dec. 27, 2014“Trollz,” with 6ix9ine, June 27, 2020“Do We Have a Problem?,” with Lil Baby, Feb. 19, 2022“Super Freaky Girl,” 11, Aug. 27, 2022“Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” one (to date), March 18, 2023
Minaj’s latest champ, notably, follows in its predecessor’s footsteps with the sample of a prominent former hit. “Sleeze” samples Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh),” a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003. “Super Freaky Girl,” meanwhile, sampled the Rick James classic “Super Freak,” which hit No. 3 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 1981.
Plus, the “Sleeze” arrival secures Minaj’s fourth No. 1 debut on the Hot Rap Songs chart, tying her with Travis Scott for the second-most chart-topping starts in the list’s history. The pair trail only Drake, who has launched eight songs at the summit.
“Red Ruby Da Sleeze” traces its No. 1 start on Hot Rap Songs largely to 14 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week ending March 9, according to Luminate. The figure makes for a No. 1 debut on the Rap Streaming Songs chart, where it becomes Minaj’s fifth champ. On the overall Streaming Songs list, “Sleeze” begins at No. 21, in an entrance affected by 15 Morgan Wallen songs above it from the country superstar’s new One Thing at a Time album.
“Sleeze” also sold 41,000 downloads in the same tracking period, making it the top-selling song of the week across all genres. As such, it starts at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart and becomes Minaj’s 13th leader there. With the feat, she ties Drake as the rapper with the most No. 1s on the chart, which began in 2004, and matches Drake and Justin Bieber for the third-most chart-toppers in the list’s history. Taylor Swift leads the count with 25 No. 1s, with Rihanna in second place with 14 champs.
In radio airplay, the final metric that contributes to the Hot Rap Songs chart, “Sleeze” registered 2.7 million in audience impressions across all formats. The song also debuts on the Rhythmic Airplay chart at No. 38.
Elsewhere, “Sleeze” launches at No. 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 13 on the all-genre Hot 100.
Boosted by its high-energy performance on the Academy Awards (March 12), best original song winner “Naatu Naatu” scored a 260% increase in on-demand official streams in the United States, according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate (whose information powers Billboard’s weekly charts).
On March 12 and 13 combined, “Naatu Naatu,” performed by vocalists Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, garnered 176,000 official on-demand streams in the U.S. – up 260% from the 49,000 that the track collected in the two previous days (March 10 and 11).
In terms of digital song sales, the song sold a little over 1,000 on March 12-13 – up from a negligible sum in the two days prior.
The best original song Oscar is awarded to the writers of the song. “Naatu Naatu” was written by M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose, who both accepted the Oscar onstage during the live ABC-TV broadcast.
“Naatu Naatu” had the third-most streams of the five nominees for original song, all of which were performed on the Oscars, which aired live on ABC. Here’s a recap of the other four nominees and their streams on March 12-13, versus March 10-11: Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” (1.447 million vs. 1.446 million; up less than 1%), Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” (580,000 vs. 389,000; up 49%), “This Is a Life” (84,000 vs. 38,000; up 121%) and Sofia Carson’s “Applause” (37,000 vs. 5,000; up 593%).
In addition, Lenny Kravitz’s “Calling All Angels,” which he performed for the In Memoriam portion of the broadcast, collected 35,000 streams on March 12-13 – a gain of 3,449% compared to the 1,000 streams that it garnered on March 10-11.
Collectively, the six performances helped generate 2.359 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. on March 12-13 – a gain of 22% compared to the 1.929 million on March 10-11.
News of further significant streaming and sales gains will be reported in the coming days on Billboard.com. Streaming, sales and airplay activity generated in the week ending March 16 will be reflected on the weekly Billboard charts dated March 25.
Daisy Jones & The Six crown Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart (dated March 18), while the act’s debut album, Aurora, likewise launches at No. 1 on the Soundtracks chart.
The set, released March 3, earned 11,000 equivalent album units through March 9, according to Luminate. It also opens at No. 4 on both Americana/Folk Albums and Vinyl Albums (6,000 copies sold on vinyl) and No. 10 on Top Album Sales (8,000 sold overall).
The album accompanies Daisy Jones & The Six, the 10-part Amazon Prime Video series whose first three episodes also premiered March 3. The series brings to life Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling 2019 novel about an imaginary rock band from the 1970s that releases its defining album – Aurora – before it breaks up amid the thorny relationship between singer-songwriter Jones (played by Riley Keough) and band co-founder Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin). The series is told via flashbacks from the band’s members 20 years after they split up.
The series was produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Amazon Studios, with its companion album on Amazon Content Services, Ellemar (the label to which the band is signed in the book) and Atlantic Records.
Grammy Award-winning producer Blake Mills, who co-wrote and produced the album and supplemental songs heard in Daisy Jones & The Six, collaborated with Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford, Jackson Browne, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and others to create the 11 songs on Aurora, along with 14 non-album originals heard throughout the series.
Notably, Daisy Jones & The Six mark the first act to hit No. 1 on Emerging Artists whose formation stems from a scripted series. (Multiple artists that competed on NBC’s The Voice have led the list.) The chart dates to 2017, with acts that have reigned, on their way to even greater successes, including Dua Lipa, BLACKPINK, Billie Eilish, Bridgers, Kali Uchis, Måneskin, CKay, Latto, Zach Bryan and Dove Cameron.
“It’s been amazing to witness the historic response to Daisy Jones & the Six and their incredible debut album,” says Kevin Weaver, Atlantic Records president, West Coast. “The overwhelming reaction from fans around the world has confirmed what we at Atlantic, Amazon and Hello Sunshine have long known – that Daisy Jones & The Six are not only a true artist proposition, but a force to be reckoned with. We’re proud to be a part of their story and look forward for what’s to come.”
Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart tracks the most popular developing artists each week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard’s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.
Micah Tyler banks his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart as “I See Grace” ascends to the summit in its 31st week on the survey.
In the tracking week ending March 9, the song increased by 7% to 7.5 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
Tyler co-penned “Grace” with Zach Kale and Matthew West. It was produced by AJ Pruis.
Born Micah Tyler Begnaud, the 39-year-old singer-songwriter hails from Buna, Texas, and is now based in Nashville.
“Grace” became Tyler’s sixth Christian Airplay top 10. It follows “Walking Free,” which peaked at No. 6 in March 2022. His rookie entry, “Never Been a Moment,” hit No. 2 in April 2017, followed by “Different” (No. 6, December 2017); “Even Then” (No. 3, February 2019); and “Amen” (No. 2, June 2020).
Tyler has also charted on Christian Airplay with “Feels Like Joy” (No. 11, December 2020) and “New Today” (No. 15, March 2021).
Tyler is currently on the road with MercyMe on the band’s Always Only Jesus Tour, which also includes TAYA (who is part of the collective Hillsong United). Their next stops are in Cleveland (March 16) and Green Bay, Wis. (March 17).
Crowder and Dante Bowe’s “God Really Loves Us,” featuring Maverick City Music, rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs chart dated March 18.
On Hot Christian Songs, it climbs to No. 9, reaching the top 10 for the first time.
Crowder, aka singer-songwriter David Crowder, and Bowe co-wrote the single with Ben Glover and Jeff Sojka.
The song, which is being promoted to Christian radio by Capitol Christian Music Group, climbs 6-4 for a new high on the Christian Airplay chart. It increased by 9% to 6.9 million audience impressions in the week ending March 9, according to Luminate. It also drew 692,000 streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the United States in that span.
Crowder reaches the Hot Gospel Songs summit with his first entry on the chart. Bowe, a member of Christian and gospel collectives Bethel Music and Maverick City Music, notches his second leader with solo billing, while Maverick City Music scores its fifth chart-topper.
On Hot Christian Songs, the track gives Crowder his ninth top 10, Bowe his third and Maverick City Music its fifth.
The collaboration is the latest in a growing number of team-ups among Christian and gospel artists, with two other notable hits involving Maverick City Music, which leans more toward gospel than Christian. On Christian Airplay, the act and Kirk Franklin’s “Fear Is Not My Future,” featuring Brandon Lake, ranks at No. 26 (1.2 million impressions, up 5%). Gospel music star Franklin boasts nine No. 1s among 14 top 10s on Gospel Airplay. Lake, predominately a Christian singer-songwriter, has achieved two Christian Airplay leaders.
Plus, Maverick City Music and Christian music collective Elevation Worship united for “Jireh,” also featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine. The song topped Gospel Airplay for two frames in March 2022, after it reached No. 41 on Christian Airplay in August 2021 (before a version without Elevation Worship hit No. 5 last July).
Welcome to The Contenders, 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 March 25), a longtime stateside household name and a growing global force will compete against Morgan Wallen’s blockbuster in its second week.
Miley Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia): You might expect Miley Cyrus’ new album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Cyrus has been a household name for a decade and a half, and she’s coming off her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit with the six-week No. 1 “Flowers” — and her new album has largely been met with critical acclaim and positive fan response since its Friday release.
Despite her continued stardom, however, Cyrus has not scored a No. 1 album since 2013’s Bangerz, with her most recent effort (2021’s Plastic Hearts) debuting at No. 2 with 60,000 equivalent album units. A number anywhere near that range would probably not be enough to dethrone Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which debuted at No. 1 with 501,000 units on last week’s Billboard 200 (dated March 18). Even if One Thing posts only 40% of that in its second week, that would still be over three times Plastic Hearts’ first-week tally.
Vacation is expected to do better than Hearts, though – helped not only by the continued success of “Flowers” (which holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week) and strong early returns for follow-up single “River,” but also by a variety of physical releases. That includes four vinyl variants (including one exclusive to Target, and two exclusive to her web store) and two deluxe box sets exclusive to her web store — one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD.
TWICE, Ready to Be (JYP/Republic): Though they might not have name recognition as wide as Miley Cyrus in the United States, Korean girl group TWICE might be just as big a threat to Wallen’s place at the top of the Billboard 200 this week. TWICE have reached the chart’s No. 3 spot, well, twice: with 2021 LP Formula of Love: O+T=
NiziU’s “Paradise” shoots to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, tracking the week from Mar. 6 to 12 and released Mar. 15.
The latest track from the nine-member girl group hit No. 1 after debuting at No. 23 on last week’s chart, powered by downloads (No. 1 for the metric). The CD version went on sale this tracking week and the song came in at No. 2 for sales with 168,938 copies sold, while also faring well in the other metrics of the chart’s methodology: No. 3 for downloads, No. 13 for streaming, and No. 4 for video views and radio.
Naniwa Danshi’s “Special Kiss” debuts at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 this week, ruling sales with 512,690 copies but unable to support that advantage in the other metrics — for example, No. 13 for video and No. 24 for radio.
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Looking at first-week sales figures of both groups’ previous singles, NiziU’s “Blue Moon” sold 207,252 copies, meaning the new single is down by about 18.5 percent. Naniwa Danshi’s “Happy Surprise” sold 517,381 copies, so the new release is also down but only slightly by about 0.9 percent. However, “Blue Moon” came in at No. 46 for downloads, No. 92 in streaming, No. 42 in video, and No. 61 in radio, so the J-pop girl group managed to significantly improve in various other metrics besides sales for their new single to take the top position on the latest song chart.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
For the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Mar. 6 to 12, see here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Shinedown pulls ahead of Foo Fighters for sole possession of the most top 10s tallied on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, as “Dead Don’t Die” leaps from No. 12 to No. 8 on the March 18-dated survey.
In the March 3-9 tracking week, “Die” earned 3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. That’s a 19% boost over the previous period (2.5 million).
Shinedown adds its 15th top 10, breaking the band out of a tie with Foo Fighters for the most in the chart’s 14-year history. The Brent Smith-led Shinedown first hit the top 10 with “Sound of Madness,” which peaked at No. 2 in July 2009. The act has one No. 1: “The Crow & the Butterfly,” a four-week ruler in 2010.
Most Top 10s, Rock & Alternative Airplay:15, Shinedown14, Foo Fighters13, Cage the Elephant13, Imagine Dragons13, twenty one pilots11, The Black Keys11, Muse10, Weezer
“Die” makes three top 10s in a row for Shinedown, following “Daylight” (No. 4, last August) and “Planet Zero” (No. 5, March 2022).
“Die” concurrently rises 6-5 on Mainstream Rock Airplay, continuing Shinedown’s streak of sending every one of its entries to the top five – 30 in all, dating to 2003. Of those, a chart-record 18 have hit No. 1.
“Die” also jumps 25-19 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 323,000 official U.S. streams March 3-9.
The track is the third rock radio single from Planet Zero, Shinedown’s seventh studio album. The set bowed at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums tally last July and has earned 164,000 equivalent album units to date. A pop radio-only single from the LP, “A Symptom of Being Human,” concurrently starts at No. 36 on Adult Pop Airplay.
Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You” hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart for the first time, topping the list dated March 18.
The song, steeped in the tradition of early rock ballads from the 1950s and ’60s, lifts 2-1 in its 51st week on the chart on the strength of 30.1 million radio audience impressions, 9.3 million official streams and 2,000 downloads sold in the United States March 3-9, according to Luminate.
Concurrently, the track, released on Mercury/Republic Records, tops the Rock Digital Song Sales chart for a second week. (Sanchez recently mused, “I just love that it’s under Mercury Records, an old-school label, and this is an old-school song. That’s just so cool.”)
The 51-week trek of “You” to No. 1 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs is the second-longest in the ranking’s history, behind only Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves,” which reached the top in its 60th frame in September 2021.
Most Weeks Between Debut & First Week at No. 1, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs:60 weeks, “Heat Waves,” Glass Animals (Sept. 11, 2021)51, “Until I Found You,” Stephen Sanchez (March 18, 2023)47, “Ride,” twenty one pilots (June 25, 2016)43, “Let Her Go,” Passenger (Jan. 25, 2014)40, “Something in the Orange,” Zach Bryan (Feb. 4, 2023)40, “Pompeii,” Bastille (March 1, 2014)39, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It,” Panic! at the Disco (July 6, 2019)39, “Whatever It Takes,” Imagine Dragons (April 7, 2018)35, “Stressed Out,” twenty one pilots (Jan. 9, 2016)32, “Ex’s & Oh’s,” Elle King (Oct. 31, 2015)
“You” is Sanchez’s first Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ruler, having become his first entry on the survey. It debuted at No. 34 on the March 12, 2022, chart and has steadily risen thanks to its virality on such shortform video services as TikTok (which does not presently contribute directly to Billboard’s charts), as well as its continued rise at radio.
The song peaked at No. 4 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in September and reached No. 10 on Pop Airplay in December. Still growing at adult radio, it bullets at its No. 6 high on Adult Pop Airplay and ranks at No. 14 on Adult Contemporary (boosted by a duet version with Em Beihold). On the all-format Radio Songs list, it rebounds 28-23.
“You” appears at No. 29 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, after hitting No. 23 in January.
Sanchez’s follow-up single, “Evangeline,” debuted at No. 39 on Adult Alternative Airplay (dated March 11). Meanwhile, he has over 40 tour dates scheduled through December.
“I grew up on ’50s music,” Sanchez recently told Billboard. “My grandpa has this amazing property in San Jose, California, and there are two barns on either side and the house in the middle. It’s on top of this hill, and you can oversee all of San Jose. In the mornings, [growing up, my family] would make me breakfast, and then they would tell me to go out in the barn and pick through vinyl. My grandpa is 85 years old at this point, so the only records he has are from the ’50s and ’60s. I would pick through vinyl and just get inspired. Even now, I still do that every time I go up there.”
Fuerza Regida continues its good fortune across Billboard’s Latin charts as “Bebe Dame,” with Grupo Frontera, jumps 2-1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart (dated March 18). The song’s new coronation lands after it dominated Hot Latin Songs for two weeks.
“Bebe Dame” rises to the top of Regional Mexican Airplay thanks to a 15% increase in audience impressions, to 9.2 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 9, according to Luminate. The collab was released Dec. 16 and belongs to Fuerza Regida’s Sigan Hablando album, which earned the five-member ensemble its highest peaking set on Top Latin Albums (No. 2, Jan. 28) and a two-week reign on Regional Mexican Albums.
“Bebe Dame” is the second collaborative effort by Regida and Frontera, following “911” which reached the top 25 on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart last December.
Back on Regional Mexican Airplay, as “Bebe Dame” leads the 29-year-old ranking, Regida secures its first champ. Previously, the San Bernardino, Calif-based group reached the top five through the No. 5-peaking “Sigan Chambeando” in August 2019.
Frontera, meanwhile, claims its second leader in less than two months. The group replaces itself at No. 1, sending “Que Vuelvas,” with Carin León, to No. 5 following its six-nonconsecutive-week run on top, which began on the Jan. 28-dated list.
Further, “Bebe Dame” holds at No. 2 on Hot Latin Songs for a seventh frame after two weeks atop, despite dips in both streams and digital sales. It also leaps 6-2 on the all-genre Latin Airplay tally, granting Regida its first top 10 there. Frontera picks up its third straight top 10.
Los Dos Carnales Score a Second Top 10 on Latin Airplay
Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Los Dos Carnales earn its second top 10 among six entries on Latin Airplay as “Se Me Soltó El Hocico” flies 14-6.
“Se Me Soltó” advances to the upper tier boosted by a 24% gain in audience impressions, with 7.6 million, earned during the March 3-7 tracking week.