Chart Beat
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Drake and 21 Savage stunt on the competition on both Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay charts, as their single “Rich Flex” ascends to a dual domination on the charts dated Jan. 28. The new coronations extend Drake’s records as the artist with the most No. 1s on both charts, while 21 Savage earns his second champ on the former and fourth leader on the latter.
On R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, “Rich Flex” advances from the runner-up rank to lead the chart in its 11th frame. It tops the list with 19.7 million in audience listenership registered in the week ending Jan. 19, a 7% improvement from the week prior, according to Luminate. With the rise, “Rich Flex” became the most-heard song on U.S. monitored R&B and hip-hop radio stations.
The new champ gives Drake his 29th No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, the most among all artists since the chart began in 1992. 21 Savage, as mentioned, collects his second champ and returns to the summit after a break of just over five years, since his featured turn on Post Malone’s “Rockstar,” a two-week champ in December 2017.
As Drake tacks another title to his record tally, here’s a look at the acts with the most No. 1s on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay:
29, Drake15, Usher12, Lil Wayne10, Beyoncé9, Chris Brown
On Rhythmic Airplay, “Rich Flex” jumps from No. 3. It enters the top slot after a 26% surge in weekly plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored rhythmic radio stations in the week ending Jan. 19. Here, Drake picks up a record-extending 37th chart-topper. 21 Savage banks a fourth champ, as “Rich Flex” joins the aforementioned “Rockstar” (six weeks in 2017-18), “A Lot” (two weeks, 2019) and “Jimmy Cooks,” another collaboration with Drake (one week, 2022).
Elsewhere, on Rap Airplay, “Rich Flex” repeats at the No. 1 spot to secure a second week in charge. There, it increases its grip on the rank with an 11% gain in weekly audience. The single looks to next capture the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, which ranks the most-played tracks on U.S. monitored R&B and hip-hop stations. On that chart, “Rich Flex” ranks at No. 2 for a second straight week and finishes second in a tight race with the current champ, GloRilla and Cardi B’s “Tomorrow 2” collaboration. A repeat showdown, however, would likely favor “Flex” thanks to its positive momentum: It logged a 12% bump in plays in the latest tracking week, while “Tomorrow 2” declined 5%.
Fuerza Regida picks up its third No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart as Sigan Hablando ascends from No. 2 to lead the Jan. 28-dated list. The album’s new win arrives two weeks after it debuted, alongside Pa Que Hablen, in the top 10 on the overall Top Latin Albums chart on Jan. 14.
To claim the top slot on Regional Mexican Albums, Sigan Hablando earned 12,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 19, a 12% gain from the week prior, according to Luminate. Out of that sum, 11,000 derive from streaming which represents 18.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams of the album’s songs, up 15% from the previous week. The remaining units come from traditional album sales and track-equivalent album units through sales of the album’s songs.
On the Regional Mexican Albums chart, 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.
Two more of the group’s albums also rank in the tally’s top 10, Pa Que Hablen at No. 3 — after its No. 2 debut on Jan. 14 — and Del Barrio Hasta Aquí, Vol. 2 at No. 4, the latter, in its 35th week, peaked at No. 2 in June 2022.
Sigan Hablando becomes the Sinaloa quintet’s third chart topper: Del Barrio Hasta Aquí debuted and led for 18 consecutive weeks in 2019. Meanwhile, Adicto ruled for one week in April 2020.
Elsewhere, Sigan Hablando moves 4-2 on the all-Latin Top Latin Albums ranking, and pushes up on the overall Billboard 200, with a 97-65 lift.
Further, the album houses “Bebe Dame,” with Grupo Frontera, which earned both acts its first No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart (Jan. 21). The song is pushed down to No. 2 on the current track though with a gain, displaced by the No. 1 debut of Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53.” On Regional Mexican Airplay, one other song from the Sigan Hablando makes progress: “Prefiero Empedarme” jumps 40-30.
Carin León & Grupo Frontera ‘Que Vuelvas’ Leads: Elsewhere on the Regional Mexican realm, Carin León and Grupo Frontera’s “Que Vuelvas” ascends 8-1 on Regional Mexican Airplay with 7.7 million in audience impressions, up 44%, earned in the U.S. during the Jan. 13-19 tracking week.
It’s a first No. 1 for Frontera which scored a No. 2 with “No Se Va” last Dec. León secures his third, following his three-week domination through his featured role in Banda MS’ “Ojos Cerrados.”
Over on the all-genre Latin Airplay list, “Que Vuelvas” reaches its highest peak: No. 6 in its sixth week.
After its synch in HBO’s new series The Last of Us, Depeche Mode’s ‘80s hit “Never Let Me Down Again” blazes to No. 1 on Billboard’s LyricFind U.S. and LyricFind Global charts dated Jan. 28.
The LyricFind Global and LyricFind U.S. charts rank the fastest momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages globally and in the U.S., respectively, provided by LyricFind. The Global chart includes queries from all countries, including the U.S. The company is the world’s leader in licensed lyrics, with data provided by more than 5,000 publishers and utilized by more than 100 services, including Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Microsoft, SoundHound and iHeartRadio.
“Down” reigns following its appearance in the series premiere of the HBO show (based on the video game of the same name), which premiered Jan. 15.
According to LyricFind, lyric searches and usages for “Down” zoomed 182% globally and 999% in the U.S.
Thanks to the synch, the song also found its way onto Billboard’s Alternative Digital Song Sales and Rock Digital Song Sales charts at Nos. 7 and 18, respectively. In the Jan. 13-19 tracking week, the song earned 1,000 downloads, up 1,199% from a negligible amount the previous period, according to Luminate.
It also saw a significant stream boost: 552,000 official on-demand U.S. streams Jan. 13-19, a 210% gain from Jan. 6-12.
“Down” reached No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. It can be found on 1987 album Music for the Masses, which peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard 200.
Another December Boxscore report, another triumph for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Since Billboard launched its monthly touring recap in February 2019, TSO has made a habit of topping each December’s Top Tours chart, cranking up its annual seasonal routing to the max. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Trans-Siberian Orchestra grossed $50.9 million and sold 691,000 tickets over 71 shows in the 31-day period.
Peaking at four shows per day, TSO employs two ensembles. One travels the eastern half of the U.S. and the other covers the western half, each playing matinee and primetime concerts in some markets.
The band hit a high point on Dec. 23, with two shows at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio ($1.7 million) and two at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. ($1.9 million), totaling $3.6 million in one day from four concerts. It was one of five days in December that it grossed more than $3 million.
TSO’s entire 2022 haul generated $66.5 million in gross revenues from 914,000 tickets sold – with 77% of that sum coming from December dates alone. That’s the second-highest grossing tour in the band’s history, narrowly missing 2019’s pre-pandemic $66.8 million. Still, this was its biggest December yet, at $50.9 million, eclipsing 2019’s $46.8 million.
In 2021, TSO played 98 shows – equal to 2022’s run – but the Omicron wave slowed ticket sales, dipping to $42 million in December, and $54.6 million for the entire run.
In all, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has grossed $734.1 million and sold 14.1 million tickets over 1,789 shows. The modestly priced (and mostly U.S.-based) family show hovers around the top 20 grossing acts in Boxscore history, but is within the top 10 according to tickets sold, slightly less than Coldplay’s 14.6 million, but moving past Bon Jovi’s 13.3 million.
With its annual trip to the summit, TSO’s third monthly Boxscore win puts the act in rare company. Since the launch of Top Tours in February 2019, only Elton John (six) and Bad Bunny (four) have spent more time at No. 1, while The Rolling Stones match with three months of its own. Considering John and Bad Bunny dominated the previous four months, it hasn’t been since July that an act scored its first Top Tours victory, when Coldplay ruled with $66.7 million.
And while John, the Stones and Coldplay have each disappeared for now, Bad Bunny remains a factor on the December charts, at No. 3 on Top Tours and at No. 1 on Top Boxscores. He crowns the latter chart with his two shows at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico. That double-header earned $17.1 million on Dec. 3-4, pushing World’s Hottest Tour to a final gross of $314.1 million.
In December, Billboard named Bad Bunny the top touring act of 2022 based on the combined activity of the spring’s El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour, accumulating $373.5 million in the tracking period of Nov. 1, 2021-Oct. 31, 2022. But with additional grosses in November and December, he finished the year with $434.9 million, the biggest calendar-year gross for an artist in Boxscore history.
In between TSO and Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee finished the year at No. 2 on Top Tours, hitting a new peak after spending October and November at No. 3. His December haul began with three shows at Mexico City’s Foro Sol (after playing two shows at the venue in November) and stretched through a final American run, ending with two shows at Miami’s FTX Arena.
Over 15 shows, he earned $37.5 million, pushing his farewell tour’s total to $197.8 million. That makes it the second-biggest tour by a Spanish-speaking act, following, who else, Bad Bunny and his own fall ’22 tour.
Daddy Yankee follows Bad Bunny, again, by hitting No. 2 on Top Boxscores with those three Foro Sol shows. The entire five-night run grossed $23.6 million, split between $9.8 million on Nov. 29-30, and $13.8 million on Dec. 2-4.
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Among the highest grossing venues of the month, a combination of holiday-themed concerts and sporting events make it the No. 1 on the ranking among venues with a capacity of 15,001+. In most months, the venue atop that chart is also the No. 1 venue among rooms of any size, given the high capacity. But, just as TSO annually shoots to No. 1, December’s crown is virtually reserved for New York’s 5,900-cap Radio City Music Hall.
Home of the Christmas Spectacular starring The Radio City Rockettes, RCMH grossed $76.7 million across 130 shows (averaging more than four performances per day), trampling the arena’s $22 million take. In all, between Nov. 18 and Jan. 2, the Rockettes show brought in $96.9 million and sold 945,000 tickets. If counted as a musical touring act, it would quite easily rule the Top Tours and Top Boxscores charts.
Though not a touring act per se, there are two Jingle Ball appearances on Top Boxscores, another seasonal regular. Of six reported Jingle Ball events, totaling $8.7 million, highlights are New York’s show at Madison Square Garden ($3.5 million; 18,178 tickets) and London’s two-night event at the O2 Arena ($2.5 million; 27,080 tickets).
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Alicia Keys extends her record for the most No. 1s on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart as “Trillions,” featuring Brent Faiyaz, crowns the chart dated Jan. 28. The single advances from No. 2, and, despite its 1% decrease in weekly plays, it became the most-played song on U.S. monitored adult R&B radio stations in the week ending Jan. 19, according to Luminate.
With her new champ, Alicia Keys improves her career total of Adult R&B Airplay No. 1s to 13. She remains atop the leaderboard for the most No. 1s among all acts since the chart began in 1993. Now, she moves two ahead of her nearest competitor, Toni Braxton, and her 11 leaders. Here’s a look at the artists with the most chart-toppers in Adult R&B Airplay history:
13, Alicia Keys11, Toni Braxton9, Charlie Wilson8, Bruno Mars8, Kem8, Maxwell7, H.E.R.7, Mary J. Blige7, R. Kelly7, Tank
“Big love to my AK fam,” Keys said in an Instagram post celebrating the accomplishment. “Big love to Brent Faiyaz – I told you we were going to get that No. 1!,” the singer-songwriter said.” The R&B legend also noted the feat occurred during her birthday week, as she turned 42 on Jan. 25.
At 22 weeks, “Trillions” ties for Keys’ second-longest trek to the summit among her 13 champs. “Fire We Make,” her duet with Maxwell, also required 22 weeks on its way to a seven-week reign in 2013; they both rank behind “So Done,” featuring Khalid, which reached No. 1 in its 28th week on the chart.
For Brent Faiyaz, his featured turn on “Trillions” yields his first Adult R&B Airplay No. 1 with his debut appearance on the chart.
“Trillions” also marks Keys and Faiyaz’s second charted collaboration; their prior release, “Ghetto Gatsby,” from Faiyaz’s Wasteland album, reached No. 8 on the Hot R&B Songs chart in July 2022. “Trillions” appears on the deluxe edition of Keys’ 2021 album Keys, dubbed Keys II, that dropped in August 2022. (All versions of the Keys album are combined for tracking and charting purposes.)
Elsewhere, “Trillions” climbs to a new peak of No. 17 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience listenership from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations. There, the song climbs again, despite, a 5% drop to 6.7 million in audience.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Miley Cyrus’ runaway 2023 hit leads to gains not only for her whole discography but for a fellow ’10s superstar’s own 2013 smash, Sabrina Carpenter takes the next step towards crossover pop success, and Baby Tate has a TikTok breakout with an old song that interpolates a much older song.
“Flowers” Success Pollenates Miley Cyrus‘ Whole Back Catalog (And One Bruno Mars Hit)
Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” is in bloom on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, becoming just the second single in her storied pop career to top the chart, and her first to debut on top. It does so with some of the most spectacular first-full-week numbers of the decade so far: 52.6 million streams, 70,000 digital song sales and 33.5 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to Luminate.
But it’s not just the Columbia-released “Flowers” that’s blossoming this week — Cyrus’ entire back catalog is growing in the sunlight of her new release. Even without accounting for “Flowers,” Cyrus’ discography is up from 20.7 weekly million official on-demand U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Jan. 12 to 34.2 million the following week (ending Jan. 19), a 65% gain.
Read more in our full article on Miley’s streaming boom (and its Bruno Mars spillover) here.
Sabrina Carpenter Nails Down a Breakout Hot 100 Hit
Six months after releasing her Island Records debut Emails I Can’t Send, Sabrina Carpenter has her biggest hit from the pop project. “Nonsense” debuts at No. 75 on this week’s Hot 100 after making a pronounced impact on streaming charts since the beginning of 2023, and its weekly streaming totals are quickly rising.
“Nonsense,” on which Carpenter sings about feeling so flustered around a significant other that she gets tongue-tied, started going viral on TikTok over the past month. Credit goes to a combination of a sped-up version of the rhythmic pop-rock track and a cheeky dance routine set to its second verse (“I’m talkin’ all around the clock / I’m talkin’ hope nobody knocks / I’m talkin’ opposite of soft / I’m talkin’ wild, wild thoughts,” Carpenter sings). The song’s momentum was also helped by a well-choreographed live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that was widely shared by pop fans around social media.
TikTok Cheers Along Baby Tate’s “Mickey” Reinvention
Choreographer-turned-accidental pop star Toni Basil topped the Hot 100 back in 1983 with “Mickey,” a gender-flipped cover of ’70s U.K. glam-rockers Racer’s “Kitty” turned into a cheerleading stomp-along (with help from an unforgettable music video, an early MTV staple). Atlanta rapper-singer Baby Tate introduced another step in the song’s evolution in 2016 with “Hey Mickey,” a bouncy trap banger keyed around a sultrier rendition of the classic “Mickey” hook.
“Hey Mickey” had limited commercial impact upon its release, but is making waves in 2023 thanks to — what else? — the song going viral on TikTok, with hundreds of thousands of videos of users miming along to its refrain, or posting it over various clip montages, with some videos receiving likes in the millions. It’s led to the song also detonating on streaming, with its weekly official on-demand U.S. streams growing from barely over 2,000 in mid-December to over 2.3 million for the week ending Jan. 19. And it’s still climbing — meaning Tate might be coming for Basil’s head “Mickey” cheerleader status soon enough. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
PartyNextDoor Finds a PartyNineYearsAgo With Viral ‘Her Way’
Earlier this month, PartyNextDoor returned with “Her Old Friends,” a new single that followed the R&B star’s 2022 singles “No Fuss” and “Sex in the Porsche.” Yet none of those recent tracks are burning up streaming services quite like “Her Way,” the slinky cut from his 2014 project PartyNextDoor Two, which has gotten the sped-up TikTok treatment and soared back into the public consciousness.
Over the past month, “Her Way” has increased its weekly U.S. on-demand streaming total by nearly tenfold — 498,000 streams during the week ending Dec. 22, up to 4.93 million streams during the week ending Jan. 19, according to Luminate. PND himself is playing into the revival: days after releasing “Her Old Friends,” the singer-songwriter released an official “Her Way [Sped Up]” version of the track. With more music expected from PartyNextDoor this year, “Her Way” could serve as an unexpected lead-in to a potential new project. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” makes history on the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, released Jan. 25, extending its record to 12 weeks at No. 1 (8 of those weeks consecutively) to break the all-time record for longest-leading single on the chart.
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The records for both consecutive and non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 were previously held by Gen Hoshino’s “Koi,” which hit No. 1 seven times consecutively and 11 times in all.
“Subtitle” racked up 12,610,115 streams this week, down from 13,481,602 last week, to rule the metric for the 14th consecutive week. The grand total for the track is currently at 259,611,559 streams. The song is at No. 4 for downloads (7,654 units, down from 8,709) after topping the metric 8 times and totaling 273,438 units to date. It racked up 1,839,544 views (down from 2,044,575) to come in at No. 3 for video views, and while it never hit No. 1 for this metric, it stayed at No. 2 for 9 weeks and currently totals 36,927,130 views.
While “Subtitle” continues to gradually slow down (7.2 percent down in total points from the previous week), it’s still around 2,000 points ahead of the song at No. 2 — “KICK BACK” by Kenshi Yonezu — and it’ll be interesting to see if it can extend its record next week and beyond.
KinKi Kids’ “The Story of Us,” the third single marking the 25th anniversary of the Johnny’s duo’s CD debut, bows at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100 this week. The track written by the two members launched at No. 1 for physical sales with 178,502 copies sold in its first week, but couldn’t supplement that advantage with other metrics of the chart’s methodology.
back number‘s seventh album Humor, the three-man band’s first studio set in four years, blasted in at No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums chart this week. The song “I Love You” off the set rises 15-7 this week on the Japan Hot 100 after collecting points in streaming and radio airplay. Other songs by the popular band, including past hits such as “Takane no Hanako-san,” also surged in points and a total of eight tracks by the band is charting on the Japan Hot 100 this week.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Jan. 16 to Jan. 22, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Six months after releasing her Island Records debut Emails I Can’t Send, Sabrina Carpenter has her biggest hit from the pop project. “Nonsense” debuts at No. 75 on this week’s Hot 100 after making a pronounced impact on streaming charts since the beginning of 2023, and its weekly streaming totals are quickly rising.
“Nonsense,” on which Carpenter sings about feeling so flustered around a significant other that she gets tongue-tied, started going viral on TikTok over the past month. Credit goes to a combination of a sped-up version of the rhythmic pop-rock track and a cheeky dance routine set to its second verse (“I’m talkin’ all around the clock / I’m talkin’ hope nobody knocks / I’m talkin’ opposite of soft / I’m talkin’ wild, wild thoughts,” Carpenter sings). The song’s momentum was also helped by a well-choreographed live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that was widely shared by pop fans around social media.
“Nonsense” earned 5.82 million U.S. on-demand streams during the week ending Jan. 19, according to Luminate — a 66% spike from the previous week’s streaming total. As a result, the track has become the first Hot 100 hit off of Emails I Can’t Send, and Carpenter’s second career entry on the chart, following the 2021 single “Skin” (No. 48 peak).
“The success of ‘Nonsense,’ and the album Emails I Can’t Send as a whole, exemplifies Sabrina’s innate ability to write and perform bold pop songs, capturing large audiences alongside viral growth,” says Jackie Winkler, VP of A&R at Island, in a statement to Billboard. “It’s been hugely rewarding to witness this song come to life from the earliest demo form, to the live show, to the mainstream charts, all while solidifying her mark in pop musical culture.”
Emails I Can’t Send became Carpenter’s highest-charting entry on the Billboard 200 album chart in July, as the former Disney Channel star’s first LP in three years debuted at No. 23 on the tally. A North American headline tour in support of the album kicks off on Mar. 16.
Click here to read why Emails I Can’t Send was one of the Billboard staff’s favorite albums of 2022.
For the first time since 2014, Miley Cyrus is No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart.
“Flowers,” the lead single from Cyrus’ upcoming album Endless Summer Vacation, starts atop the Streaming Songs list dated Jan. 28.
In the Jan. 13-19 tracking week, “Flowers” earned 52.6 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
The song is Cyrus’ fourth No. 1 since the chart began in 2013 and her first ruler since “Adore You” led for a week in 2014.
Previously, she led for 11 and 13 weeks, respectively, in 2013 with “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball.”
With four rulers, she moves into a four-way tie for the fourth-most No. 1s in chart history, alongside Cardi B, Lil Baby and Travis Scott. Drake leads all acts with 15 No. 1s.
Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs Chart15, Drake6, Justin Bieber6, Taylor Swift4, Cardi B4, Lil Baby4, Miley Cyrus4, Travis Scott
Her latest No. 1 comes virtually nine years to her previous week atop the chart, as “Ball” spent its last week at No. 1 on the Jan. 25, 2014, list. Her nine-year wait is the longest break between No. 1s in chart history, exceeding Nicki Minaj’s nearly eight-year respite between “Anaconda” (2014) and “Super Freaky Girl” (2022) achieved last year.
Not only is “Flowers” Cyrus’ first No. 1 since 2014, it’s also her first top 10 since “Adore.”
Between “Adore” and “Flowers,” she rose as high as No. 11 twice with “Malibu” in 2017 and as part of “Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angels),” with Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey, in 2019.
She isn’t the only act to return to the top 10 after a long break on the Jan. 28 survey. Shakira, as part of Bizarrap’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” is back at No. 3 (20.2 million streams), her first appearance in the top 10 since “Can’t Remember to Forget You,” featuring Rihanna, reached No. 2 in 2014.
Concurrently, as previously reported, “Flowers” debuts at No. 1 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, Cyrus’ second ruler. Endless Summer Vacation, her eighth studio album, is due March 10.
The year in mega-pop is officially underway with the debut of Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers.” The disco-pop post-breakup anthem is the first new Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 of 2023, bowing atop the chart dated Jan. 28 with 52.6 million streams, 70,000 digital songs sold and 33.5 million radio airplay impressions, according to Luminate.
Despite Cyrus’s 15-year career of hitmaking prior to “Flowers,” the song marks just her second visit to the Hot 100’s top spot (following “Wrecking Ball” in 2013) — and her first-ever No. 1 debut. The level of cross-platform success for the new song is due in part to fan speculation over the song’s real-life inspirations, including several well-circulated theories about Easter-egg allusions to Cyrus’ relationship with ex Liam Hemsworth buried throughout the song and its video.
What does the song mostly owe its tremendous initial success to? And are there any lessons other artists can take from it? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. “Flowers” debuts at No. 1 this week, marking Miley Cyrus’ first solo single to reach higher than No. 10 on the Hot 100 since “Wrecking Ball” in late 2013. Which part of that do you find more surprising — that “Flowers” has enjoyed such a blazing start, or that it’s been nearly a decade since Miley’s last hit on this level?
Rania Aniftos: The latter. Justice for Plastic Hearts! I can’t believe “Midnight Sky” wasn’t a No. 1 hit, or at least in the top five. Miley hasn’t stopped giving us hits, and I’m glad everyone else sees that now.
Katie Atkinson: Both? I think “Flowers” is a great, instantly catchy song with a universal (and empowering) message, but I’ve been partial to quite a few Miley songs over the last decade – namely “Midnight Sky” (especially its Stevie Nicks-assisted “Edge of Midnight” remix) and really her whole rock-star Plastic Hearts era; or her twangy Mark Ronson collab “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”; or if you’re digging the ex-husband dirt on “Flowers,” might I suggest the sweeping, confessional “Slide Away”? Perhaps all of those (excellent) music moments from Miley over the past five years set the table for her to finally be back on top, where she clearly belongs.
Josh Glicksman: The latter is pretty stunning to me, though she has come close-ish a few times — previous lead singles “Malibu” and “Midnight Sky” reached No. 10 and No. 14, respectively. Of course, Miley Cyrus shifting her sonic direction a few times over that span is likely a factor, especially with regard to her resulting radio spin (her last time cracking the top 10 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay or Radio Songs chart is also “Wrecking Ball”). But perhaps equally shocking to me is that her last No. 1 album is Bangerz in 2013. Hopefully that gets resolved in short order as well.
Jason Lipshutz: The No. 1 debut for “Flowers.” I’m a pretty huge Miley fan, but she doesn’t have any singles over the past decade that leave me shocked that they didn’t make it to the top of the Hot 100 (although, in my heart, “Slide Away” was one of the biggest songs of 2019). The fact that “Flowers” has scored an enormous No. 1 debut isn’t too surprising when considering that Cyrus is still an A-list pop artist, and that the song has arrived during a slower part of the release calendar… but when reviewing her recent chart history, yeah, this is pretty unexpected.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s the new song’s performance for me. I’d grown used to Miley Cyrus as a pop star whose name recognition and general media interest has long outstripped her streaming or top 40 prowess — she’s had hits, but none of her singles since “Wrecking Ball” have been anywhere near unavoidable, excellent though many of them were. For her to come zooming in with an asteroid-sized hit that already seems a lock for year-end honors contention just three weeks into 2023… well, I would’ve needed quite the telescope to see it coming.
2. We’ve talked a little about some of the reasons behind the explosive debut of “Flowers” — which do you see as being the biggest factor in the song’s early success?
Rania Aniftos: While I think the fan theories surrounding how some of the lyrics may relate to her former marriage with Liam Hemsworth led people to listen to the song for the tea, at the end of the day, it’s an uplifting breakup song. No matter how many of those get released, it’s proven time and time again that people need music to heal from a heartbreak – and Miley delivered the perfect antidote for the newly single people out there.
Katie Atkinson: I’m going to vote a tie between January’s rapt music audience and the radio sheen of the Harry’s House crew. I’ve already heard the song on adult pop radio in heavy rotation, even though AC stations typically play established hits long after their debuts (alongside decades-old classics), not singles released a week prior. (Even Taylor Swift had to wait months for “Anti-Hero” to get adult pop action.) But when Diane Keaton is dancing to the song in her backyard and Gloria Gaynor is christening it the heir apparent to “I Will Survive,” the AC train apparently kicks into high gear.
Josh Glicksman: My lame instinct is to tell you that it’s a combination of these factors, but it’s hard to look past the power of a good fan theory in conjunction with TikTok’s impact. There are already more than 1.2 million user-created clips on the platform that use the song as a backdrop, and the additional layers to the perceived deeper meaning behind it all continue to roll in. Also, as a footnote to this factor, just the general presence of having a hype-worthy music video goes a long way in reaching an additional audience.
Jason Lipshutz: While “Flowers” is a strong entry in Cyrus’ singles discography, and I’m sure the Hemsworth Easter eggs drove some listenership, the timing of this rollout couldn’t have been more advantageous for its chances to hit No. 1. Announcing “Flowers” on a network television New Year’s Eve show watched by millions around the world, followed by a single release at a moment where holiday music had fallen off the charts and listeners were starving for a new jam, was a stroke of genius by Team Cyrus. Casual listeners and pop diehards alike were aware that “Flowers” was coming out on Jan. 13, and when it arrived, the single dominated the cultural conversation before streaking to No. 1.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s gotta be the social media interest. “Flowers” would’ve been a hit regardless, but unless you’re Adele, Taylor Swift or Harry Styles, you don’t score a debut this massive this quickly without a significant amount of extra-musical interest — interest in the backstory, interest in the discussion and drama around it, interest in related memes even. For better or worse, that’s the kind of stuff that really drives culture in 2023 — though it should be said that none of this off-court interest would last (or likely even exist at the first place) without a dynamite pop song at the center of it.
3. Given that the strategy and promotion behind “Flowers” seems to have paid off pretty well, what’s a lesson (if any) that you think other artists and their teams might be able take from its resounding debut?
Rania Aniftos: Be mysterious! Those posters around Los Angeles got fans so excited with little to no information. Instead of shoving the promo down their throats, Miley let the music speak for itself — and that worked out so well for her.
Katie Atkinson: I think this one might be a tad too complex to distill into advice for other artists. It goes something like this: Start out with the goodwill of a generation of tweens thanks to your wildly popular Disney Channel series, movies and albums; transition to a hip-hop-infused pop sound that nets you your first Hot 100 No. 1 and forces people to see you as an adult artist; make a decade worth of beloved-but-not-as-commercially-blazing albums that quietly win over new corners of fans and supporters; and finally, create a radio-friendly song with an undeniably universal message that arrives just at the right time to capitalize on the widest audience. That’s it!
Josh Glicksman: I’d have two big takeaways here: First, lean into a little mystique! It’d be a lot less exciting if Miley were to explicitly address all of the rumors circulating about what may and may not be a subtle jab. Instead, leave it to the listeners to speculate and continue looping back the song to check every square inch of the song and video for clues. And secondly, don’t overthink the lead single. Oftentimes, the down-the-middle fastball of a pop hit works wonders, and it’ll dance around in radio programmers’ heads long after the rest of the album rolls out.
Jason Lipshutz: I’d expect more jockeying for the First Big Release of the Year in the future. January has always been a sleepy time for pop releases, with major artists opting to save their hits for the summer months… but the way that Cyrus has been able to rule the discourse during this month must have other major artists and labels rethinking their strategies. People want new hits to kick off their year following the holidays, and in 2024 and beyond, I’d bet more artists make bids to efficiently supply those new hits.
Andrew Unterberger: Drop in January. Drop in January. Drop in January. I don’t know how many times we have to see this happen before major artists take the hint — everyone seems to think that the winter months are a dead zone for commercial releases, but that’s only because our biggest artists treat them like one. Time and time again, we see hitmakers new and established taking advantage of the lack of major competition early in the calendar and scoring career-changing hits as a result. (Hell, even the flops don’t flop as hard early in the year — you probably haven’t thought about Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s disappointing March release “Sweetest Pie” since at least last summer, but damn if it didn’t show up at No. 62 on our 2022 Year-End Hot 100 just the same.)
4. Now that Miley has scored her first no-doubt crossover smash in a while, who’s another veteran pop star with lesser commercial returns recently who you think might be due for a home-run comeback in 2023?
Rania Aniftos: Selena Gomez. Let’s revive the old school Disney Channel days once and for all.
Katie Atkinson: We can look at the exact same 10-year time frame as Miley and see that Katy Perry’s only top 10 Hot 100 hit since 2013 is “Chained to the Rhythm” with Skip Marley, which peaked at No. 4 in 2017 and quickly dissipated. Knowing what a major force she was in pop – with nine Hot 100 No. 1s and 14 top 10s – she could be just one song away from her own renaissance.
Josh Glicksman: How about Camila Cabello? I don’t necessarily expect her to release another album on the heels of Familia, but I could see a handful of singles or notable collaborations that propel her back into the top 10 — a region that has eluded her since “Señorita,” which reached the top of the Hot 100 in 2019. She’s come close a few times since then (with “My Oh My” peaking at No. 12 in 2020 and “Bam Bam” reaching a No. 21 high last May), but perhaps 2023 is the year of the return.
Jason Lipshutz: Over the past half-decade, Demi Lovato has veered away from traditional pop in favor of genre exploration, most recently with last year’s great pop-punk exercise Holy Fvck. Discount Demi The Pop Star at your own risk, though: with a still-immaculate voice, plenty of mid-2010s hits and a ton of industry goodwill, the singer-songwriter could seamlessly return with a new hit in 2023 — especially considering that Lovato returned with an old smash going viral in 2022.
Andrew Unterberger: Kesha hasn’t seemed to have much interest in a full-bore top 40 return since her post-Dr. Luke return to recording, favoring a more personal and rock-based brand of her trademark pop assault that wasn’t much in step with radio trends of the late 2010s. But with pop-rock on the commercial upswing again and Kesha’s signature hits starting to fall in that magical nostalgia zone of 10-15 years past, I feel like her next album could have some much greater commercial potential — at least if she works with the right people on it, and if it’s something she wants in general.
5. With “Flower” power once again in full bloom on the Billboard charts, what’s your favorite flower-themed pop song of past years?
Rania Aniftos: “Bloom” by Troye Sivan perfectly blends being cheeky with being consumable for the pop audiences. It’s funny and catchy and so underrated.
Katie Atkinson: I love “Sunflower, Vol. 6” from Harry Styles’ Fine line, but it wasn’t a hit on our charts as a non-single, so maybe “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse),” the 2018 Hot 100 topper from Post Malone and Swae Lee, is a better… pick.
Josh Glicksman: Hard to beat Outkast’s “Roses” from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, though I’m more of a hydrangeas kind of guy, myself.
Jason Lipshutz: “Sunflower” by Swae Lee & Post Malone rules — so catchy, so guileless! — as does Harry Styles’ warmth-radiating pop-rocker “Sunflower, Vol. 6.” When are we getting “Sunflower Vol. 2-5,” though? The cycle needs to be completed, gentlemen!
Andrew Unterberger: Oh yeah, we’re taking it all the way back to 1959, with Chris Barber’s Jazz Band’s version of “Petite Fleur (Little Flower),” a hypnotic instrumental and top 5 Hot 100 hit that basically does for the clarinet what Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” does for the synthesizer. (You might also know it from a dance scene in season seven of Mad Men, or from a brilliant Dr. Dre interpolation in his supergroup The Firm’s 1997 almost-hit “Phone Tap.”)