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Drake and 21 Savage’s collaborative album, Her Loss, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Nov. 19) with the year’s biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop set and the fourth-largest streaming week ever for any album.
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Her Loss launches with 404,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 10, according to Luminate. Streaming activity drove the bulk of that sum, to the tune of 513.56 million on-demand official streams of its 16 tracks.
Her Loss is the 12th No. 1 for Drake and the third leader for 21 Savage. Drake now solely has the third-most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, since the list began publishing on a regular weekly basis in March of 1956. Ahead of him are only The Beatles, with a record 19 No. 1s and Jay-Z with 14. Drake was previously tied with Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and Taylor Swift, each with 11 No. 1s on the Billboard 200.
Her Loss was announced on Oct. 22 and then-slated for an Oct. 28 release. On Oct. 26, its release was postponed to Nov. 4. The set was released via streaming services and as an album download via digital retailers. A physical release for the set on CD or any other format has not been announced.
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 Nov. 19, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 15). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Her Loss’ 404,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 391,000 (equaling 513.56 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 12,000 and SEA units comprise 1,000.
Biggest Week for an R&B/Hip-Hop Album in 2022: Her Loss tallies not just the largest week for any R&B/hip-hop set in 2022, but the biggest since Drake’s own Certified Lover Boy debuted at No. 1 more than a year ago, with 613,000 units on the Sept. 18, 2021-dated chart. Among all albums in 2022, Her Loss nets the third-biggest week by units earned, trailing only the No. 1 debuts of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (1.578 million; Nov. 5 chart) and Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (521,000; June 4).
Fourth-Largest Streaming Week Ever: Her Loss captures the fourth-largest streaming week ever for an album, by total on-demand official streams of its combined tracks (513.56 million). Drake owns three of the top four biggest streaming weeks, and half of the top 10 largest weeks.
The Nos. 1 and 2 biggest streaming weeks were logged by the debut frames of Drake’s Scorpion (745.92 million in 2018) and Certified Lover Boy (743.67 million, 2021), respectively. Swift’s Midnights debut is No. 3 (549.26 million, 2022) and Lil Wayne’s opening week with Tha Carter V is No. 5 (433.02 million, 2018). Nos. 6-10 are the debuts of Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys (431.34 million, 2018), Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die (422.63 million, 2020) and Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake (400.42 million, 2020), the second week of Drake’s Scorpion (390.98 million, 2018) and the opening frame of Drake’s More Life (384.84 million, 2017).
A Dozen No. 1 Albums: Drake’s even dozen No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 continues to pull him closer to Jay-Z, who has the record for the most No. 1s among solo acts, with 14. The Beatles have the most No. 1s among all artists, as the Fab Four has 19 leaders. Below is a list of every act with at least 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, since the list began publishing on a regular weekly basis in March of 1956.
Most Billboard 200 No. 1s:19, The Beatles14, Jay-Z12, Drake11, Bruce Springsteen11, Barbra Streisand11, Taylor Swift10, Eminem10, Elvis Presley10, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West)
Taylor Swift’s Midnights falls to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 after spending its first two weeks atop the chart. The set earned 299,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking week (down 13%). Lil Baby’s former No. 1 It’s Only Me dips 2-3 with 62,000 units (down 24%) and Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti slips out of the top three for the first time in its 27 chart weeks, as it shifts 3-4 with 58,000 units (down 8%).
Joji achieves his third top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 — all of which have debuted in the top five — as Smithereens opens at No. 5 with 57,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,500 (equaling 52.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s nine tracks), album sales comprise 17,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set was led by the hit single “Glimpse of Us,” which became the artist’s first top 10 (and top 40) hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8 on the July 2-dated list.
Rounding out the new Billboard 200’s top 10 are Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album (falling 5-6 with 41,000 equivalent album units earned; though up 1%), The Weeknd’s The Highlights (6-7 with 39,000; down 4%), Styles’ Harry’s House (9-8 with 30,000; down 4%), Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak (11-9 with 28,000; up 11%) and Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights (17-10 with 27,000; up 32% following its release on vinyl on Nov. 4).
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.
Polyphia hits No. 1 on a Billboard rock chart for the first time with Remember That You Will Die, which crowns the Top Hard Rock Albums list dated Nov. 12.
Remember launches with 16,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 10,000 units are from album sales.
Polyphia previously peaked as high as No. 4 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 2016’s Renaissance.
Remember also begins at No. 3 on Top Alternative Albums, surpassing the No. 5 debut and peak of 2018’s New Levels New Devils. It also opens at Nos. 5 and 6 on Top Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums, respectively, also both new bests for the band.
On the all-genre Billboard 200, Remember is Polyphia’s first top 40 album, starting at No. 33 and outperforming the No. 61 peak of Devils.
Concurrently, three songs from Remember place on Billboard’s multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. “Ego Death,” featuring Steve Vai, leads the way at No. 18 with 759,000 official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 3.
The late Takeoff’s death on Nov. 1 sparked a surge of activity surrounding both his solo catalog and that of Migos, comprised of Takeoff, Quavo (his uncle) and Offset (his cousin).
The group’s song streams rallied 182.2% in the seven days after his death, while his solo material grew 434.9% in the same period, according to initial reports to Luminate. (The sums here include both official and user-generated content, the latter of which does not factor into Billboard’s charts.)
Among the chart impacts, Takeoff and Quavo’s collaborative album, Only Built for Infinity Links (released Oct. 7), rockets 84-12 on the all-genre Billboard 200 dated Nov. 12, in its fourth week on the list.
Takeoff, born Kirshnik Ball, was fatally shot on Nov. 1 in Houston at age 28. His death drew tributes from dozens of celebrities, including Beyoncé, Drake, Future, Cardi B and many other friends and musical collaborators.
Migos’ song catalog (defined as tracks where the group is the lead act) registered 56.6 million U.S. on-demand streams for Nov. 1-7, a 182.2% increase from the 20.1 million collected from Oct. 25-31. In addition, Takeoff’s solo material logged 46.4 million U.S. on-demand streams in the week after his death, compared with 8.7 million in the week prior, a swell of 434.9%.
For the latest chart tracking week, which ran Oct. 28 – Nov. 3, fans’ support through streaming in the latter half of the week leads to several gains across multiple charts. As mentioned, Only Built for Infinity Links, rallies 84-12 on the Billboard 200, with 23,000 equivalent album units, a 109% week-over-week upgrade. Streaming powers its rebound, with 32.1 million official streams of its songs in the week ending Nov. 3, up 110% from the prior week.
In addition to the Billboard 200 jump, Infinity Links leaps 40-6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and 19-4 on the Top Rap Albums list.
Lead Links single “Hotel Lobby (Unc & Phew)” was the most streamed song of Takeoff’s solo offerings in the previous chart tracking week, with 7.5 million official U.S. streams (up 101% from the prior week). Three songs from the album — “Messy” (4.8 million, up 452%); “To the Bone,” featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, (4.2 million, up 41%); and “Nothing’s Changed” (3.2 million, up 78%) — were next in line, with the track “Last Memory,” from his 2018 solo effort, The Last Rocket, in fifth place, with 2.9 million clicks.
“Messy” debuts on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 43, aided by the release of its official music video on Oct. 31. “To the Bone” returned to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 45, having reached a previous No. 24 best upon its debut three weeks ago.
Among Migos cuts, the most streamed tracks were the group’s most successful hits: “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, led with 3.7 million official streams (up 93%), followed by “Stir Fry” (3 million, up 85%), “Walk It Talk It,” featuring Drake (2.98 million, up 85%), and “Motorsport,” with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B (2.4 million, up 71%). The four songs are the full slate of Migos’ top 10 hits on the multi-metric, all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, with “Bad and Boujee” a standout as the group’s sole No. 1 with its three-week reign in 2017.
For the third consecutive week, Taylor Swift dominates Australia’s main charts with Midnights (Universal) and its hit single, “Anti-Hero.”
Midnights continues its upbroken streak atop the latest ARIA Albums Chart, published Nov. 11, while “Anti-Hero” remains unchallenged atop the ARIA Singles Chart.
Swift’s 10th and latest studio album gets the better of four new releases, as Drake and 21 Savage’s collaborative album Her Loss (Republic/Universal), debuts at No. 2. The new LP has a notable impact on the ARIA Singles Chart, with four songs from it splashing in the top 10 — “Rich Flex” (at No. 3), “P***y & Millions” (No. 5), “Circo Loco” (No. 9) and “Major Distribution” (No. 10).
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A trio of homegrown recordings complete the top 5.
Japanese-Australian singer and songwriter Joji arrives at No. 3 with his sophomore set Smithereens (88R/Warner), his second No. 1 album after 2020’s Nectar.
Smithereens includes the ARIA song of the year-nominated number “Glimpse of Us,” which peaked at No. 1 on the national singles survey.
Dean Lewis lands at No. 4 with The Hardest Love (Island/Universal), the followup to 2019’s A Place We Knew, which hit No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The Hardest Love features the heartbreaking song “How Do I Say Goodbye,” which is climbing charts in the Lewis’ homeland and in the U.K. It’s up 31-29 on Australia’s current singles survey.
Homegrown indie act Slowly Slowly bows at No. 5 with Daisy Chain (UNFD/Orchard). That’s a career best for the Victorian act, besting the No. 7 peak for their third album, 2020’s Race Car Blues.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Meghan Trainor’s return to doo-wop pays dividends as “Made You Look” (Epic/Sony) lifts 19-12, for a new peak position.
Finally, Glass Animals’ hit “Heat Waves” (Polydor/Universal) gathers steam as it passes a chart milestone. The slow-burner lifts 26-23 in its 101st week on the chart. “Heat Waves” broke early in Australia, where it won triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown in January 2021, and led the ARIA Chart for several months earlier this year.
It’s a profitable partnership between Prince Royce, Nicky Jam and Jay Wheeler as “Si Te Preguntan” rallies 18-3 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart (dated Nov. 12).
“Si Te Preguntan” earns the highest weekly jump to the upper region thanks to its robust 74% gain in audience impressions, to 7.9 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 6, according to Luminate.
“Si Te Preguntan” debuted on the radio ranking at No. 35 and nearly missed its top 10 visit end of September, lifting 14-11 (chart dated Sept. 24), where it remained for two weeks. It reaches the top 10 in its 15th week amid renewed radio reception, climbing 15 positions. It’s one of eight songs to jump at least 15 positions in a single week into the top 10 in 2022:
Biggest Jumps to Top 10 on Latin Airplay in 2022, Title, Artist, Chart
49-1 (48), “Te Felicito,” Shakira & Rauw Alejandro, May 7, 2022
43-5 (38), “Sigue,” J Balvin & Ed Sheeran, April 9, 2022
36-1 (35), “Forever My Love,” J Balvin & Ed Sheeran, April 9, 2022
18-1 (17), “Llorar y Llorar,” Mau y Ricky & Carin Leon, Oct. 1, 2022
25-9 (16), “Cuéntame,” Los Rieleros del Norte, Sept. 24, 2022
18-3 (15), “Si Te Preguntan…,” Prince Royce, Nicky Jam & Jay Wheeler, Nov. 12, 2022
23-8 (15), “Con Un Botecito A Pecho,” Adriel Favela & Carin Leon, May 28, 2022
16-1 (15), “Buenos Dias,” Wisin & Camilo, July 23, 2022
With “Si Te Preguntan’s” top 10 trek, Royce collects his 22nd top 10 (including 15 No. 1s). Meanwhile, Nicky Jam claims his 23rd, while Wheeler nabs his third.
Over on Tropical Airplay, the track pushes closer to the summit with a 5-2 jump, a new peak. It previously reached a No. 3 high on the Aug. 30-dated list, and has been in the top five for the last 14 consecutive weeks. Further, for Jam, it’s the closest he’s been to the top since the eight-week ruler “Cásate Conmigo,” with Silvestre Dangond, in 2018. As for Wheeler — it’s his first hit on Tropical Airplay, while Prince Royce has previously notched 22 No. 1s.
Goyo Visits Tropical Airplay’s Top 10 With India Collab
Elsewhere on Tropical Airplay, ChocQuibTown’s Goyo crosses off a new milestone earning her first visit and top 10 with “Nubes Negras,” with India. The track rises 14-10 with 1 million in audience impressions, up 10%.
It’s Goyo’s first entry as a lead act, unaccompanied by her band, ChocQuibTown, which last scored an entry through its featured role in Arthur Hanlon’s “No Tuve La Culpa” (No. 11 high in 2018).
Meanwhile, India collects her 26th top 10 after she took over atop Tropical Airplay for one week with “Víctimas Las Dos,” with Victor Manuelle, in May 2021. India holds her second-most top 10s among female acts on the ranking, trailing only Olga Tañon’s 27 top 10s.
Slow and steady wins the race for Tems, whose “Free Mind” reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The single tops the tally, rising 2-1, dated Nov. 12 in its 33rd week on the list, the second-longest climb to the summit in the chart’s 30-year history.
“Mind” rolls to its coronation with 19.2 million in audience in the week ending Nov. 6, according to Luminate.
As “Mind” reigns for the first time in its 33rd week on the list, it shuffles the leaderboard for the longest wait for a song to reach No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list. “Mind” is now second in that count, behind only the 35-week journey for R. Kelly’s “Step in the Name of Love,” which completed its trek in December 2003. Among women, Tems takes the mark from Rihanna’s “Needed Me” and its 25-week travel to the top.
Here’s an updated look at the songs with the most weeks needed to reach No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay:
Weeks to No. 1, Song Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
35, “Step in the Name of Love,” R. Kelly, Dec. 6, 2003
33, “Free Mind,” Tems, Nov. 12, 2022
31, “You,” Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne, Feb. 17, 2007
29, “I Wanna Know,” Joe, April 1, 2000
29, “Snap Yo Fingers,” Lil Jon featuring E-40 & Sean Paul of The YoungbloodZ, July 29, 2006
29, “There Goes My Baby,” Usher, Aug. 14, 2010
25, “Needed Me,” Rihanna
“Free Mind,” from Tems’ 2020 EP For Broken Ears, debuted on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charted dated April 2, amid the Nigerian singer-songwriter’s increasing prominence in the U.S. In 2021, she featured on a pair of top 40 hits on the all-genre multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 – Wizkid’s “Essence,” which earned a boost after a Justin Bieber remix helped the song reach No. 9 that August, and on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy cut “Fountains,” which reached No. 26.
Her profile kept progressing thanks to a supporting turn alongside Drake on Future’s “Wait for U,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in April 2022. As fans’ turned to more of her catalog, “Free Mind” emerged as a favorite, sparking its official radio promotion to R&B/hip-hop and rhythmic formats. On Rhythmic Airplay, the song reached a No. 10 peak last month and slides 12-19 on the newest list.
Pentatonix celebrates its ninth top 10-charting effort on Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart as the vocal group’s latest release, Holidays Around the World, debuts at No. 6 on the Nov. 12-dated list. The act has been very successful on the tally through the years, having debuted a new album on the list nearly every year from 2012 onwards (missing only in 2013 and 2015).
All nine of Pentatonix’s chart entries have reached the top 10, with four hitting No. 1: That’s Christmas to Me (2014), A Pentatonix Christmas (2016), Christmas Is Here! (2018) and The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (2019).
Holidays Around the World starts with 4,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 3,500, while the remaining 500 units were generated largely by streaming activity of the set’s 12 songs.
Also debuting on Top Holiday Albums: Neil Diamond’s new compilation A Neil Diamond Christmas (No. 13), Anne Wilson’s The Manger (No. 45) and Louis Armstrong and Friends’ The Best of Louis Armstrong: 20th Century Masters The Christmas Collection (No. 47).
Meanwhile, the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas continues at No. 1 for a 14th nonconsecutive week on top. The set earned 17,000 equivalent album units in the Oct. 28 – Nov. 3 tracking frame (up 89%) thanks to the album’s usual surge in popularity around Halloween (as the set is a hybrid Halloween and Christmas effort).
The Top Holiday Albums chart ranks the 50 most popular seasonal albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each units 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. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram. The seasonal Top Holiday Albums returned for another festive season with the Oct. 22-dated list and will continue as part of Billboard’s weekly chart menu until it dashes away in January 2023.
Fred Again.. bows at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Nov. 12) with Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022). The first entry for the London-based producer/singer/DJ (real name Fred Gibson) earned 7,000 equivalent album units in its first tracking week (Oct. 28-Nov. 3), according to Luminate.
The set also starts at No. 1 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, marking Fred Again..’s first leader on any Billboard list.
Additionally, Fred Again.. scores the top debut, at No. 18, on Billboard‘s multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart with “Clara (The Night Is Dark),” which drew 1 million U.S. streams. It’s the fifth, and highest charting, Actual Life 3 track to make the tally so far, joining “Delilah (Pull Me Out of This)” (25-23 this week); “Bleu (Better With Time)” (50-33, nearing matching its No. 30 high on Oct. 1); “Kammy (Like I Do)” (48-45); and “Danielle (Smile on My Face)” (No. 45, Oct. 8).
In total, Fred Again.. has notched 11 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs entries, beginning with “Don’t Judge Me,” with FKA Twigs and Headie One (No. 23, February 2021). His collab with Swedish House Mafia, “Turn on the Lights Again..,” featuring Future, is his top-charting hit (No. 16, this August).
Tipper traipses onto Top Dance/Electronic Albums with Marble Hunting (No. 19). The set opens with 2,000 equivalent album units earned, nearly all from physical sales. It’s Tipper’s third trip to the chart and first in close to six years, after EP Flunked (No. 15, January 2017) and Forward Escape (No. 20, May 2014).
Returning to Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Becky Hill and David Guetta return at No. 8 with “Remember,” sparked by new viral activity, the release of Hill’s solo versions and the rerelease of the original and Guetta’s VIP remix. It marks a new peak for the track, which previously reached No. 14 in July 2021 (ahead of Hill’s Only Honest on the Weekend album, released that August; it hit a No. 4 best on Top Dance/Electronic Albums the previous two weeks and ranks at No. 6 this week).
On Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, “Remember” becomes Hill’s second top 10 and Guetta’s 19th, the fourth-most among all acts dating to the chart’s January 2013 inception, after only Kygo (24), The Chainsmokers (22) and Calvin Harris (20).
Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Audien earns his fifth top 10 with “Drifting Away,” featuring Joe Jury, who (the verdict is in) gets his first (13-8). “Drifting” is drawing core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, WZFL (Revolution 93.5) Miami and iHeartRadio’s Evolution Network, among other supporters.
Plus, OneRepublic adds its sixth Dance/Mix Show Airplay top 10 with “I Ain’t Worried” (16-10). (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.)
Godsmack scores its 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart – and its fifth in a row – as “Surrender” lifts to the top of the Nov. 12-dated survey.
The Sully Erna-fronted band’s streak of five No. 1s dates to “Bulletproof” in 2018. The group followed with “When Legends Rise” (2018), “Under Your Scars” (2019) and “Unforgettable” (2020) prior to its latest leader.
Godsmack breaks out of a three-way tie for the sixth-most No. 1s in the tally’s 41-year history. Shinedown leads all acts with 18.
Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay18, Shinedown17, Three Days Grace13, Five Finger Death Punch13, Van Halen12, Godsmack11, Disturbed11, Foo Fighters10, Metallica10, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)10, Volbeat
Godsmack first appeared on Mainstream Rock Airplay with “Whatever,” which reached No. 7 in 1999. The band achieved its first No. 1 with “Awake” in 2001.
Concurrently, “Surrender” leaps 11-5 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3.3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. “Surrender” ties the band’s highest rank on the list, which began in 2009, alongside “Love-Hate-Sex-Pain” in 2010 and “Unforgettable” in 2020.
“Surrender” also pushes 13-11 on the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 484,000 official U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Nov. 3.
Lighting Up the Sky, Godsmack’s eighth studio album, is expected in February 2023. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s When Legends Rise, which debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart that May and has earned 650,000 equivalent album units to date.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, 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: Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss album spurs gains for its sample sources, pop radio embraces TikTok hits with ever-accelerating velocity, and Christmas season is officially underway on streaming.
‘Her Loss’ is Daft Punk’s Gain
collaborative album Her Loss has already proven a streaming juggernaut, even by the standards of the two hip-hop superstars. The 16 songs on Her Loss — a return to form for Drake, following his dance detour Honestly, Nevermind earlier this year — still make up the entire top 16 of the current iTunes songs chart this Wednesday (Nov. 9), and every song is in the top 25 of the daily Spotify tally. The set (released via OVO/Republic/Slaughter Gang/Epic) is doing so well, in fact, that its success is even rolling over to its samples.
Tracks like The Isley Brothers’ “Ballad For the Fallen Soldier,” The Diplomats’ “Real N—as” and Ginuwine’s “Lonely Daze” are all sampled on Her Loss, but the standout lift is of Daft Punk’s eternal dance floor classic “One More Time,” which gets slowed down and paired with percolating percussion on “Circo Loco.” The sample has caused some listeners to seek out Daft Punk’s 2000 original – and as a result, daily U.S. on-demand streams of “One More Time” increased 55% (from 117,000 to 182,000, according to Luminate) upon the Her Loss release, and stayed relatively high throughout the following weekend. Daft Punk may have officially broken up early last year, but it’ll be cause for celebration to have Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s names appear as songwriters again on the Hot 100 soon enough. — JASON LIPSHUTZ
Is Pop Radio Adopting TikTok Hits More Quickly?
The Sam Smith–Kim Petras collaboration “Unholy” reaching the top five of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart shouldn’t be a surprise: the Capitol/EMI team-up has been a smash since its September release and last month becoming both artists’ first career Hot 100 chart-topper. Smith has been a top 40 fixture for years, and “Unholy” is built around a tenaciously catchy hook that’s ripe for the format. Yet “Unholy” — which climbs four spots to No. 5 on the Pop Airplay chart in the week ending Nov. 6 after a 17% gain in plays at U.S. monitored top 40 stations, according to Luminate — started off squarely in the TikTok-hit range, with Smith and Petras teasing the track weeks ahead of its official release; the fact that it’s already a top five Pop Airplay hit, in only its sixth week on the chart, suggests that the format is starting to react to and adopt these sort of viral singles more rapidly than ever before.
Smith may have been a proven commodity at pop radio — albeit mostly with songs significantly more stately than the cacophonous and sexed-up “Unholy” — but Steve Lacy certainly wasn’t, and his “Bad Habit” has become a top 40 smash for RCA after growing on TikTok and streaming, up one spot to No. 2 on Pop Airplay. Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s “Die for You,” a song from his 2016 Republic release Starboy that has recently been revived online, reaches a new high of No. 10 on Pop Airplay this week, taking 11 weeks for programmers to switch attention away from more recent Weeknd fare and toward the resurrected fan favorite. Other songs with TikTok origins, from Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You” to Jax’s “Victoria’s Secret” to Rosa Linn’s “Snap,” are also making waves on pop radio, sitting comfortably on the chart alongside new A-list radio singles from artists like Taylor Swift and Rihanna.
TikTok’s influence on popular music has been common knowledge for years, but the current Pop Airplay chart nods to the fact that viral hits no longer require multiple months to cross over to radio listeners. Expect that pipeline to keep speeding up, and more songs like “Unholy” to make that leap in a matter of weeks. – J.L.
Eminem’s “Mockingbird” Flies Again
Just when you thought TikTok’s predilection for sped-up versions of distinctly low-energy older songs couldn’t get any stranger, here comes Eminem’s “Mockingbird.” The dolorous 2005 single (from the rapper’s fourth Aftermath/Interscope LP Encore), written as an ode to daughter Hailie, has picked up steam on the service thanks to multiple faster versions of the track making the rounds – inspiring everything from sing-along challenges to clips of teens taking care of their younger siblings. Whatever the logic behind the trend, the song has subsequently soared on streaming, going from 1.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams the week ending Oct. 6 to over 3.1 million streams four weeks later – a gain of 104%, according to Luminate. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
20-Something Singer-Songwriter’s “QUARTER LIFE CRISIS” Strikes a Viral Chord
As All Time Low, Wheatus and countless other acts have discovered over the past couple years, there are few more proven recipes for TikTok success than a song that allows users to flash back to past photos – often providing contrasting juxtaposition with their more adult current look and life. Taylor Bickett is the latest artist to benefit from this. The unsigned Nashville singer-songwriter’s post-adolescent lament “QUARTER LIFE CRISIS” has inspired countless such clips with its “I swear sixteen was yesterday/ But now I’m closer to twenty-eight” lyrics. The 23-year-old’s clever track has already spiked 158% to nearly a million official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Nov. 6, according to Luminate — presumably making Bickett’s mid-20s look a lot brighter than they might have seemed when she wrote the song. – A.U.
Season’s Gainings: The Christmas Season Kicks Off Right on Time
If you had any doubt that the end of Halloween is now officially the start of pop music’s holiday season, the numbers this year make the trend pretty unmistakable. As we waved goodbye to Michael Jackson, Ray Parker Jr. and Bobby “Boris” Pickett this Nov. 1, holiday perennials from Brenda Lee, Bobby Helms and (of course) Mariah Carey all exploded with triple-digit percentage gains in official on-demand U.S. streams: “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was up 176% to 615,000, “Jingle Bell Rock” up 185% to 602,000, and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” up a whopping 236% to nearly 1.3 million streams. In other words, if you’re getting dirty looks from your neighbor for already putting up your Christmas decorations this week, point them to the Spotify or Apple Music charts and let them know that you’re not starting early – they’re just already late. – A.U.