Chart Beat
Page: 398
Stormzy secures a 26th top 10 as “Hide & Seek” (via Def Jam) storms the U.K. singles chart, while Sam Smith and Kim Petras complete a full month atop the survey with their “Unholy” collaboration.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Hide & Seek,” lifted from Stormzy’s upcoming third album This Is What I Mean, is new at No. 7, giving the homegrown hip-hop star the week’s top debut. This Is What I Mean is due out Nov. 25.
Meanwhile, Anne-Marie and Aitch’s “Psycho” (Atlantic) collab is on the climb. After chasing a top 5 spot on the midweek survey, some five weeks after its release, “Psycho” finishes the chart week up 9-6.
No less than seven singles make a splash in the U.K. top 40 for the first time, including British rapper Central Cee, whose “One Up” (Central Cee) arrives at No. 17. “One Up” becomes the Londoner’s 14th U.K. top 40 hit.
The 1975 has the best-selling album in the U.K. this week with Being Funny In A Foreign Language (Dirty Hit). The British pop-rock outfit also bring up their 11th and 12th top 40 appearances, with album tracks “Oh Caroline,” new at No. 29 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, and “I’m In Love With You,” at No. 34.
Lil Baby also snags two top 40 debuts on the Official Chart, published Friday (Oct. 21), with “California Breeze” (No. 26) and “Real Spill” (No. 36). Both are lifted from the U.S. rapper’s new album It’s Only Me (via Motown/Quality Control), which bows this week at No. 3, a new career high.
Labelmate Lil Yachty floats into the top tier with “Poland,” new at No. 30, for the U.S. rapper’s third top 40 appearance.
Blink 182 makes an immediate impact with “Edging” (Columbia), the U.S. pop-punk trio’s first recording with Tom DeLonge in a decade. The track, lifted from the reunited band’s forthcoming studio album, debuts at No. 31, for Blink’s 11th top 40 hit.
At the pinnacle of the U.K. chart is Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” (EMI), which locks-in four-straight weeks at No. 1. The latest crown comes as Smith unveils the tracklist and release date for their fourth studio album, Gloria, due out Jan. 27, 2023.
Finally, two versions of the EDM tune “Miss You” are flying on the chart. Oliver Tree’s cut with Robin Schulz (via Atlantic) blasts 28-9, while German EDM producer Southstar’s “Miss You” (B1/Ministry Of Sound) rises 62-23. Both settle into peak positions.
The 1975 lands at No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart with Being Funny In A Foreign Language, the British alternative rock outfit’s fifth consecutive leader.
Led by Matt Healy, the Cheshire, England band previously led the Official U.K. Chart their self-titled 2013 set, 2016’s I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, 2018’s A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships, and 2020’s Notes On A Conditional Form.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
With their fast start, the 1975 enter the premium class of artists to have taken top spot with all five of their studio albums, drawing level with Ed Sheeran. The leader of that particular tally is Noel Gallagher, whose unbroken streak across Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds LPs stands at 10.
Being Funny In A Foreign Language also starts at No. 1 on Australia’s all-genres ARIA Chart.
Coming in at No. 2 on the latest U.K. chart, published Oct. 21, is Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return To The Dream Canteen (Warner Records). It’s the veteran U.S. rock act’s 10th U.K. top 10, and the followup to Unlimited Love, which dropped in April of this year and went to No. 1.
One spot down the chart, Atlanta hip-hop artist Lil Baby bounces to his first solo top 5 appearance with It’s Only Me (Motown/Quality Control), new at No. 3. That effort beats the No. 5 best for his 2021 collaborative project with Lil Durk, The Voice Of The Heroes. It’s Only Me blasts to No. 1 on the latest Billboard 200.
U.S. rock veterans Alter Bridge bag a fifth U.K. top 10 record with Pawns & Kings (Napalm), starting at No. 6, while Big Moon enjoys a first top 10 appearance with Is Everything (Fiction), arriving at No. 9. The English indie-rock four-piece previously impacted the chart with 2020’s Walking Like We Do, peaking at No. 19.
Also debuting on the latest frame is London rapper Rimzee, with his third mixtape Cold Feet (Rimzee), new at No. 11; Britpop-era band the Lightning Seeds with their comeback effort, See You In The Stars (BMG), at No. 16; English folk group the Unthanks with Sorrows Away (Rabblerouser), at No. 26; the Vamps, with their career retrospective 10 Years Of The Vamps (UMR/Virgin), at No. 30; and production wizard Brian Eno with FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE (Universal Music Recording), new at No. 32.
Lil Baby lands his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 29) as It’s Only Me debuts atop the tally. The set earned 216,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 20, according to Luminate. It also claims the third-largest streaming week for an album in 2022.
Lil Baby previously topped the list with The Voice of the Heroes (a collaborative set with Lil Durk in 2021) and My Turn (2020). The latter finished 2020 as Luminate’s most popular album of that year.
It’s Only Me was announced in early September and marks the rapper’s sixth top 10, all consecutive, on the Billboard 200.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, enters at No. 3; The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language starts at No. 7 and Bailey Zimmerman’s debut effort Leave the Light On bows at No. 9.
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 Oct. 29, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 25. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of It’s Only Me’s 216,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 209,000 (equaling 288.97 million on-demand officials streams of the set’s 23 tracks — the third-largest streaming week of 2022 for an album), album sales comprise 6,500 and TEA units comprise 500.
Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 Un Verano Sin Ti is a non-mover at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 72,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, debuts at No. 3 with 63,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 56,000 (it’s the top-selling album of the week, debuting at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 7,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Return of the Dream Canteen follows the band’s chart-topping Unlimited Love, which debuted atop the list dated April 16.
Notably, on the Top Album Sales chart, the Peppers have scored a pair of No. 1s in 2022 (Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen) – making it the first group with two No. 1 rock albums on the chart in less than 12 months since 2005. That year, System of a Down doubled-up at No. 1 with Mezmerize and Hypnotize. (The Peppers have logged their two 2022 No. 1s six months and two weeks apart; System of a Down notched theirs in 2005 six months and a week apart.)
Return of the Dream Canteen marks the ninth top 10-charting album for Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Billboard 200. The album was led by the single “Tippa My Tongue,” which hit No. 1 on both the Rock & Alternative Airplay and Alternative Airplay charts. On the latter, it’s the 15th No. 1 for the group, extending its record for the most No. 1s in the chart’s history.
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is stationary at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 2%), The Weeknd’s The Highlights is steady at No. 5 (40,000; down less than 1%) and Beyoncé’s former No. 1 Renaissance falls 3-6 (33,000; down 56%).
The 1975 collects its fourth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as the band’s new Being Funny in a Foreign Language bows at No. 7 with 32,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 19,500, SEA units comprise 13,000 (equaling 16.24 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 11 tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was preceded by a pair of top 20-charting singles on the Alternative Airplay chart (“Part of the Band” and “I’m in Love With You”).
Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House falls 6-8 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).
Bailey Zimmerman’s debut effort Leave the Light On starts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 27,000 (equaling 36.19 million on-demand official streams of the set’s nine tracks), album sales comprise 4,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000.
The singer-songwriter initially broke through on TikTok in 2020 and has already notched a trio of top 10-charting hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, all of which are included on Leave the Light On (“Fall in Love,” “Rock and a Hard Place” and “Where It Ends”). All three tracks have additionally reached the top 25 on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart, and the top five of the Country Streaming Songs chart (with “Rock and a Hard Place” hitting No. 1 in June).
Zach Bryan rounds out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 as American Heartbreak falls 8-10 with 28,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%).
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.
Taylor Swift’s Midnights is off to a record-breaking start in the U.S. after its first day in release.
According to initial reports to Luminate, the album, which was released on Oct. 21, has sold more than 800,000 copies in the U.S. through its first day across all available formats (multiple digital album download, CD, vinyl and cassette variants). It has already logged the largest sales week for any album since 2017, is the top-selling album of 2022 year-to-date, and has set a modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales.
Luminate’s data powers Billboard’s weekly charts.
2022’s Top-Selling Album After One Day: Midnights’ initial sales sum already makes it the biggest-selling album of 2022 year-to-date. Previously, 2022’s top-selling album, year-to-date, was Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, with 620,000 copies sold through the week ending Oct. 13.
It’s assumed that Midnights’ sales figure will increase in the coming days, as the tracking week ends on Thursday, Oct. 27. The set’s final sales number is expected to be announced on Sunday, Oct. 30, along with its expected large debut on the multi-metric Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Nov. 4). If Midnights debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it will mark Swift’s 11th chart-topping effort.
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 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.
News of initial streaming-and-track-equivalent activity for the album, as provided by Luminate, will reported in the coming days.
Biggest Sales Week for Any Album Since Swift’s reputation in 2017: With just one day of sales, Midnights logs the largest sales week for any album in the U.S. since Swift’s own reputation debuted with 1.216 million copies sold in its first week (ending Nov. 16, 2017).
Reputation was also the last album to sell more than 1 million copies in a single week in the U.S., a feat that has become difficult to achieve in recent years as consumers transition to consuming music through streaming services. (Yearly U.S. album sales decreased in every year from 2012-2020.)
Since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991, there have only been 23 instances – by 21 different albums – where an album sold at least 1 million copies in a single week. One of those albums, Adele’s 25, sold over 1 million in three separate weeks.
Modern-Era Vinyl Sales Record: Further, Midnights handily breaks the modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales in the U.S., with over 400,000 copies sold so far. That’s the largest week for an album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous high, set earlier this year, when Harry’s House debuted with 182,000 vinyl copies (week ending May 26, 2021).
Midnights’ overall initial sales figures include any pre-orders of the album that were fulfilled to the customer through Oct. 21, as well as traditional in-store sales that were generated on the day of release.
Midnights arrived after months of pre-release promotion and pre-orders – and its initial sales figure is bolstered by an array of available versions and variants of the album.
Midnights is available to purchase in a standard digital album (both clean and explicit), an iTunes-exclusive version with a bonus track (clean and explicit), four standard CD editions (each with a different cover, both clean and explicit), four vinyl LP editions (each with a different cover and colored vinyl) and a cassette tape.
Target is also selling an exclusive “Lavender” edition of the album on CD and colored-vinyl LP, with the CD boasting three bonus tracks.
In addition, in the weeks leading up to release, Swift’s webstore sold pre-orders of signed copies of the four standard CD albums and the four standard vinyl LPs. Midnights is also available in a deluxe boxed set with a CD edition of the album and a Swift-branded T-shirt, exclusively for Capital One cardholders.
Three hours after Midnights arrived, Swift issued a deluxe edition of the album with seven bonus songs (20 tracks total) to streaming services and digital retailers (with the later including a digital liner notes booklet).
Taylor Swift has been a regular fixture at the top of the Billboard 200 since 2008, when she notched her first No. 1 album with Fearless. Since then, she’s continued to break records, rack up No. 1s — 10 so far — and score eye-popping first-week unit totals.
While it’s difficult to compare debut-week performances of any single artist’s albums over time — owed to changes in market conditions and music consumption patterns — it’s enlightening to take a look back at Swift’s last five charted releases, from 2019’s Lover through 2021’s Red [Taylor’s Version], and at what fueled their debuts on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The marketing and promotion techniques applied to those five releases likely informed the rollout plan of Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, which arrived Friday (Oct. 21). It bowed on streaming services and via retailers in a plethora of options: as a digital album download, multiple CD and vinyl LP variants and a cassette tape.
Midnights is Swift’s first studio album since Evermore, in 2020. Since then, she released two re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), both in 2021. Five months prior Evermore, she released its sister project, Folklore, and in 2019, Lover.
Midnights arrives after months of pre-release promotion and pre-orders — but no music from the 13-track album was released until the album dropped in full. The set’s “Anti-Hero” garnered an official music video on Oct. 21 and is being promoted as its lead radio single. The album is available to purchase in a standard digital album (both clean and explicit), an iTunes-exclusive version with a bonus track (clean and explicit), four standard CD editions (each with a different cover, both clean and explicit), four vinyl LP editions (each with a different cover and colored vinyl) and a cassette tape.
Target also sold an exclusive “Lavender” edition of the album on CD and colored-vinyl LP, with the CD boasting three bonus tracks.
In addition, in the weeks leading up to release, Swift’s webstore sold pre-orders of signed copies of the four standard CD albums and the four standard vinyl LPs. Midnights was also available in deluxe boxed set with a CD edition of the album and a Swift-branded T-shirt, exclusively for Capital One cardholders.
Three hours after Midnights arrived, Swift issued a deluxe edition of the album with seven bonus songs (20 tracks total) to streaming services and digital retailers (with the latter including a digital liner notes booklet).
What else might Swift have up her sleeve during release week? As with most things in Swiftworld — only she knows for sure until it’s announced. What we do know — thanks to her sharing via social media – is that she’s slated to make an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday (Oct. 24) and a second music video from the album will arrive on Tuesday (Oct. 25). Her social media calendar has also teased possible promotions or activations with Target on Saturday (Oct. 22) and independent record stores on Sunday.
Here’s a recap of the debut-week performances of Swift’s last five albums before Midnights and some of the marketing and promotional activations that fueled their arrivals on the chart.
Glass Animals set a new record on the Billboard Hot 100 this week thanks to their smash single “Heat Waves,” and lead singer Dave Bayley gave Billboard his exclusive reaction via social media.
“I just found out some amazing news, that ‘Heat Waves’ has broken the record for the longest-running Hot 100 single of all time, and I’m a little bit speechless,” the frontman said in a video posted to Billboard‘s Instagram. “But I wanted to make a little video just to say thank you so, so much for making that happen.
“I think a lot of you probably know that when I wrote this song, I was writing about someone who I loved very much and miss very much, and it’s particularly beautiful for that reason.” he continued. “To see the song spread so much love and connection around the world, and you all made that happen. So thank you. And thank you to everyone who’s helped the song reach so many people. It really has meant so much over the last couple of years, I can’t even begin to explain it.”
Before signing off with “lots of love, bye-bye for now,” Bayley also teased that he’s just about ready to start working on new music to finally follow the band’s 2020 album Dreamland.
With its historic chart accomplishment at 91 weeks and counting, “Heat Waves” surpassed The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” which had previously spent 90 weeks on the Hot 100. Other long-running singles have included Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” (87 weeks), AWOLNATION’s “Sail” (79 weeks), Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” (77 weeks) and more.
Watch Bayley express his disbelief and gratitude at the continuing success of “Heat Waves” below.
Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.
Or, tweet @gthot20.
Let’s open the latest mailbag.
Hi @gthot20, Taylor Swift will release her 10th album next friday. Could you update her Top 10 most streamed/best selling songs in the US? We will be very grateful ❤️— Taylor Swift Charts (@TChartSwift) October 14, 2022
Taylor Swift’s Career Streaming, Airplay & Sales Totals
There’s a good chance you’re listening to Midnights if you’re reading this, so let’s not make this too much of an interruption and get right to it.
Here is a rundown of Taylor Swift‘s career album sales and top songs measured by on-demand official streams, radio airplay and digital song sales in the U.S., through Oct. 13, 2022, according to Luminate.
Taylor Swift’s Album Sales in the U.S.:7.3 million, Fearless / 6.3 million, 1989 / 5.8 million, Taylor Swift / 4.8 million, Speak Now / 4.5 million, Red / 2.4 million, Reputation / 1.7 million, Folklore / 1.5 million, Lover / 1.1 million, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (EP) / 913,000, Evermore / 774,000, Red (Taylor’s Version) / 596,000, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) / 376,000, Speak Now: World Tour Live CD + DVD / 369,000, Beautiful Eyes (EP)
Taylor Swift’s Most-Streamed Songs (on-demand, official) in the U.S.:1.5 billion, “Shake It Off” / 1 billion, “Blank Space” / 992 million, “Look What You Made Me Do” / 720 million, “I Knew You Were Trouble” / 711 million, “You Need to Calm Down” / 708 million, “You Belong With Me” / 656 million, “Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar) / 655 million, “Delicate” / 638 million, “Love Story” / 603 million, “Lover”
Taylor Swift’s Most-Heard Radio Songs in the U.S. (audience impressions):6.9 billion, “You Belong With Me”/ 6.2 billion, “Love Story” / 6 billion, “Blank Space” / 5.7 billion, “Shake It Off” / 5.4 billion, “I Knew You Were Trouble” / 5.1 billion, “Style” / 4.9 billion, “Wildest Dreams” / 4.3 billion, “Delicate” / 3.7 billion, “Bad Blood” / 2.9 billion, “Teardrops on My Guitar”
Taylor Swift’s Top Digital Song Sales in the U.S.:6.2 million, “Love Story” / 5.5 million, “Shake It Off” / 5.46 million, “I Knew You Were Trouble” / 4.9 million, “You Belong With Me” / 4.6 million, “Blank Space” / 4.1 million, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” / 3.5 million, “Our Song” / 3.2 million, “Bad Blood” / 3 million, “Teardrops on My Guitar” / 2.6 million, “Mean”
Motionless in White tops Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for the first time, as “Masterpiece” crowns the Oct. 22-dated list.
The band formed in Pennsylvania in 2004 and first appeared on the ranking with “America” in 2013.
“Masterpiece” previously became the band’s first top 10 on the tally. Previously, the group hit a No. 14 best with “Another Life” in 2020.
The track completes a 26-week ascent to No. 1, the fourth-steadiest accumulation of format support on the way to the summit in the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart’s 41-year history.
Most Weeks to No. 1, Mainstream Rock Airplay40, “Headstrong,” Trapt (2003)31, “Bones,” Young Guns (2013)28, “Paralyzer,” Finger Eleven (2007)26, “Masterpiece,” Motionless in White (2022)25, “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun), The Glorious Sons (2019)25, “Tired,” Stone Sour (2014)
Concurrently, “Masterpiece” rises 15-13 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, up 18% to 2.4 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
“Masterpiece” also lifts 10-7 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 753,000 official U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Oct. 13. It originally debuted at No. 5 on the April 30-dated survey, marking the band’s top-charting song to date.
The track is the lead single from Scoring the End of the World, Motionless in White’s sixth studio album. The set debuted at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart dated June 25 and has earned 90,000 equivalent album units since release.
The 1975 score a third leader in Australia as Being Funny In A Foreign Language (via Dirty Hit/RKT) blasts to the top.
Being Funny debuts at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, following the British band’s best-sellers Notes On A Conditional Form (from 2020) and I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It (2016).
Produced by Jack Antonoff, Being Funny should hang around the national chart for a little while yet. Matt Healy and Co. will head Down Under for their At Their Very Best tour next April, with shows booked for Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
With their latest chart crown, The 1975 hold off The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return of the Dream Canteen (Warner), the U.S. rock legends’ second release of 2020 The first, Unlimited Love, bowed at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart following its release in April.
Also new to the top tier is Ocean Alley with their fourth studio effort Low Altitude Living (UNFD/Orchard), new at No. 3. That’s an equal career high for Ocean Alley, whose previous album, Lonely Diamond from 2020, also hit No. 3. The psychedelic rock band from Sydney’s northern beaches enjoyed a breakthrough with their sophomore album from 2018, Chiaroscuro (peaking at No. 11 on the ARIA Chart), which yielded “Confidence,” the winner of triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.
Meanwhile, Lil Baby blasts to No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart with his third studio effort It’s Only Me (Capitol/Universal), for his first appearance in the top 10, while U.S. rock band Alter Bridge bag a top 10 entry with Pawns & Kings (Orchard), their seventh studio album. It’s new No. 9.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, published Friday (Oct. 21), Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” (Capitol/Universal) remains glued to the top spot, while Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz’s “Miss You” flies 52-4 for its first stint in the top 10.
Further down the tally, singles from Imagine Dragons (“Bones” at No. 45 via Interscope/Universal) and Lil Yachty (“Poland” at No. 49 via Universal) make their first appearances.
Finally, Blink-182 returns to the weekly survey with “Edging” (Columbia/Sony), the skate-rock band’s first recording with Tom DeLonge in a decade. It’s new at No. 50. The reunited band will tour Australia as part of a global tour in support of “Edging” and a forthcoming album.
Luis Mexia checks off a career milestone with his first No. 1 on a Billboard chart. The Mexican singer-songwriter leads the Regional Mexican Airplay chart (dated Oct. 22) thanks to his first collaboration with Grupo Firme: “Calidad” rises to No. 1 after two weeks in the runner-up slot.
“Calidad,” released via Music VIP on July 12, reigns in its ninth week on the ranking after it added 14% more in audience impressions, to 7 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 16, according to Luminate.
It just took a bold move from Mexia to achieve the feat: a fan of Grupo Firme, Mexia used social media to announce his interest in recording a duet with the group’s lead singer Eduin Caz. He also plotted with his followers to support the idea. After the Tijuana-based group’s social media was bombarded with requests, Caz agreed, and a music video of the song followed.
The new champ earns Grupo Firme its sixth leader. The group has achieved a steady run of chart-toppers since its first No. 1 in June 2020 (through its featured role on Lenin Ramirez’s “Yo Ya No Vuelvo Contigo”).
Mexia, meanwhile, scores his first champ on any Billboard chart. Notably, only one other entry precedes “Calidad” in his chart career: “El De Los 20 ‘El Cachorra’,” with Enigma Norteño, which reached No. 33 on Regional Mexican Airplay in December 2021.
Beyond its Regional Mexican Airplay coronation, “Calidad” climbs 11-6 for a new peak on the all-genre Latin Airplay chart. It’s a fifth top 10 for Grupo Firme, while Mexia secures his first in his first try.