Chart Beat
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Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” rises to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, a week after it debuted at No. 2. It becomes the first leader on the list for the pop singer-songwriter and actress.
The song, on Island Records and promoted to radio by Republic Records, drew 50.9 million official streams (up 1%) – Carpenter’s best career streaming week for a song – and 3.2 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 502%) and sold 7,000 (down 10%) in the United States in the June 14-20 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The single spends a second week at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart and holds at No. 7 in its second frame on Digital Song Sales. (It’s as yet bubbling under the Radio Songs chart.)
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“Please Please Please” was released June 7, alongside its official video starring Carpenter’s significant other, Oscar-nominated Barry Keoghan, and she performed it during her set at New York’s Governors Ball the following day. On June 18, acoustic, a cappella, instrumental, sped-up and slowed-down versions of the song were released. On June 20, Carpenter announced her 29-date Short n’ Sweet Tour, set to start Sept. 23 in Columbus, Ohio. (She opened on the South American run of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in August-November 2023 and rejoined Swift this February-March for dates in Australia and Singapore.)
The track, along with “Espresso,” at No. 4 on the Hot 100 a week after reaching No. 3, introduces Carpenter’s album Short n’ Sweet, due Aug. 23.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated June 29, 2024) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, June 25. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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.
Below is a deeper look at Carpenter’s coronation and the rest of the latest Hot 100’s top 10.
Carpenter’s First Hot 100 No. 1
When Taylor Swift filled up Wembley Stadium for three consecutive shows over the weekend, she did so as the undisputed Queen of the national albums chart.
Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (EMI) enters a seventh non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Official Chart, published Friday, June 21, coinciding with the first of her eight scheduled concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium.
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Tortured Poets is Taylor’s 11th studio album, and her longest-running chart-topper in the U.K., the Official Charts Company reports, eclipsing 2022’s Midnights which sat at the top for five non-consecutive cycles.
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TayTay leads a podium of female solo artists. Coming in at No. 2 is Billie Eilish’s former leader Hit Me Hard and Soft (Interscope), up two places, while Charli XCX’s Brat (Atlantic) dips 2-3.
The top new debut on the latest tally belongs to British rock outfit Sea Girls, as Midnight Butterflies (Alt) flaps its wings at No. 5. That’s a third-consecutive top 5 appearance for the group, dating back to 2020’s Open Up Your Head (No. 3 peak) and 2022’s Homesick (No. 3).
Chappell Roan landed her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year with the new single “Good Luck, Babe!” The Missouri-born pop artist is enjoying a breakthrough on the other side of the Atlantic, too, where her 2023 debut The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Island) lifts 15-9, for her first appearance in the U.K. top 10.
Paul McCartney & Wings’ live studio album One Hand Clapping (Capitol) bows at No. 10. The LP, recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios in August 1974, becomes McCartney and Co.’s first top 10 album since Back To The Egg peaked at No. 6 in 1979 — 45 years ago.
Finally, North Carolina country star Luke Combs bags his fourth top 40 LP with Fathers & Sons (Sony Music CG), his fifth studio album. It’s new at No. 14. Combs’ career tally includes U.K. top 10 spots for 2022’s Growin’ Up (No. 9) and 2023’s Gettin’ Old (No. 5).
Sabrina Carpenter has every reason to be please please pleased. The U.S. singer and actor lands a second No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart and, in the process, becomes the youngest female artist to concurrently hold the top 2 spots.
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On the latest chart, published Friday, June 21, Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” lifts 3-1, while her former leader “Espresso” (both via Island) holds at No. 2.
“Please Please Please” is the U.K.’s most-streamed song this week, accumulating 9.8 million combined streams, with “Espresso” pouring in 8.1 million plays.
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According to the Official Charts Company, Carpenter is, at 25 years, 1 month and 10 days, the youngest female solo artist to crack the 1-2. Ariana Grande previously set the mark when, in February 2019, she locked up the top 2 spots with “7 rings” and “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored,” respectively, at age 25 years, 7 months and 20 days. Carpenter also ties-up the top 2 on Australia’s ARIA Chart.
Meanwhile, Luton, England singer-songwriter Myles Smith grabs a career-best with “Stargazing” (RCA), up 7-6.
As Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour cruises into the U.K., the U.S. pop music superstar’s music — predictably — climbs the U.K. charts. On the singles tally, former leader “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone is up 11-10, “Cruel Summer” lifts 17-14 and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” (all via EMI) improves 19-18.
The TayTay effect extends to Benson Boone, Swift’s support act at her Wembley Stadium dates. Boone enjoys gains for his singles “Slow It Down” up (18-15 via Warner Records) and former No. 1 “Beautiful Things” (up 21-19).
Finally, as the ball rolls on the UEFA European Football Championship, one evergreen hit makes its move: Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds’ 1996 anthem “Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)” (via Epic). The chant-ready song is back in the top 40, at No. 32. “Three Lions” typically returns to the chart when England competes in major international tournaments. The single topped the chart for two separate one-week runs in 1996 to coincide with that year’s European Championship tournament, then a 1998 update for the World Cup reigned for three weeks. Powered by England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, “Three Lions” returned to No. 1 in 2018.
Forget the summer of Sabrina Carpenter. The U.S. pop star is also warming-up Australia’s chart through the southern winter.
Carpenter scores her second leader in less than two months as “Please Please Please” (Island/Universal) lifts 4-1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, for its first stint at the top.
Her first leader, the platinum-certified “Espresso,” holds at No. 2 on the Australian chart, published Friday, June 21, giving Carpenter a rare 1-2. “Espresso” topped the national tally for a week in May.
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Closing out the top 3 on the latest ARIA Chart is Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (via Empire), one of three country tunes in the top 10, including Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” (unchanged at No. 6 via Universal) and Dasha’s “Austin” (up 14-10 via Warner Music).
Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Billie Eilish logs a fourth week at No. 1 with Hit Me Hard And Soft (Interscope/Universal), ahead of Taylor Swift’s former leader The Tortured Poets Department (Universal), holding at No. 2.
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U.S. country star Luke Combs bags the top debut with Fathers & Sons (Columbia/Sony), his fifth studio album. It’s new at No. 3, extending Combs’ streak of top 10s to five – a career tally that includes a No. 1 for his 2019 record What You See Is What You Get. Album track “The Man He Sees in Me” is the top new cut on the ARIA Singles Chart, at No. 38.
Meanwhile, Fred Again bags a second top 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart with USB (Atlantic/Warner), new at No. 4. The English producer and artist made history in Australia earlier this year with a sold-out “pop up” arena tour.
Also, $uicideboy$ debut at No. 6 with New World Depression (Orchard), their fourth studio album. That’s a career best effort for the New Orleans rap duo.
Finally, Nick Cave collaborators Dirty Three bag a first top 50 album with Love Changes Everything (Remote Control/Inertia), new at No. 12, while homegrown indie band Hockey Dad bow at No. 15 with Rebuild Repeat (BMG/ADA), for their third top 20 album.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department notches its ninth consecutive and total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated June 29). It earned 126,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending June 20 (down 1%), according to Luminate.
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Of Swift’s 14 No. 1s on the Billboard 200, Poets now has the second-most weeks at No. 1; only 1989 and Fearless, each with 11, have more weeks at No. 1.
Swift adds her 78th career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists. (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67.) The total encompasses her 14 leaders. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)
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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Don Toliver nets his fourth top 10 effort, and best week by units earned, with the No. 3 debut of Hardstone Psycho; $uicideboy$ score their highest-charting album ever, and best weekly units sum, as New World Depression launches at No. 5; Luke Combs nabs his sixth top 10 with the No. 6 bow of Fathers & Sons; and NAYEON achieves her second top 10 with NA’s start at No. 7.
With four debuts in the top 10, the region has the most new entries since a little over a year ago, when six albums debuted in the top 10 on the June 17, 2023-dated list.
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 June 29, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on June 25. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s 126,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 93,000 (down 11% — it’s No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums for a ninth week; its SEA units equal 121.32 million on-demand official streams of the deluxe edition’s 31 songs), album sales comprise 33,000 (up 42%) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 (down 11%). The album’s sales grew 42% in the tracking week thanks largely to two new CD variants of the set that shipped to customers. The two CDs, which were sold exclusively in Swift’s webstore, were briefly available to pre-order in early June. Both CDs contain the standard album’s 16 songs and an acoustic bonus track (one includes “Down Bad” and one includes “Guilty as Sin?”).
Notably, as The Tortured Poets Department has spent its first nine weeks at No. 1, it joins just five other albums that have achieved that same feat: Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (first 12 weeks at No. 1, of its total 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2023-24); Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (all 10 of its weeks at No. 1 were from its debut atop the chart, 2021); Drake’s Views (first nine weeks at No. 1, of its total 13 weeks at No. 1 in 2016); Whitney Houston’s Whitney (all 11 of its weeks at No. 1 were from its debut atop the chart, 1987); and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (first 13 weeks at No. 1, of its total 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1976). (For context, today, it’s common for albums to debut at No. 1. However, before 1991, when the Billboard 200 began utilizing Luminate’s electronically monitored tracking information, only six albums debuted at No. 1, including Whitney and Songs In the Key of Life.)
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is a non-mover, with 84,000 equivalent album units earned (down 20%).
Don Toliver’s Hardstone Psycho debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 76,500 equivalent album units earned, his best week by units. Hardstone marks the hip-hop artist’s fourth consecutive top 10, the entirety of his charting releases. Of the 76,500 earned by the album in its opening week, SEA units comprise 57,000 (equaling 75.98 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 16 songs on its streaming edition; that marks his largest streaming week ever), album sales comprise 19,500 (his best sales week yet, all from digital download album purchases) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Hardstone Psycho was announced on May 22 and features guest turns from Cash Cobain, Future, Kodak Black, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott, Teezo Touchdown and Charlie Wilson. The set’s release was preceded by a trio of songs, all of which reached the top 40 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart: the Toliver-solo cuts “Bandit” and “Deep in the Water,” and “Attitude,” featuring Wilson and Cash Cobain.
The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by a mid-week release of a deluxe digital download album, sold exclusively through Toliver’s webstore, for $5, containing four additional bonus tracks exclusive to this download version and features from Lil Uzi Vert and Yeat.
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time holds at No. 4 on the new Billboard 200 with 73,000 equivalent album units (up 2%).
$uicideboy$ clock their highest-charting album and biggest week by units earned as New World Depression debuts at No. 5 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the fourth top 10-charting effort for the hip-hop duo (comprising cousins $crim and Ruby da Cherry) and first to reach the top five.
Of the album’s 66,000 units earned in its first week, SEA units comprise 46,000 (equaling 62.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 songs, marking the act’s biggest streaming week), album sales comprise 20,000 (with 16,000 of that sum on vinyl, bolstered by its availability across six variants — it’s the top-selling vinyl album of the week and the act’s best-ever sales week on vinyl) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was announced in early March and its release was preceded by the release of the song “Us Vs. Them,” which become the act’s first charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Luke Combs collects his sixth top 10 on the Billboard 200 as his new Fathers & Sons bows at No. 6 with 60,000 equivalent album units earned. The set was released on June 14 with little warning, as the country star announced the effort on June 6 alongside the release of its first cut, “The Man He Sees in Me.” The track debuted at No. 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated June 22.
Fathers & Sons is a thematic album “about being a dad” and was issued June 14, two days before the Father’s Day holiday. Combs has two sons, both under the age of 2.
Of the 60,000 units earned in Fathers & Sons’ first week, SEA units comprise 45,000 (equaling 58.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs), album sales comprise 14,000 (it was widely available as a digital download album; it had just one CD and one vinyl LP, both sold exclusively via Combs’ webstore) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
NAYEON nets her second top 10-charting title on the Billboard 200 as the TWICE member’s second solo album, NA, enters at No. 7 with 47,000 equivalent album units earned. The set was announced in May and not preceded by any pre-release songs. (The set’s first single is “ABCD,” released simultaneously with the album on June 14.) Of the album’s 47,000 units earned, album sales comprise 43,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.41 million on-demand official streams of the set’s seven songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 15 CD variants and two vinyl variants, all containing branded paper merchandise.
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess continues to climb the chart, as the buzzy artist’s album steps 10-8 (a new peak) with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (up 19%, the set’s best week yet). With a gain of nearly 7,500 units in the tracking week, the album also scores the week’s Greatest Gainer trophy, indicating the chart’s biggest unit gain of the week. During the tracking week ending June 20, Roan played the Bonnaroo Music & Artist Festival (June 16). Her interview and performance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (which aired early in the morning of June 21, and garnered wide attention through its social media clips that day) will impact next week’s chart (dated July 6).
Rounding out the top 10 are Charli XCX’s Brat (falling 3-9 in its second week with 45,000 units earned; down 42%) and Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album (dipping 7-10 with 44,000; up less than 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.
Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” snags top honors on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for May 2024, appearing at No. 1 after a synch in The Equalizer.
Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of May 2024.
“Return of the Mack” can be heard in the eighth episode of the CBS drama’s fourth season; it premiered May 5.
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In May 2024, the song earned 17.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams and sold 3,000 downloads, according to Luminate.
“Return of the Mack” was a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for Morrison in 1997, peaking in June of that year.
The song previously crowned Top TV Songs in November 2015 when it received a synch in Netflix’s Master of None.
“Return of the Mack” reigns over Brandi Carlile’s “The Story,” which places at No. 2 after being heard in the third season premiere of MAX’s Hacks on May 2.
“The Story,” Carlile’s breakthrough hit (it peaked at No. 3 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in 2007), accrued 2.1 million streams and 2,000 downloads in May 2024.
Amazon Prime Video’s newly premiered miniseries Maxton Hall boasts a strong start on Top TV Songs in its first appearance, ranking at Nos. 5 and 7 with Amber Run’s “I Found” and SYML’s “Where’s My Love,” respectively. The German-language series premiered each of its six episodes on May 9.
“I Found” earned 4.3 million streams and 1,000 downloads in May 2024, while “Where’s My Love” received 9.2 million steams.
See the full top 10 below, also featuring music from The Veil, Welcome to Wrexham, Pretty Little Liars and Clarkson’s Farm.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)1. “Return of the Mack,” Mark Morrison, The Equalizer (CBS)2. “The Story,” Brandi Carlile, Hacks (MAX)3. “Angel,” Massive Attack, The Veil (FX)4. “Black Betty,” Ram Jam, Welcome to Wrexham (FX)5. “I Found,” Amber Run, Maxton Hall (Amazon Prime Video)6. “School’s Out,” Alice Cooper, Pretty Little Liars (Freeform)7. “Where’s My Love,” SYML, Maxton Hall (Amazon Prime Video)8. “Fire for You,” Cannons, Pretty Little Liars (Freeform)9. “Golden Brown,” The Stranglers, Clarkson’s Farm (Amazon Prime Video)10. “Voices Carry,” ‘Til Tuesday, Pretty Little Liars (Freeform)
For the first time since 2017, Nothing More has a No. 1 song on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
“If It Doesn’t Hurt” climbs to the top of the June 29-dated ranking, becoming the Texas rockers’ second ruler. The band first led with “Go to War” for one week in December 2017.
In between “Go to War” and “If It Doesn’t Hurt,” Nothing More reached Mainstream Rock Airplay with five entries, including three top 10s, led by the No. 5-peaking “Tired of Winning” in 2022. The band first made the list in 2014 with the No. 2-reaching “Ballast.”
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Concurrently, “If It Doesn’t Hurt” leaps 14-10 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay survey with 2.6 million audience impressions, up 2%, in the week ending June 20, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s first top 10, exceeding the No. 12 peak of “Go to War.”
On the most recently published multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (dated June 22, reflecting data over June 7-13), “If It Doesn’t Hurt” ranked at No. 12 (after debuting at its No. 8 high in February). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 550,000 official U.S. streams.
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“If It Doesn’t Hurt” is the lead single from Carnal, Nothing More’s seventh studio album, due June 28. Two other songs from the LP, “House on Sand” (featuring Eric Vanlerberghe) and “Angel Song” (featuring David Draiman), reached Nos. 11 and 15, respectively, on Hot Hard Rock Songs upon their debuts. Carnal is Nothing More’s first album since 2022’s Spirits, which bowed at No. 14 on the Top Hard Rock Albums tally and has earned 48,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated June 29 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, June 25.
Nearly a decade after his first appearance on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, Hozier achieves his first No. 1 as “Too Sweet” lifts to the top of the June 29-dated ranking.
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Hozier first reached Alternative Airplay with his breakthrough single “Take Me to Church,” which debuted at No. 38 on the July 5, 2014, survey. The song eventually peaked at No. 2 that November.
Since “Take Me to Church,” Hozier had appeared on Alternative Airplay with two tracks prior to “Too Sweet.” “Nina Cried Power,” featuring vocals from Mavis Staples, peaked at No. 31 in 2018, and “Eat Your Young” reached No. 13 last year.
Concurrently, “Too Sweet” continues its reign on Adult Alternative Airplay, ruling for an eighth week. It’s Hozier’s longest running No. 1 among six on the survey and the chart’s longest leading hit since Death Cab for Cutie’s “Here to Forever” dominated for eight weeks in August-October 2022.
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“Too Sweet” also lifts to No. 1 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay tally thanks to 6.9 million audience impressions, up 5%, in the week ending June 20, according to Luminate. It’s likewise Hozier’s first leader; “Take Me to Church” peaked at No. 3 in 2014.
“Too Sweet” is the first song to top all three lists since The Killers’ “Boy” in September-October 2022. As “Boy” did not lead all three simultaneously, “Too Sweet” is the first to accomplish that particular feat since The Black Keys’ “Wild Child” in May 2022.
A multiformat hit, “Too Sweet” also rises to No.1 on Adult Pop Airplay, becoming Hozier’s second leader, following “Church” for a week in 2015, while ruling Pop Airplay for a second week. It also became his first No. 1 on the most recently published all-genre Radio Songs chart (dated June 22, reflecting data June 7-13) via 70.5 million audience impressions.
“Too Sweet” is from Hozier’s four-song EP Unheard, which debuted at No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums rankings dated April 6 and has earned 277,000 equivalent album units since its release.
All Billboard charts dated June 29 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, June 25.
Big Brother was supposed to take over in 1984 — not a 5’2”, 26-year-old musical polymath from Minnesota. But with the June 25, 1984, release of Purple Rain, Prince took his throne as a global pop star. The album “was like a magic bullet,” Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin tells Billboard ahead of Celebration 2024, a five-day Minneapolis party with performances from The Revolution, Morris Day and New Power Generation. “He knew there was lightning in a bottle.”
Purple Rain, which will turn 40 in June, poured onto Billboard’s pages as soon as it came out.
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‘Wet Behind the Ears
When Prince released his debut album, For You, the April 29, 1978, Billboard hailed it as “a one-man gangbuster” from an “18-year-old musical phenomenon who goes only by the name Prince.” The reviewer predicted “across the board appeal,” but only “Soft and Wet” hit the Billboard Hot 100, and it stalled at No. 92. It wasn’t until 1999, his fifth album, that Prince sped to the chart’s top 10 with “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious.”
Baby, He’s a Star
The June 2, 1984, Billboard called The Jacksons’ Victory the month’s biggest album, with Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. named the “next hottest.” The same article mentioned two other albums “by acts that hit platinum” — Prince and Jane Fonda. Two weeks later, Billboard identified Prince as a critics’ pick, “viewed with skepticism by pop programmers.” But a headline in the July 7 issue trumpeted that “Prince Keeps Springsteen Humble” as “When Doves Cry” flew to the peak of the Hot 100, shutting out The Boss’ “Dancing in the Dark.” By Aug. 4, Prince & The Revolution overthrew Springsteen atop the Billboard 200, and Purple Rain ruled for an astonishing 24 weeks.
‘Rain’ Storms Theaters
“Seeing Purple Rain makes it clear that the man from Minneapolis is certainly going to give anybody else making music this year a real hard time,” according to a movie preview in the July 28, 1984, Billboard. The next week’s issue called it “the most gripping contemporary rock movie in years,” as well as “the most performance-oriented music exploitation film since the glory days of Richard Lester’s classic Beatles films.” Another article, about the release of the single “Let’s Go Crazy,” reported that Prince had delivered “a second tour de force” — “even before the doves have stopped crying.” It became his second Hot 100 No. 1 in the Sept. 29 issue.
Crowning Achievement
An article in the Dec. 22, 1984, issue declared that the year had been “dominated by the phenomenon of His Purple Badness, thanks to a multimedia blitz of vinyl, video and film soundtracks” that “epitomized the upbeat creative and commercial climate.” “When Doves Cry” was revealed as the “top-selling single of the year.” But mainstream success didn’t clean up Prince’s dirty mind: The same issue noted that growing interest in B-side “Erotic City” — “fueled” by “controversial lyric content” — was forcing radio stations to “wrestle with how to deal with its popularity.”
This story appears in the June 22, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On June 22, 1974, Waylon Jennings’ “This Time” became his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It was released as the lead single from his same-named LP, which he produced with Willie Nelson.
With “This Time,” which Jennings solely wrote, he achieved his first of 16 Hot Country Songs leaders (with his 31st entry on the chart). He notched his first of 53 top 10s with “(That’s What You Get) For Lovin’ Me,” which reached No. 9 in 1966. Among his No. 1 total, “Highwayman” – by Jennings, Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson – led in 1985.
Jennings was born June 15, 1937, in Littlefield, Texas. His storied career comprised an on-air stint at KLLL Lubbock, Texas, and his famed run as the balladeer on CBS’ The Dukes of Hazzard in 1979-85.
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In 1959, Jennings played bass in Buddy Holly’s band on his Winter Dance Party Tour. He performed with Holly during the latter’s final show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Holly, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens all perished in a plane crash that Feb. 3 following the concert.
Jennings, who played a big part in country music’s Outlaw movement of the 1970s, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in February 2002 at age 64 at his home in Mesa, Ariz., after a long battle with diabetes.
Jennings’ legacy is in vogue in 2024. His rebel ways were one of the most talked about elements in the recently released Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, which chronicles his walking out of the recording of USA for Africa’s megahit, and four-week 1985 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “We Are the World.”
“Waylon in ’75,” a track on Chayce Beckham’s debut album, Bad for Me, is just one example of today’s artists paying homage to him, Meanwhile, Shooter Jennings, the 45-year-old son of Jennings and Jessi Colter (who married in 1969), has announced that he’s uncovered unreleased music from his father and plans on releasing it in 2025.