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Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” rewrites the longest reign in the history of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, logging a 37th week at the summit on the ranking dated Jan. 20.
The single surpasses the command of Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” in 2018-19.
Here’s an updated look at the songs that have dominated Adult Contemporary the longest over the chart’s 62-plus-year archives.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart:
37 (to date), “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus, beginning April 15, 2023
36, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5, Nov. 10, 2018
35, “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd, Nov. 7, 2020
28, “Drift Away,” Uncle Kracker feat. Dobie Gray, June 7, 2003
24, “Easy on Me,” Adele, Nov. 13, 2021
24, “Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran, May 6, 2017
22, “Perfect,” Ed Sheeran, Feb. 24, 2018
22, “Hey, Soul Sister,” Train, July 3, 2010
21, “Hello,” Adele, Nov. 28, 2015
21, “Breakaway,” Kelly Clarkson, March 12, 2005
21, “A New Day Has Come,” Celine Dion, March 30, 2002
20, “Memories,” Maroon 5, March 21, 2020
20, “Just the Way You Are,” Bruno Mars, Feb. 5, 2011
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“Flowers,” released on Smiley Miley/Columbia Records, previously topped the mainstream top 40-based Pop Airplay chart (which began in 1992) for 10 weeks and the adult top 40-focused Adult Pop Airplay ranking (which dates to 1996) for 17 frames.
Meanwhile, the single’s combined 64 weeks atop Adult Contemporary (37), Adult Pop Airplay (17) and Pop Airplay (10) mark the most for any hit. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” ranks second with 61 weeks atop the trio of charts combined, followed by “Girls Like You” (55); 51 songs have led all three lists.
“Flowers,” which Cyrus co-wrote, launched at No. 1 on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 last January and ruled for eight weeks, becoming her second leader. It’s from Cyrus’ album Endless Summer Vacation, which debuted at its No. 3 best on the Billboard 200 albums chart in March, marking her 14th top 10.
“Flowers” went on to land No. 1 finishes on Billboard’s 2023 year-end Radio Songs and Adult Pop Airplay Songs charts. Cyrus also scored six 2024 Grammy nominations, including three for “Flowers”: record and song of the year and best pop solo performance.
The Adult Contemporary chart ranks titles by weekly plays on a panel of over 80 adult contemporary radio stations. The tally began in Billboard’s pages (as the “Easy Listening” chart) on July 17, 1961. Once Luminate data began powering the chart exactly 32 years later (July 17, 1993), lengthy reigns became much more common than before. (Airplay is now provided to Luminate by Mediabase.)
Notably, the longest No. 1 Adult Contemporary run on the chart prior to Luminate tracking belongs to Paul Mauriat’s “Love Is Blue” (11 weeks, 1968), followed by three 10-week leaders: Al Stewart’s “Time Passages” (1978-79), Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s in Love With You” (1968) and Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” (1965).
Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” claimed the longest Adult Contemporary rule of the ‘90s before the adoption of Luminate data (eight weeks, 1991), while nine tracks share the longest No. 1 stays of the ‘80s (six weeks each): Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting,” Simply Red’s “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” (both 1989), Kool & The Gang’s “Cherish” (1985), Lionel Richie’s “Hello” (1984), Barry Manilow’s “Read ‘Em and Weep” (1983-84), Richie’s “You Are” (1983), Neil Diamond’s “Yesterday’s Songs” (1981-82), Kenny Rogers’ “I Don’t Need You” (1981) and Air Supply’s “Lost in Love” (1980).
All charts dated Jan. 20 will update on Billboard.com Wednesday, Jan. 17 (a day later than usual due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Jan. 15).
He’s pole-danced to hell, he’s broken out of prison and he’s even eloped with his football-playing boyfriend. Now, Lil Nas X is ready to strut his way through the Pearly Gates.
On Friday (Jan. 12), the rapper shared his much-hyped music video for “J CHRIST,” taking the Biblical title to its furthest extent. The clip opens with a series of celebrity lookalikes — ranging from Taylor Swift to Kanye West to a moonwalking Michael Jackson — as they climb the stairway to heaven. Upon arrival, they’re greeted at the entrance by a dragged-up Lil Nas X, declaring he’s reading to “walk up in the club poppin’ s–t like it was Doublemint.”
The video — directed by Lil Nas X himself — then proceeds to show a series of callbacks to his hellish video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” showing the oft-discussed pole to hell and a demonic Lil Nas X stirring a cauldron of arms and legs. Flying back up to heaven, Lil Nas reunites with his former flame the Devil, this time in a one-on-one basketball game where the rapper soars over his head, dunks the ball, and celebrates with a personalized cheerleading routine.
For the remainder of the video, fans are treated to a host of Biblical vignettes — Jesus’ crucifixion, Nabal shearing David’s sheep, Moses parting the Red Sea — before the rapper transforms into Noah, ushering the denizens of Earth onto a massive ark to survive the flooding of the world. “Back up out the gravesite/ B—h, I’m back like J Christ,” he declares over a pounding beat. “I’m finna get the gays hype/ I’m finna take it yay high.”
As a storm subsides and Nas’ Noah survives, the screen declares that this is “Day Zero” of “a new beginning,” sharing a quote from 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The “J CHRIST” video comes after Lil Nas X spent much of the week promoting his single the best way he knows how — trolling. Whether he was posting a fake acceptance letter to Liberty University or declaring that his new music would be released independently, the singer made sure that his name was on everyone’s lips throughout the week.
Check out the official video for “J CHRIST” below:
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At midnight, Ariana Grande made her grand return to music with the assertive new single “Yes, And?”
Released as the lead track for her forthcoming seventh album, the boundary-setting song makes clear that the pop star is too busy living her “authentic life,” as she sings, to be concerned with what others are saying.
In the just-released music video, Grande doubles down. As shown in the teaser clip, a handful of critics are seen entering an industrial-looking warehouse — and with plenty of opinions in hand. “You know, I think I liked her better when her ponytail was a few centimeters higher,” says one. “I mean, who cares if she’s happy? I don’t want happy. I want Ari,” quips another.
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As they’re about to walk into the room in which they will see what Ariana has to present, an earlier group is seen walking out sweaty and in awe. As the next group takes their seats (under a heat lamp, no less, perhaps a nod to the kind of heated spotlight Grande lives under), the camera pans to a series of stone sculptures before landing on one of the pop star front and center.
And much to viewers’ satisfaction, as the music begins, the immobile figures shatter — and out struts Ari.
Wearing a ballet-inspired outfit and character shoes, she completes her look with a hat that pays homage to legends like Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul — and the nod doesn’t end there. The clip, directed by Christian Breslauer, seems to take inspiration from Abdul’s visual for her own “Cold Hearted Snake,” leaning deeper into the late-’80s energy of the song itself.
By the video’s end, Grande assumes the position her statue was in at the start — and just as she hits the exact pose, she’s turned back to stone. The potential takeaways are plentiful: Is it a commentary on fragility or strength? Is it a reminder that rough exteriors are built upon hardship as a means of protection?
There’s really only one certainty: No matter how the message is perceived, Grande doesn’t really care. She knows what it means to her.
Watch the “Yes, And?” video below.
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Zayn Malik has hopped on a remake of “Tu Hai Kahan,” the 2023 No. 1 hit from Pakistani trio AUR. The song was re-released on Friday (Jan. 12) with additional Hindi-language vocals on the mesmerizing ballad’s chorus from Malik. “I was incredibly humbled when AUR reached out and asked me to collaborate on their song […]
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Ariana Grande tries her hand at improv, Lil Nas X tempts blasphemy (again), 21 Savage celebrates his permanent stateside citizenship and more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?”
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Likely the most anticipated new song of the young year, Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” announces the return of one of pop’s great stars of the past decade-plus with authority. Rumors that the single would interpolate Madonna’s “Vogue” turned out to be unfounded, but it does flash back to the house-pop sound of the early ’90s, maybe a little closer to George Michael’s “Too Funky” than Madge’s celebratory classic. In any event, it’s a triumphant-sounding, attitude-spitting comeback — like a half-decade-later “No Tears Left to Cry,” with Grande no longer in a state of total crisis and really learning to live life in full again.
Lil Nas X, “J Christ”
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Three years after first baiting fundamentalists with his devil-lapdancing video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Lil Nas X is back to poke the bear again with new single and visual “J Christ” (as in, “b–ch, I’m back like J Christ”). The song features LNX talking his s–t over a Tay-Keith-like pounding-piano beat from go-to producers Blake Slatkin and Omer Fedi (as well as edgy EDM producer Gesaffelstein), while the clip sees him playing Jesus on the cross and an angel hooping against the devil, among other things. “Is he ’bout to give ’em something viral?” he asks rhetorically on the chorus. Seems likely!
21 Savage, American Dream
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After sending the internet into a fury this week with an apparent trailer for an upcoming biopic — with Donald Glover and Stranger Things‘ Caleb McLauhglin splitting the lead role — 21 Savage has returned, not with a new movie as thought, but with the new album American Dream. The 15-track set is both his first solo LP since 2018’s I Am > I Was and his first since officially becoming an American citizen in 2023. It feels appropriately exultant as a result, with big-name guests like Doja Cat, Travis Scott, Summer Walker and of course longtime producer collaborator Metro Boomin helping an in-control Savage commemorate his living the titular aspiration over sun-baked and soulful beats.
Jeymes Samuel, Jay-Z & D’Angelo, “I Want You Forever”
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We’re pretty lucky to get one song a year from either Jay-Z or D’Angelo at this point, so to get one with both of them feels like Halley’s Comet. Their new teamup “I Want You Forever” is also a collab with musician and filmmaker Jeymes Samuel, recorded for the soundtrack to his new movie The Book of Clarence. The nine-plus-minute psych-funk groove is one of the least-pop things either artist has ever been involved with — Andre 3000 will undoubtedly tip his flute to the duo if and when he listens — but there’s something undeniably hypnotic about the way the song builds over its extensive runtime, sending D’Angelo in particular into orbit with his rapturous layered vocals.
Jennifer Lopez, “Can’t Get Enough”
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Sorta crazy to believe, but it’s actually been longer since we got a proper solo album from Jennifer Lopez than from D’Angelo. Her upcoming This Is Me… Now LP — spiritual sequel to 2002’s This Is Me… Then — will be her first since 2014’s A.K.A., and is led by the blissed-out dancefloor bump of lead single “Can’t Get Enough.” “You got my engine runnin’/ You got the keys to turn me on and on,” J. Lo testifies over Rick James-worthy bass and flute, before dipping into the chorus hook of Alton Ellis’ ’60s reggae classic “I’m Still in Love With You” — borrowed dozens of times before in pop history (from Althea & Donna to Sean Paul & Sasha) and still a winner every time.
Kali Uchis, ORQUÍDEAS
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It’s been quite a week for Kali Uchis, as the release of her fourth album ORQUÍDEAS is only the second-biggest headline for her early January: the alt-R&B star also announced that she was expecting her first child with hip-hop hitmaker Don Toliver. The LP alone should be more than enough reason for Uchis’ name to be on everyone’s lips this week, however. Her second predominantly Spanish-language set is an enthralling collection that proves the signer-songwriter to be at the vanguard of forward-thinking (and forward-moving) pop and R&B, with valuable assists from big-name guests like Rauw Alejandro, Karol G and even a thrillingly out-of-his-element Peso Pluma on discofied likely smash “Igual Que Un Ángel.”
After going to hell and back (literally) during his last album cycle, rapper and pop provocateur Lil Nas X is ready to walk through the Pearly Gates.
On Friday (Jan. 12), the singer unveiled his long-awaited new single “J CHRIST,” a pounding pop-rap track that sees the “Call Me By Your Name” singer reveling in his own comeback — much like the “MAN WHO HAD THE GREATEST COMEBACK OF ALL TIME” Jesus Christ, as Lil Nas X described him.
Lil Nas X wrote and directed the official music video, which arrived at midnight and features the artist in various roles — playing hoops, as a cheerleader, in the gladiatorial ring, and strapped to the cross.
“Is he up to somethin’ only I-I know?/ Is he ’bout to hit ’em with the high-igh note/ Is he ’bout to give ’em something vi-iral,” he sings on the slick chorus, before later declaring that “B—h, I’m back like J Christ.”
“J CHRIST” marks Lil Nas X’s first official release in over a year — his last release, the League of Legends collaborative anthem “Star Walkin’,” released in September 2022.
The release comes on the heels of a major marketing push from the “Industry Baby” singer, who spent much of the week promoting the single through a series of viral posts. In one string of TikToks, Lil Nas X joked that he was releasing new gospel music independently, while threatening to “expose y’all favorite artists” with his new song. An Instagram post, meanwhile, saw the singer post a fake acceptance letter to Christian college Liberty University, telling his followers that “not everything is a troll” (representatives for the university have since said that they did not admit Lil Nas X for the fall 2024 semester).
The rapper drew intense criticism in the run-up to releasing “J CHRIST” for his use of religious iconography, with commentators claiming that he was “mocking” and “disrespecting” Christianity.
Lil Nas shut down the claims in a tweet, saying “Jesus’s image is used throughout history in people’s art all over the world. I’m not making fun of shit. yall just gotta stop trying to gatekeep a religion that was here before any of us were even born. stfu.”
Watch Lil Nas X’s “J CHRIST” below:
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Ariana Grande is back — and she has some things to say.
On Friday, Jan. 12, the pop star returned with her inquisitive and gleaming new single “Yes, And?” The song serves as the first taste of Grande’s forthcoming seventh album.
Inspired by late ’80s dance-pop production, the catchy track is made all the better by Grande’s unshakeable confidence and comfort in her own skin. “Yes, and? Say that s— with your chest, and, be your own f—ing best friend,” she instructs, seeming to lead by example.
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The overall message is loud and clear: she’s seen the comments, and she’s not taking s— from anybody.
“I’m so done with caring what you think, no I won’t hide underneath your own projections or change my most authentic life,” she sings in a soft and syrupy sweet tone, evoking a “kill ’em with kindness” energy.
And later, during a spoken word interlude, Ari even declares: “Your energy is yours and mine is mine…don’t comment on my body, do not reply.”
And while her message is firm, the upbeat and retro production is less so, helping drive home Grande’s laid back, carefree attitude. Written and produced by the pop star alongside Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, the thumping and rallying chorus is prime for a dancefloor — there are even elements that call back to Madonna’s “Vogue,” which could very well be a tease to the album’s overall sound).
Yesterday, on Thursday, Jan. 11, Grande released a teaser clip to the song’s visual. It opened with a hand holding a red card that read “AG7.” The other side of the card read: “Your presence has been exclusively requested.”
The clip then cuts to various voices saying things like: “You know, I think I liked her better when her ponytail was a few centimeters higher”; “I mean, who cares if she’s happy? I don’t want happy. I want Ari.”; and ““Well, I read it on the Internet, so it must be true!”
“Yes, And?” is a direct response to such critiques. And in typical Ariana fashion, she leans into one of her greatest strengths: being oh so sweet.
Stream “Yes, And?” and view the single art and below.
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Katia Temkin
The Pentagon is shutting down one of Fox News’ more bizarre conspiracy theories.
After Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested this week that Taylor Swift could be “a front for a covert political agenda,” the Department of Defense shared a statement on Wednesday (Jan. 9) refuting the claims, according to Politico.
“It’s real. The Pentagon psy-op unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online,” Watters said during the show, sharing a video from a 2019 conference organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, during which a presenter names Swift as an example of a powerful influencer.
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In response, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh referencing Swift’s 1989 hit “Shake It Off” in a statement by noting, “as for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off.”
Singh continued with the reference-filled statement, “But that does highlight that we still need Congress to approve our supplemental budget request as Swift-ly as possible so we can be out of the woods with potential fiscal concerns.”
While Swift is not a political “asset,” she does important work in encouraging her fans to vote. “Voters gonna vote!” she wrote on her Instagram Story on Election Day. “If you are registered to vote in Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas or Virginia, it’s time to use your voice.”
She also encouraged voters to be informed before arriving. “Find out what’s on your ballot before you arrive to the polls by visiting Vote.org.” Her link takes followers to Vote.org’s See What’s on Your Ballot tool, which gives voters a preview of what will be on their ballots.
The 12-time Grammy winner’s latest Instagram Story is part of an ongoing partnership she has with Vote.org, a non-profit, non-partisan voter registration organization that aims to increase voting behavior and reach underserved and underrepresented voters.
Teddy Swims brought a “Cruel Summer” to the winter season at the BBC Radio 1 on Thursday (Jan. 10), performing a cover of Taylor Swift’s Lover hit at the Live Lounge. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 31-year-old singer put a soulful spin on the track, adding […]
Olivia Rodrigo and Kelly Clarkson grew up in different decades, but they both have one musical icon that they love in common. In a new clip from the “Vampire” singer’s interview on The Kelly Clarkson show, the duo discuss their mutual “hero,” Alanis Morissette. “She’s the reason why I’m a songwriter. I was like, ‘Oh […]
