State Champ Radio The Contenders
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The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Apr. 6), a big week of new releases is headlined by Future and Metro Boomin, who could break the mark for first-week units set by Ariana Grande just two weeks earlier.
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Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You (Freebandz/Boominati/Epic/Republic): It was always gonna be big-time when hip-hop superstars Future and Metro Boomin got together for their first collaborative album. Not only have they proven to be two of the most consistently successful figures in the last decade-plus of rap, but they have extensive history and chemistry with one another — down to Future providing Metro’s famous “If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you” producer tag (via his appearance on Uncle Murda’s “Right Now”), which partly inspired the name of their recent team-up, We Don’t Trust You.
Now, the two hip-hop greats with 11 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 already between them are likely gonna be in line for their 12th. We Don’t Trust You immediately dominated the internet upon its release last Friday (March 22), with its entire tracklist swarming the top of the Spotify and Apple Music daily charts. Somewhat ironically, the thing the album is getting the most attention for has little to do with either Future or Metro, but rather the “Like That” guest verse from an arguably even bigger superstar in Kendrick Lamar – with its shots fired against Drake and J. Cole sending social media into an absolute tizzy, likely propelling the song to a No. 1 debut next week on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Its parent album also seems all but certain to grace the top of the charts. Trust has remained a blockbuster on streaming — as of Tuesday, Future and Metro still commanded four of the top 10 spots on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA, and nine of the top 10 on Apple Music’s real-time chart – likely helped by an initially hidden guest list, which prompted users to listen to the 17-track set in full to discover the features for themselves. Even without a physical release yet, its streaming and digital sales numbers should be robust enough for the set to challenge Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine mark (227,000) for the biggest first week yet of 2024 – though Future and Metro would still have to do better as a duo than either did with their own most recent solo sets, 2022’s I Never Liked You (222,000) and Heroes and Villains (185,000), respectively.
Shakira, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Sony Latin): Future and Metro are far from the only longtime hitmakers who released new sets on Friday: arguably the biggest global superstar from the last 30 years of Latin pop also made her return. Shakira’s 16-track new set Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran is essentially divided into two parts – half entirely new pop bangers, including the New Music Friday-leading Cardi B collab “Puntería,” and half singles Shak has already had success with over her highly productive past couple years, including 2023’s barnstorming Bizarrap team-up “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53.”
That combination of explosive new bangers (also including guest appearances from the starry likes of Grupo Frontera, Rauw Alejandro and – again – Bizarrap) and established hits should result in a pretty formidable showing on streaming, though Shakira has nowhere near the established history there (especially in this country) as Future and Metro. She does have a physical presence, though, with Las Mujeres available for sale in four different vinyl editions (each with a different cover and different-colored LP), as well as four different CDs (also with different covers) and a standard digital release.
Kenny Chesney, Born (Blue Chair/Warner Nashville): Another decades-spanning star returns this week from the country world in Kenny Chesney with his 19th studio album (and first in four years), Born. The album doesn’t have the kind of advance radio hits Chesney might have landed in the past; only “Take Her Home” had been previously pulled from the set, and had peaked at No. 13 on Billboard’s Country Airplay listing. But Chesney does have both standard and signed editions of Born for sale — as well as a “Tour Edition” of its digital release with three bonus live cuts, available for purchase to anyone who bought tickets to his upcoming summer trek or are members of his fan club – and he has the chart history of nine No. 1 albums, spanning from 2002’s No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem to Born’s predecessor, 2020’s Here and Now.
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Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (Geffen): While Olivia Rodrigo largely refused to play the reissue game with her game-changing debut album Sour, she’s diving into the deluxe editions with sophomore set Guts. Last Friday saw the release of Guts (Spilled), which tacked five stellar new cuts (previously each found on different specific vinyl variants of the album’s original release) onto the 12 of the chart-topping original LP – including the fan favorite “Obsessed,” which Rodrigo had been playing at stops on her current Guts World Tour. There’s no new physical drop for the deluxe set at the moment, but the resounding streaming and sales activity for the new cuts should help the album (which is still lingering in the Billboard 200’s top 20 a half-year after its initial release) rebound on the chart this week, possibly getting it back to the top 10 for the first time since early December.
Hozier, Unheard (Rubyworks/Columbia): About a half-year since his latest album Unreal Unearth debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is back with a new EP of songs that just missed the cut for that set, Unheard. Though it’s only available on streaming and for digital sale at the moment, and only has four tracks to rack up consumption totals with, it should be in line for a sizeable debut – largely because one of those songs, the TikTok-teased “Too Sweet,” is off to a massive start on streaming, likely on pace to become the artist’s biggest Hot 100 hit since “Take Me to Church” reached No. 2 in 2015.
Tyla, Tyla (Fax/Epic): One of the most anticipated pop debuts of the year comes from South African crossover star Tyla, whose breakout smash “Water” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 2023. Her 14-track LP features both the original and remix versions of “Water,” as well as a decently wide array of big-name guest stars, including Travis Scott, Tems and Becky G, and is available for purchase in three vinyl editions — including two color variants, one with a signed insert.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Mar. 30), Kacey Musgraves and Justin Timberlake both have much-anticipated new albums – but will they be well-received enough to take down Ariana Grande’s 2024 pace-setting set?
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Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine (Republic): In its debut week, Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album moved an impressive 227,000 units in the U.S. March 8-14, according to Luminate. That’s not just up more than 50,000 units from Grande’s most recent first-week performance (for 2020’s Positions), but nearly 70,000 units higher than the previous best single-week performance of 2024 (the 149,000 posted by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 in its first frame). Needless to say, it landed at No. 1 last week by a decisive margin, and may not be moved from the top spot all that easily in its second week.
In its second week, Eternal Sunshine will undoubtedly see a heavy drop-off in sales – it sold 77,000 copies in its first week – but its streaming activity should be considerable. As of Tuesday (Mar. 19), the album still had six songs in Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA’s top 40 and four in the Apple Music real-time top 40, led on both by “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which bowed atop the Billboard Hot 100 and will remain one of the top-streamed songs in the country this week. It should be enough to ensure that a new album will need to post first-week units in the high five digits to unseat it at No. 1 next week.
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Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well (Interscope/MCA Nashville): Despite being one of the most acclaimed artists in country music for over a decade – and now an arena-touring, album of the year Grammy-winning crossover star as well – Kacey Musgraves has still yet to score a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Each of her four non-holiday studio albums has reached the chart’s top five, with her 2013 debut set Same Trailer, Different Park even getting to the runner-up spot. But she’s never quite gotten over the top – with her most recent charting effort, 2021’s lukewarmly received Star-Crossed, only making it to No. 3.
Musgraves no doubt hopes that the fifth time is the charm with the release last Friday (Mar. 15) of her new set, Deeper Well, which pulls back a little on the multi-media (and multi-genre) ambitions of Star-Crossed for a lower-key, more gently introspective singer-songwriter vibe. The album should stream respectably – though not quite as well as Eternal Sunshine, even in that album’s second week – and should sell well, with nine vinyl variants of the LP currently available, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive variants for Target, Walmart, Spotify and Amazon, as well as four different CD versions, three different digital editions and a cassette.
Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was (RCA): Unlike Musgraves, Justin Timberlake has visited the Billboard 200’s top spot – four times in a row, in fact – most recently with 2018’s Man of the Woods. It’s been over 20 years since Timberlake released an album that didn’t reach No. 1: his 2002 solo debut set Justified, which got stuck at No. 2 behind the Eminem-led 8 Mile soundtrack. However, JT’s No. 1 streak is at risk of coming to an end with his latest LP, the Friday-released Everything I Thought It Was.
The album should sell fairly well, helped by four different vinyl LPs (including exclusives for Target, Amazon and his webstore) and three different CD box sets (each with a specific branded T-shirt) — as well as by a fairly successful lead single in the radio hit “Selfish,” which debuted at No. 19 on the Hot 100 and is still in the top 40 six weeks later. But the album’s streaming presence should be fairly minimal, even with an extensive 18-track runtime. Not one of the set’s cuts appeared in either the 200-spot Spotify Daily Top Songs USA or iTunes real-time charts in the day following its release – which may leave Timberlake looking up at Grande and Musgraves on the Billboard 200 next week.
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Bossman Dlow, Mr Beat the Road (Alamo/Sony Music): Bossman Dlow has become one of the breakout rappers of early 2024, largely thanks to his viral hit “Get in With Me,” which has crossed over from TikTok to the top half of the Hot 100. That song can be found on the rapper’s new 22-track set Mr Beat the Road, along with still-growing streaming fixtures “Mr. Pot Scraper” and “Piss Me Off,” though whether Bossman can carry over the level of interest in his hits to a full album remains to be seen.
Black Crowes, Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow): The Brothers Robinson are back together again as co-pilots of Southern Rock staples the Black Crowes on new album Happiness Bastards, the duo’s first together in over a decade. It’s been three decades since the bros’ early-’90s commercial peak, but modern-day country gold-spinner Jay Joyce is behind the boards for the new set — which is available in three vinyl variants, as well as on standard and indie-exclusive CD.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated March 23), Ariana Grande’s first album since 2020 may end up having the biggest immediate impact of the still-early calendar year.
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Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine (Republic): For a minute there, it looked like Ariana Grande might get lost in the shuffle a little bit. Not that one of the biggest pop stars of the last decade was ever gonna get totally overshadowed, but between the time she announced the release of Eternal Sunshine and when the album actually dropped last Friday (March 8), a whole lot of stuff happened elsewhere in pop’s A list. Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Ye all also announced new albums for February and March, and the latter two scored Hot 100-topping breakout hits from them – both of which were much bigger in the culture than Grande’s own No. 1 lead single “Yes, And?,” which fell out of the top 10 in just its third week and has yet to return to the region.
But Grande is more of a full-albums artist now – arguably has been since at least Sweetener in 2018 – and so far, it seems that the positive reception to Eternal Sunshine from fans and critics is helping the album get off to an impressive start. The album of course debuted with all of its tracks littering the real-time charts on Spotify and Apple Music, but more impressive than its first day is how well the set is still doing four days later, with six of its songs still in the top 15 on Spotify and three in Apple — led by second single “We Can’t Be Friends,” which has risen since its release and has been duking it out with Ye & Co’s “Carnival” for the top spot on both charts.
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Grande’s very busy and visible weekend – following several years of mostly being out of the spotlight — helped her get the word out about Eternal Sunshine (and “We Can’t Be Friends” in particular) in its first few days of release. On Friday, she released the video for “Friends,” which drew attention for its co-star Evan Peters and for its take on multiple scenes from the classic 2004 surrealist rom-com Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that the album gets its name from. Then on Saturday, she made her first appearance of the decade on Saturday Night Live, performing “Friends” and late-album highlight “Imperfect for You,” and also appearing in multiple sketches. Then on Sunday, she presented (alongside her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo) at the Oscars – not actively promoting her new set, but generally adding to the Weekend of Ariana with her presence on the weekend’s most-watched event.
Helping her first-week numbers even more than all the heavy cultural exposure should be the multiple variants in which the set is available for purchase. That includes six different vinyl LPs, five with alternate covers (including a Target-exclusive cover; the other four being exclusive to her webstore), as well as five different CDs, four with alternate covers, and one signed CD (all CDs being exclusive to her webstore). In addition, a “slightly deluxe” digital version of Sunshine dropped over the weekend with four additional tracks — all remixes and alternate versions of songs on the standard album, including the previously released Mariah Carey-featuring remix of “Yes, And?” and a version of “Supernatural” with her former “Dance to This” collaborator Troye Sivan.
As easily the biggest new release of the week, this should all be enough to secure Grande her sixth Billboard 200 No. 1 album in seven tries. (Dangerous Woman was her lone official LP to fall short, debuting at No. 2 behind Republic labelmate Drake’s Views in 2016.) Sunshine’s consistent performance on streaming throughout the week may also help nudge it past the 174,000 units that its predecessor, 2020’s Positions, posted in its first week, and will likely help it easily clear the 148,000 units moved by Ye & Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 in its February debut week, making it the best-performing album bow of the year thus far.
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Judas Priest, Invincible Shield (Columbia/Epic): The week’s biggest non-Grande debut may come from metal legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Judas Priest, who dropped the 19th album of their 50-plus-year career with Invincible Shield. The album will not likely have much of a presence on streaming, but should sell fairly well – helped by five vinyl variants, including an indie retailer exclusive red-color vinyl and an artist-webstore-only picture disc, as well as three CD editions, including exclusives for both Target and Amazon.
Norah Jones, Visions (Blue Note): Two decades ago, Norah Jones sold over a million copies in the first week of her sophomore album Feels Like Home, coming off the RIAA multi-platinum-certified success of her blockbuster Come Away With Me debut. Her commercial returns should be significantly more muted 20 years later for ninth album Visions, but the album has received strong reviews for its rawer, more rock-oriented sound, and is available for purchase in both three CD versions and four vinyl variants, including exclusives for indie retailers and for Barnes & Noble.
Bleachers, Bleachers (Bleachers Band Recording/Dirty Hit): Jack Antonoff has been a writer and producer on some of the biggest albums of the 2020s so far – particularly multiple from increasingly close artistic partner Taylor Swift – but has yet to see that type of crossover success translate to his own primary artistic project, Bleachers. He tries again this week with the self-titled Bleachers, the outfit’s first release since moving to U.K. indie label Dirty Hit (home of recent Antonoff collaborators The 1975) — which has at least seven different vinyl variants (in assorted colors, with alternative covers and four bonus tracks), as well as a signed CD, three CDs housed in deluxe packaging and a pair of deluxe CD boxed sets, both shaped like pizza boxes with a branded T-shirt inside.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Mar. 9), a star K-pop group aims to end Kanye West’s & Ty Dolla $ign’s two-week Vultures 1 reign on the albums chart.
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TWICE, With You-th (JYP/Republic): They’ve been one of Korean pop’s biggest acts for over a half-decade now, with best-selling albums in their home country, worldwide arena and stadium tours, and even a couple entries on the Billboard Hot 100. But nine-piece girl group TWICE has yet to secure a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200: They’ve reached the top three with each of their last three efforts, but have still not gotten any higher than No. 2, achieved last March with Ready to Be (held off from the apex by Morgan Wallen’s blockbuster One Thing at a Time set in its second week).
Next week, the runway may be clear for the nonet to finally take off to the spot. TWICE is the biggest-name contemporary outfit to release a new set last Friday (Feb. 23) — the EP With You-th — and with Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures fading in its third week, the bar for No. 1 should not be an unusually high one for the group to need to clear.
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With You-th‘s sales should be considerable, thanks in part to its availability in 14 different CD variants (including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the act’s webstore, all with branded paper merch inside the packages as well as randomized merch), as well as three additional vinyl variants (all picture discs, one being a Target exclusive). Streaming numbers may not be quite as robust for the set, given its six-track length, but in a slower release week it may not need much activity there to secure the top debut.
French Montana, Mac & Cheese 5 (Coke Boys/gamma): It’s been a little while since French Montana was one of the biggest names in mainstream rap – his only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 so far this decade came alongside Diddy, The Weeknd and 21 Savage on the No. 87-peaking “Another One of Me.” But he remains an industry fixture, as evidenced by the guest list on his new mixtape Mac & Cheese 5, which includes appearances from such A-list names as Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Lil Durk and even a pair of appearances from current Billboard 200-topper Kanye West.
He may provide some competition for his chart-topping collaborator on the 200 this week. Mac & Cheese 5 may not be a major streamer – the set will be helped by its features and its length (21 tracks in its standard edition, 22 in its deluxe, and a staggering 126-track Versions edition with clean, explicit, a cappella, instrumental, sped-up and slowed-down versions of each track), but it has yet to produce a real runaway hit there. It should sell pretty well, however — given its availability in three different CD and vinyl variants (all discounted to $5), as well as three signed-CD variants for $10 each, all for sale exclusively via Montana’s Coke Boys webstore.
Le Sserafim, Easy (Source/YG Plus/Geffen): TWICE aren’t the only major Korean girl group to have a new EP out this week: Hitmakers Le Sserafim are also back on the scene with their new five-track set Easy. Their set also should post good sales, boosted by a number of available variants – 14 CD versions, including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart, all with branded paper merch inside the packages as well as randomized merch. The quintet may also have something of a breakout hit from the set in its title track, which debuts at No. 73 on the Global 200 this week, and is still hanging around the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart.
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Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (Geffen): Olivia Rodrigo’s acclaimed sophomore effort – our staff’s No. 1 album of 2023 — already topped the Billboard 200 for a week last September, and has lingered not too far from the top ever since, landing at No. 23 on this week’s listing. It may get a good bump next week, thanks to the start of her Guts World Tour, which kicked off in southern California over the weekend and continues through Texas this week – not only electrifying fans in those locations, but also tantalizing potential attendees from all over the country, who have been devouring clips of Rodrigo’s first-ever arena headlining dates on social media.
Ace Frehley, 10,000 Volts (MNRK): The Spaceman is back. Guitar legend Ace Frehley did not appear with KISS on their End of the Road World Tour – supposedly the group’s final-ever live trek, ending in December 2023 – but he returns this week with his first album of originals since 2018. The 11-track set, released amidst back-and-forth swiping between Frehley and his former bandmates, is available in at least 11 vinyl variants, as well as a standard CD digipack and jewel case, and a Walmart exclusive with a lenticular cover.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated March 2), Beyoncé’s country crossover leads the pack of challengers setting their sights on the Hot 100’s top spot.
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Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (Parkwood/Columbia/Columbia Nashville): With just four full days of tracking following its Sunday night debut during Super Bowl XVIII (Feb. 11), Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” still amassed enough consumption during its debut week to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated Feb. 24), making Bey the first Black female artist to ever hit the listing’s apex. It also racked up enough sales, streams and airplay to bow at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week, landing behind only the most dominant smash hit of early 2024: Jack Harlow’s six-week No. 1 “Lovin on Me.”
In week two, it may have the hole cards to get all the way to the chart’s top. “Hold ‘Em” continues to sell well after debuting atop Digital Song Sales this week, with versions of the song occupying the No. 1 and No. 3 spots on the real-time iTunes chart. It also remains a top contender on streaming, ranking at No. 2 on the daily listings for both Spotify and Apple Music. With a full seven days to put up numbers this week, its consistently strong performance in sales and streams could be enough to push it past “Lovin.”
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Radio could be the deciding factor in the competition. “Lovin” spends its fifth week atop Radio Songs this week, with the song still growing in audience – numbers that have kept the song a weekly No. 1 contender, even as it continues to slide in its sales and streams. But “Hold ‘Em” is also off to a strong start on the airwaves: The song debuts at No. 38 on Pop Airplay and No. 54 on Country Airplay, while rising at both formats, and also advancing at rhythmic, mainstream R&B/hip-hop, adult R&B and adult pop formats as well. If it makes up ground there fast enough, “Hold ‘Em” may end up taking the whole pot next week.
¥$: Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign, “Carnival” (YZY): Bey’s new smash was the Hot 100’s biggest debut last week, but it wasn’t the only new entry in the top five: Landing just one spot lower was Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s new Vultures 1 focus cut “Carnival,” with (unbilled) appearances from Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti. “Carnival,” which also debuted with an incomplete first week after dropping two Saturdays ago (Feb. 10), hasn’t had the sales potency of “Hold ‘Em,” debuting at No. 18 on Digital Song Sales. But it has been a monster on streaming, bowing atop Streaming Songs, and relegating Bey to the runner-up spot on Spotify’s and Apple Music’s daily charts by continuing to lead at both.
But while the recent backlash against Kanye’s latest controversies — including wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and making repeat antisemitic comments (which he has since issued a public apology for in Hebrew) — don’t seem to have affected his streaming audience, it may continue to dampen his radio support. (“Carnival” is also part of Ye’s first album release as a totally independent artist, meaning he no longer has major label promotion to rely on.) The song has not yet received notable airplay at any major radio format, putting it in a pretty big hole when competing with a certified FM smash like “Lovin” and a growing multi-format hit like “Hold ‘Em.”
Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?” (Republic): Grande’s Eternal Sunshine lead single has already spent one week atop the Hot 100 – though the song did not hang around the chart’s top tier very long, sliding out of the top 10 within just two weeks and currently ranking at No. 31 in its fifth frame. A new remix alongside pop&B predecessor Mariah Carey, which debuted last Friday (Feb. 16), may be just what the song needs to reverse its chart momentum – though it won’t be very likely to get it back in the mix for No. 1, as the new remix has already vacated most major daily streaming and sales charts.
The bigger question (for the Lambily at least) may be about whether the new version racked up enough stats in its first few days to outperform the original for the week, potentially getting Carey added to the official chart listing for the song. We’ll have to see about that next week, though recent history is not particularly on her side: When Carey was added to the remix of Latto’s “Big Energy” (which even interpolated MC’s own “Fantasy”) in 2022, it helped shoot the song into the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time, but with Latto remaining by her lonesome on the artist credit.
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Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (SWIMS Int./Warner): Teddy Swims’ breakthrough-hit-that-could got all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100 last week before getting lapped by “Hold ‘Em” and “Carnival” this week. Don’t count it out just yet, though: It’s still in the top 10 on Streaming Songs, it’s returned to No. 2 on the iTunes chart, and it continues to grow on the airwaves, climbing 13-12 on Radio Songs this week. It may just be a big remix away from mounting a real charge for Swims’ first Hot 100 No. 1 – one featuring Fat Man Scoop, perhaps?
Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (Night Street/Warner): Swims’ Warner labelmate Benson Boone also gets bumped from the Hot 100’s top three this week, but is still holding strong at No. 4, while hanging at No. 2 on Streaming Songs and climbing back into the top 10 on Digital Song Sales. And radio is really starting to kick in for “Beautiful Things”: It’s not on the 40-position Radio Songs chart yet, but it bounds 32-24 on Pop Airplay, and is climbing quickly at both pop and adult formats. If it continues to catch up there, the sky’s the limit for the soaring power ballad.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: The Big Game leads to big gains for country Beyoncé, Usher’s (faux-)lovers and friends and a Whitney classic, while Aimee Carty gets an unexpected lift from the college basketball world, and much more.
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BeyHive Re-Learns Past Country ‘Lessons’ Following New Single Releases
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When Beyoncé unexpectedly returned on Sunday night (Feb. 11) by surprise-releasing two new singles, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” during the Super Bowl, fans were greeted with a pair of country music tracks that seemingly preview the cowboy-hat nature of her upcoming album, Act II. However, longtime Bey fans were quick to point out that the new songs were not, of course, not Beyoncé first country music foray — after all, 2016’s Lemonade was highlighted by “Daddy Lessons,” a rip-roaring jamboree that eventually received a remix and CMA Awards performance with the Chicks.
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As both “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages” get off to hot starts — on their first full day on streaming services, the tracks respectively earned 4.32 million and 2.66 million U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate — fans have also returned to “Daddy Lessons” and helped the nearly eight-year-old track receive new life. On Feb. 12, the song earned 160,000 streams, up a whopping 370% from the previous Monday (34,000 streams). We’ll find out on Mar. 29 how much of Act II actually resembles the sonic makeup of “Daddy Lessons,” but until then, expect its streams to stay elevated as fans prepare for Queen Bey’s country era. — JASON LIPSHUTZ
Alicia Keys & Lil Jon Hits Also Boosted by Usher-Headlined Halftime
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Usher’s well-received and widely viewed – like, 129-million-plus wide – halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night (Feb. 11) has of course had a profound effect on consumption of the R&B superstar’s back catalog. We’ll have exact numbers on Mr. Raymond’s post-SB stats to come later on Billboard, but suffice to say he is up fairly dramatically in song sales and streams following his performance, with classics like “Yeah!” and “My Boo” even threatening Billboard Hot 100 re-entrances next week. But he’s not the only artist seeing gains from the halftime extravaganza.
Alicia Keys, who joined the set primarily to display her vocal and on-stage chemistry with her old duet partner on “My Boo,” also offered a chorus of her own solo 2004 smash ballad “If I Ain’t Got You,” with Usher joining in harmonies at the end. The song consequently racked up 889,000 official on-demand U.S. streams over that Sunday and the following Monday – up nearly 59% from the 560,000 streams it posted over the equivalent two-day period the prior week, according to Luminate. The song also grew in digital sales over the same period, from a negligible amount to nearly 700 copies. (We’ll have to wait to see what impact Keys’ “Got You” performance going viral on Tuesday for less-than-desirable reasons will have on its consumption the rest of the week.)
Meanwhile, Usher’s “Yeah!” collaborator Lil Jon also got his own spotlight moment before being joined by the set’s headliner, leading the crowd in shouts of the timeless refrain to his and DJ Snake’s club perennial, “Turn Down for What.” The song rose 83% in streams from Feb. 5-6 (217,000) to Feb. 12-13 (398,000) and saw an even more pronounced rise in sales, going from a negligible amount to over 1,000 copies. Former Usher collaborators from Gucci Mane to Ella Mai are probably looking at those numbers this week wondering what they gotta do to get the call next time. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Super Bowl ‘Wicked’ Trailer Starring Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Spurs Soundtrack Streaming Gains
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During the first batch of Super Bowl commercials on Sunday night (Feb. 11), viewers were treated to the first look at Wicked – the forthcoming Jon M. Chu-helmed movie musical based on the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history. The new film adaptation of the story of Elphaba (Erivo) and Galinda (Grande) hits theaters on Nov. 27, 2024, but fans are already flocking to the existing Broadway cast soundtracks to feed their anticipation.
On the Monday preceding the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), the official combined tally for songs on the original 2003 Wicked cast recording and the 15th anniversary 2018 edition clocked in at 365,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the Monday following the Big Game (Feb. 12), that number rose by a whopping 93.6% to 705,000 official on-demand streams. Expect those numbers to continue trending up as the trailer continues to make the rounds in the months leading up to the film’s theatrical release. With Erivo’s take on the “Defying Gravity” riff already going viral, and Grande’s imminent Eternal Sunshine album poised to make a sizable splash, all eyes are on the Wicked ladies as Thanksgiving 2024 draws nearer. – KYLE DENIS
Old Kanye West Song Benefits From Being Sampled on New Kanye West Song
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“Hell of a Life” was not supposed to appear in sampled form on “Carnival,” the breakout track from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s new collaborative project Vultures 1: a live version of Black Sabbath’s iconic “Iron Man” riff was originally supposed to be lifted into the song, but Ozzy Osbourne refused to clear the sample and sent West a very public cease-and-desist. The fuzzed-out riff from “Hell of a Life,” an album cut from West’s iconic 2010 LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, turned into Plan B, and as “Carnival” continues gobbling up streams, “Hell of a Life” has earned a bit of a resurgence as well.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week (Feb. 12-13), “Hell of a Life” earned 96,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 54% spike from the same period during the previous week, according to Luminate. Of course, that total pales in comparison to that of “Carnival,” which earned 10.9 million streams between Sunday and Tuesday, and remains entrenched atop daily U.S. streaming charts. Maybe West will sample “Carnival” for a song on Vultures II and create a trickle-down effect on his streaming catalog. – JL
Duke Star Jared McCain’s TikToks Make a Streaming Smash Out of “2 Days Into College”
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Before his fiery first year at Cameron Indoor Stadium alongside his fellow Blue Devils on Duke University’s men’s basketball team, Jared McCain was a TikTok favorite. Now a key player on one of the most popular college sports teams in the country, McCain boasts over 2.4 million followers on TikTok – and his massive audience on the platform has helped turn Irish singer-songwriter Aimee Carty’s “2 Days Into College” into a verifiable streaming hit.
According to Luminate, “2 Days Into College” earned a little over 50,000 official on-demand streams during the period of Jan. 18-25. Over the next week (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), that number exploded by a mind-boggling 4,319% to 2.23 million on-demand streams. Over Feb. 2-8, streams again improved by a further 101%, good enough for just under 4.5 million on-demand streams. McCain first used the song on TikTok in a Jan. 25 post captioned, “Post workout jingles [Aimee Carty] was elite with this.” The post currently holds over 1.1 million likes and 9 million views, while the clip’s official sound features McCain’s very own a cappella cover of the song. Five days later he posted another clip – soundtracked by a mashup of his cover and Carty’s original track – that garnered one million likes and 10.2 million views. Feb. 2 brought yet another TikTok with the mashup playing in the background, and by Feb. 7, McCain was posting TikToks to a Jersey club remix of “2 Days Into College.”
That remix – created by TikTok user @prodbyraesam (Feb. 3) — currently boasts over 12,800 posts on TikTok, while an official sound for Carty’s song is not currently available on the platform. Nonetheless, Carty’s Dec. 6, 2023, TikTok previewing “College” has collected 4.1 million likes and 28 million views to date. The fast-rising singer-songwriter has even acknowledged McCain’s impact on the song’s success, dueting one of his TikToks to the tune of 3.7 million views and 361,400 likes.
As of Feb. 10, “2 Days Into College” is officially Aimee Carty’s Billboard chart debut. The song debuted at No. 22 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (chart dated Feb. 10) and at No. 5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (dated Feb. 17). Carty also makes her first appearance on the Feb. 17 Emerging Artists chart, at No. 32. — KD
Season’s Gainings: Fans Will Always Love Whitney’s National Anthem on Super Bowl Sunday
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Reba McEntire’s “Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LVIIII: pretty good! No complaints. But as far as all-time versions of the anthem go, it’s entirely likely that none at the Big Game will ever touch Whitney Houston’s XXV rendition in 1991, a version mighty enough to lift the nation’s Gulf War-era spirits and chart on the Hot 100 multiple times. Also one good enough for fans to play annually on (or after) Super Bowl Sunday: Houston’s rendition racked up 14,000 combined official on-demand U.S. streams over Feb. 12-13, a 52% gain from the equivalent period the week before that, according to Luminate. – AU
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Feb. 24), two of the year’s most-anticipated new releases vie for No. 1, while a third-party candidate originally from 2022 also gets into the mix.
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Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign, Vultures 1 (YZY): Kanye’s and Ty Dolla’s long-awaited and much-delayed – can just assume both of those descriptors with any Ye-related release at this point – collaborative new LP Vultures 1 is the former’s first wide release on his new independent label YZY. The 16-track effort features appearances from big-name collaborators like Travis Scott, Playboi Carti and Chris Brown – though none are actually credited on the feature-less tracklist – as well as a guest vocal from Ye’s 10-year-old daughter North on “Talking.” (It also features an interpolation of Donna Summer’s disco classic “I Feel Love” on “Good (Don’t Die),” which the Summer estate has decried as unauthorized.)
The album was originally supposed to debut on Friday, after a Chicago listening event, but ultimately trickled out (with a false start or two) on streaming services over Saturday. The incomplete first tracking week for the set – with only five full days of consumption – will likely dampen its opening numbers a little, as will its lack of physical availability, as the album is not yet available for purchase on CD or vinyl. (The set also has received muted support on many top Spotify playlists for an album of its buzz, likely due to past and ongoing Ye-related controversies.)
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However, with high anticipation for the set (as Ye always seems to garner, regardless of his real-life backlash), it should still do fairly sizeable streaming numbers. As of Wednesday, it still claimed four songs in the top 10 on Spotify’s US Daily Top 200 and five in Apple Music’s real-time top 10, with its “Carnival” leading both listings. Given Kanye’s history on the Billboard 200 – which boasts 10 No. 1 albums, including controversy-embroiled more recent releases like 2019’s JESUS IS KING and 2021’s Donda – it would be foolish to bet against him finding similar success with Vultures.
Usher, Coming Home (Mega/Gamma): Coming Home represents a number of firsts for Usher: His first album of the 2020s, his first through independent record label Mega (in partnership with the Larry Jackson-founded alternative distributor Gamma) and his first since being minted as a Super Bowl headliner. Technically, the set debuted two days before the Big Game, but the album will undoubtedly be boosted by the added exposure of the most-watched halftime performance in SB history – even though the pop&B superstar didn’t actually perform any songs from the new album, opting to stick to a set of more-established classics.
Nonetheless, Coming Home does arrive with some built-in success: “Good Good,” the album’s lead single alongside next-gen ATLiens Summer Walker and 21 Savage, has previously reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, already his biggest hit on the chart in a decade. The set features additional collabs with hitmakers Latto, Burna Boy, H.E.R. and Jung Kook (on a previously released remix of the latter’s top 5 Hot 100 hit “Standing Next to You”). All of these should help streams of the set — and sales are also expected to be robust, with Coming Home available on CD, in five different vinyl variants, and through both CD and vinyl box sets that include branded merch. (Digital editions of the album have also been heavily discounted.)
While Usher’s new album will likely be his best-performing LP this week, he should also see some major movement with his back catalog – most notably with his Billboard 200-topping 2004 juggernaut Confessions. The classic album, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, had a whopping seven tracks make its way to Usher’s halftime setlist, including the set-capping Lil Jon and Ludacris collab “Yeah!” and the much-buzzed-about Alicia Keys duet performance “My Boo.” It re-enters the top half of the 200 this week, jumping 140-92, and should make an even bigger leap next week.
Noah Kahan, Stick Season (Mercury/Republic): The weather may be warming outside – slowly – but on the Billboard 200, Stick Season may simply never end. Alt-folk singer-songwriter Noah Kahan’s breakout album, which has only grown in popularity and impact in the 16 months since its October 2022 release, has spent the entirety of post-holidays 2024 in the Billboard 200’s top 10, climbing back as high as No. 4, after having peaked at No. 3 last June following the set’s We’ll All Be Here Forever deluxe re-release.
Stick Season slips to No. 7 this week, but it may very well return to the top three once more next week, following another, even deluxer reissue of the set. This one is titled Stick Season (Forever), and features a whopping 30 tracks, including previously released Hot 100-charting collaborative remixes of Stick originals with Post Malone (“Dial Drunk”), Kacey Musgraves (“She Calls Me Back”) and Hozier (“Northern Attitude”). In addition to all of those, the set also boasts two (well, one and a half) totally unreleased cuts: the solo ballad “Forever” and the Brandi Carlile-guesting redo of We’ll All Be Here Forever fan favorite “You’re Gonna Go Far.” (All versions of the album, new and old, are combined together for tracking and charting purposes, under its original title: Stick Season.)
The new edition of the now-blockbuster set has no physical release available, but has already spurred plenty of extra streaming activity for both the original album and its previously released “new” tracks – as well as for the brand-new “Forever,” which is still in the top 50 on both Spotify and Apple Music’s daily charts.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 17), while Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” is again the front-runner to return to No. 1, the biggest winners and performers on Music’s Biggest Night also get perhaps the final big bump of their chart runs.
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Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (River House/Columbia Nashville/Columbia): Perhaps the most buzzed-about performance of Grammy night featured Luke Combs dueting with Tracy Chapman (for the first time) on “Fast Car,” the song the two performers both had top 10 hits with, 35 years apart. It was a major moment for both artists, a long-overdue comeback appearance for a traditionally spotlight-reticent Chapman, and a full-circle one for Combs, who has called “Fast Car” his “first favorite song.”
Chapman’s version of “Fast Car” has seen the most pronounced gains since the duet aired, with her original zooming to No. 1 on the iTunes sales chart, and also reaching the top 100 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart for the first time. But Combs’ cover has also seen a pronounced bump, climbing back into the iTunes top five and rebounding to Spotify’s U.S. top 40. Combs’ “Car” has been slowing on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2 last July and most recently ranking in the top 10 in January, but still parks at No. 20 on the chart this week; with his added Grammy propulsion, he very well may pop a U-turn and head back towards the top 10.
Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (Smiley Miley/Columbia): Miley Cyrus’ new signature hit was truly in full bloom on Grammy night. Not only did it take home two awards on the telecast (best pop solo performance and record of the year, her first-ever Grammy wins), but it also received a spotlight performance, in what Cyrus referred to as just her second time publicly singing the song. Her rendition was understandably triumphant — somewhat literally so, as she finished her final “started to cry, but then remembered…” pre-chorus with the ad-lib “I just won my first Grammy!”
The big Grammy moment has revived interest in the year-old song – which is still lingering in the Hot 100’s top 40, sliding from No. 27 to 32 this week – with it re-entering the top 40 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart and the top five on the iTunes sales chart. With radio support for the song remaining steady (and recently record-breaking), if not quite as overwhelming as the song’s mid-2023 peak, it should stand a chance of jumping back into the Hot 100’s top 20 – and perhaps even higher if its newfound momentum keeps up throughout the week.
Billie Eilish, “What Was I Made For?” (Darkroom/WaterTower/Atlantic/Interscope): Award season has always been Billie Eilish and Finneas’ friend, and perhaps none more so than 2024’s. “What Was I Made For?” just won song of the year at the Grammys – their second win in the category, following “Bad Guy” in 2020 – and also received a heartfelt performance from the duo during the ceremony. That may just be the warmup for next month’s Oscars, where the song (from Barbie) is the prohibitive favorite to win in best original song (which would again be a second W for the duo, following Bond theme “No Time to Die” in 2022).
Will the momentum be enough to bump the song to the top 10? Unlike “Flowers” and “Fast Car,” which have already hit peaks of No. 1 and No. 2 on the Hot 100, respectively, “Made For” has yet to reach the chart’s top tier, having peaked at No. 14 last August amid Barbie buzz. The song is currently perched at No. 31, and is up in sales and streams since the Grammys – though not as much as the other two aforementioned Grammy gainers. If it’s going to make up serious ground, it’ll need help from radio – it’s the only one of the three songs mentioned that still has room and potential to grow on the airwaves; while it’s peaked at pop radio, it’s still rising on adult formats.
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Billy Joel, “Turn the Lights Back On” (Columbia): While Columbia is certainly victory-lapping this week with its Miley Cyrus and Luke Combs Grammy night successes, the label also has reason to celebrate with one of its greatest legacy artists: Billy Joel made his return to recording with the new song “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first single since 2007. The song isn’t likely to threaten the top tier of the Hot 100, but it’s been selling well enough since its Thursday debut, and drawing enough adult radio airplay, to at least challenge for a spot on the chart – which would be his first appearance as a recording artist since his Bob Dylan-penned “To Make You Feel My Love” hit No. 50 in 1997.
Dua Lipa, “Houdini” (Warner): Grammy night’s opening performance came courtesy of returning pop star Dua Lipa, delivering her most recent single “Houdini” along with its yet-unreleased follow-up “Training Season.” Streaming gains for “Houdini,” which sits at No. 25 on the Hot 100 this week after debuting at its No. 11 high in November, have been modest following the performance — but it has seen a bigger spike in sales, which could help give it a boost back to the Hot 100’s top 20.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 10), the year’s biggest new rap beef may power the next No. 1 debut, if a conservative pundit doesn’t elbow his way into the race.
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Megan Thee Stallion, “Hiss” (Hot Girl Productions) / Nicki Minaj, “Big Foot” (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic): Megan Thee Stallion set the rap and pop worlds ablaze on Friday with her incendiary “Hiss,” striking back against haters and foes who have plagued her drama-filled past few years. No specific names were mentioned, but certain bars were popularly interpreted to be directed at Nicki Minaj – who took the insult personally, firing back at her fellow MC over social media all weekend before dropping her own pointed response to Megan, “Big Foot.”
With the battle between the two inevitably turning into a chart war, many will be looking to next week’s Hot 100 to ultimately crown a victor. It’s not a particularly fair fight, since “Hiss” has a three-day head start on “Big Foot,” having been released at the very start of the tracking week, rather than Sunday at midnight. Nonetheless, with both now out for multiple days, “Hiss” currently leads “Big Foot” by most real-time metrics – it’s atop both Spotify and Apple Music’s daily US streaming charts (“Foot” is right behind it on Apple but about 20 spots lower on Spotify) and claims both the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the iTunes Top 100 with its multiple versions (“Foot” is No. 4, with both songs also now boasting multiple other variants throughout the top 25).
Will it be enough to pass Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” for the top spot on the Hot 100? It could be close: “Lovin” remains a strong performer in all chart factors, even still gaining in radio as it spends his second week atop the Radio Songs listing. But with “Hiss” given a jolt by all of the extra publicity over the weekend, it’s not only maintained its release momentum, it’s still been growing – and if it continues to do so over the final couple days of the tracking week, it could have a real shot at nabbing Megan both the first Hot 100 No. 1 debut as a lead artist and the first unaccompanied No. 1 of her career.
Tom MacDonald feat. Ben Shapiro, “Facts” (Self-released): Yes, really: After right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro helped propel multiple songs to No. 1 this decade (including Megan’s own “WAP” back in 2020) with either his endorsement or his disavowal, he’s now in pursuit of a Hot 100-topper of his own. He even admits as much on “Facts,” his collab with “anti-woke” rapper Tom MacDonald, as he directs audiences during his own rap verse – again, yes, really — “All my people download this, let’s get a Billboard No. 1.”
He’s likely to get a No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart, anyway, as “Facts” has held the lead on iTunes essentially since its Jan. 26 release date, even amidst the Nicki/Megan beefing. The song’s streaming numbers are relatively small compared to “Hiss” and “Lovin on Me,” though, and it has no real radio support, so to even challenge for No. 1 it will still have to post a pretty stratospheric sales number in its debut week. Shapiro’s certainly banking on getting bragging rights over one of the week’s primary contenders, at least: “Nicki, take some notes, I just did this for fun,” he also taunts in his verse.
Justin Timberlake, “Selfish” (RCA): In a less wild week, Justin Timberlake’s comeback single would likely be the most buzzed-about debut – though with Timberlake’s commercial fortunes declining fairly steadily over the past decade, “Selfish” was probably always something of a long shot for a No. 1 entrance.
The love song, whose bow will also be hurt by its release coming last Thursday (meaning its first day of consumption totals will count towards the previous chart week), has nonetheless sold consistently and streamed somewhat steadily. It also has been embraced immediately on pop radio, with the song debuting at No. 33 on Pop Airplay this week after just a single day’s airplay. It might not be in the hunt for No. 1, but it could challenge the No. 25 debut of *NSYNC’s “Better Place” last year for the highest-charting JT-related song on the Hot 100 this decade.
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Morgan Wallen, “Spin You Around (1/24)” (Honeyhole/Big Loud/Mercury/Republic): With Taylor Swift recently raising the commercial ceiling on re-recordings of decade-old songs, it’s hardly shocking to see Morgan Wallen’s acoustic re-do of this early-career ballad – successfully intended to overshadow his old label’s unsanctioned deluxe reissue of early-career debut EP Stand Alone – be received commercially like a brand new single. “Spin You Around (1/24)” may not have the longevity of Wallen’s One Thing at a Time hits, but the combination of curiosity streams and sales for a song many newer fans might not even be familiar with should get it a notable Hot 100 debut.
Ice Spice, “Think U the Shit (Fart)” (Dolo Entertainment/10K/Capitol): Something of a “yes, really” in its own right, Ice Spice’s purposefully goofy latest single has divided the internet into those who find it to be frivolous, winking fun and those who think it’s just too silly for serious listening. The song might not be too long for the charts – the rapper just announced her imminent debut album, so she may be moving on fairly quickly herself – but initial interest in “Shit (Fart)” should be enough for a good Hot 100 debut, perhaps good enough to become her first unaccompanied top 40 hit.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 27), Green Day look to score the second new No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2024 with the debut of their 14th LP, Saviors.
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Green Day, Saviors (Reprise): Green Day’s 15-track latest set was released on Friday (Jan. 19) with hype billing it as their big attempt at a 2024 return-to-form – even featuring production by Rob Cavallo, knob-twiddler behind most of the band’s classic ‘90s and ‘00s LPs. The set has drawn mostly positive reviews, and kicks off what should be a very eventful year for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, as they’re celebrating the respective 20th and 30th anniversaries of their epochal albums Dookie and American Idiot on their much-anticipated upcoming stadium tour (alongside fellow ‘90s alt hitmakers Smashing Pumpkins and Rancid), performing each album in its entirety.
The album is expected to sell in strong numbers, helped by the large number of variants in which the LP is currently available. Along with the digital album and standard CD, there’s also a signed CD sold through the band’s webstore, one cassette and at least 16 vinyl variants (mostly varying in color), including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indie record stores, Target, Walmart and more. There’s also two boxed sets for purchase, each with a branded T-shirt and a CD inside, as well as a Fan Pack offer with a T-shirt and a CD.
If Saviors can reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – and it will be a challenge, given that Green Day has never performed particularly well in streaming – it would mark their third consecutive decade with a No. 1 album. They most recently topped the chart with Revolution Radio in 2016, and previously did it with both Idiot and its 2009 follow-up, 21st Century Breakdown. (Surprisingly, they never bested the chart in the ‘90s, with both Dookie and its 1995 follow-up Insomniac topping out at No. 2.)
21 Savage, American Dream (Slaughter Gang/Epic): Green Day’s primary obstacle in the way of their fourth No. 1 album is the current reigning champ. This week, American Dream became the first new album to top the chart in 2024, moving an impressive 133,000 units – mostly in streaming – while also launching the biggest unaccompanied Billboard Hot 100 solo hit of 21 Savage’s career in the quickly viral, No. 5-debuting “Redrum.” The numbers were impressive enough to further confirm Savage’s superstar status, without some of the usual qualifications that have dogged his legacy in the past.
The numbers for American Dream will likely dip considerably in its second week, but the album should still have a strong shot at staying atop the chart for a second week this frame, with its streaming performance remaining steady – the set continues to hold down seven of the top 20 spots on Apple Music’s real-time chart, including pole position for “Redrum.” If the race is particularly close, it also wouldn’t be shocking to see Savage’s team pull out a last-minute deluxe edition with a few new songs to boost the final streaming numbers, as has become increasingly common practice for big rap and pop albums in the past few years.
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Eladio Carrión, Sol María (Rimas): The biggest release for the week in the Latin music world comes from Puerto Rican-American rapper Eladio Carrión. His 17-track new album Sol María features guest appearances from big names like Yandel, Rauw Alejandro, Arcángel and Sech, and is led by the Latin airplay hit “TQMQA.” The set follows 2023’s 3MEN2 KBRN, which became his first LP to hit the top 20 of the Billboard 200, debuting at No. 16 in April.
Lil Dicky, Penith (The DAVE Soundtrack): With rapper-comedian-actor Lil Dicky’s acclaimed (and very loosely autobiographical) TV sitcom Dave having wrapped its third season last Spring, its star decided it was time for the show to release an official soundtrack. That finally arrived last Friday with Penith, a 22-track collection of music included throughout the series – some in fuller versions than featured on the show. Star producer Benny Blanco, a recurring guest star on the show, worked on most of the tracks, but West Coast rap fixture YG is the only big-name guest, appearing on “YG’s Interlude.”
