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Let’s open the most recent mailbag.
Identical Chart ‘Positions’
Hi Gary,
Isn’t it attention-grabbing that whereas we’re on this Eternal Sunshine/pre-Cowboy Carter interval, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé have precisely the identical tallies of No. 1s, high 10s and general Billboard Hot 100 entries (as of the chart dated March 23)?
Best,
Pablo Nelson
Oakland, Calif.
Hi Pablo,
Fun statement that the 2 superstars are neck-and-neck with regards to profession Hot 100 stats, reflecting every’s sustained chart success.
- Ariana Grande: 9 No. 1s / 22 high 10s / 85 general hits
- Beyoncé: 9 No. 1s / 22 high 10s / 85 general hits
(Déjà vu, to cite Beyoncé.)
Meanwhile, each Grande and Beyoncé have siblings who’ve hit Billboard’s charts, and every has relations from totally different generations who’ve reached rankings – and made historical past relating to their ages.
First, Frankie Grande, Ariana’s brother, and Solange, Beyoncé’s sister, have every made surveys.
Plus, Grande’s grandmother, Nonna, 98 years younger, this week turns into the oldest dwelling artist ever to have hit the Hot 100. Conversely, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, grew to become the youngest artist ever billed on a Billboard chart when Jay-Z’s “Glory,” that includes a then-minutes-old “B.I.C.” debuted on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2012.
Among different coincidences, Grande and Beyoncé have every charted Hot 100 hits consisting of numbers and no phrases: Grande with “34 + 35” and Beyoncé with each “1+1” and “7/11.”
Further, and fittingly, given their quite a few accomplishments, Beyoncé despatched “Run the World (Girls)” onto the Hot 100 in 2011. In 2019, Grande charted as featured on 2 Chainz’s “Rule the World.”
(To get additional playful, each Grande and Beyoncé have hit the Hot 100 with songs named after video games. Grande boarded the chart with “Monopoly” in 2019, whereas Beyoncé buzzed in with “Family Feud,” the survey stated in 2017.)
As for one more chart-topping achievement on the Hot 100 for Beyoncé, previous to Grande’s newest coronation, and spotlighting different acts with spectacular longevity …
No. 1, Topped 40
Hi Gary,
Beyoncé led the Hot 100 for 2 weeks starting on the chart dated March 2 with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” at age 42. Per week later, Ye (previously referred to as Kanye West) reached No. 1 together with his collaborative hit “Carnival,” at age 46.
In the youth-centered music trade, it’s uncommon for artists to rule the Hot 100 of their 40s, or later. Billboard has beforehand coated a number of the few which have achieved the feat, together with such legends as Louis Armstrong, Cher, Eminem, Aretha Franklin, Madonna and Paul McCartney.
Has an artist 40 or older ever changed one other at No. 1 on the Hot 100 earlier than this week?
(That’s excluding the latest holidays, when Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee twice switched off atop the Hot 100, with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” respectively. Both are over 40 now, however had been nicely underneath that age when these songs had been initially launched.)
Thanks,
Jesse Rifkin
Washington, D.C.
Thanks, Jesse.
Beyoncé and Ye – and Ty Dolla $ign – mark simply the third set of soloists over age 40 (once more, not counting the vacation hits above, given once they had been recorded) main the Hot 100 back-to-back.
Here’s a take a look at all three such situations.
- March 16, 2024: “Carnival” by Ye, 46, and Ty Dolla $ign, 41 (feat. Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti), changed “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé, 42
- May 27, 2017: “Despacito” by Daddy Yankee, then 40 (with Luis Fonsi and feat. Justin Bieber), changed “I’m the One” by DJ Khaled, then 41 (feat. Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne).
- Dec. 27, 1980: “(Just Like) Starting Over” by the late John Lennon – who was 40 when the tune was launched, simply weeks earlier, previous to his Dec. 8 passing – changed “Lady” by Kenny Rogers, then 42.
Ye, Ty Dolla $ign and Beyoncé, thus, mark the primary grouping of as many as three solo artists throughout 40 topping the Hot 100 consecutively.
With age comes invaluable expertise and perspective. In unveiling the duvet artwork for her new LP, Cowboy Carter, on Instagram March 19, Beyoncé shared, “This album has been over 5 years within the making. It feels good to see how music can unite so many individuals world wide, whereas additionally amplifying the voices of a number of the individuals who have devoted a lot of their lives educating on our musical historical past.
“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” she added. “That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
Bubbling Under the Hot 100 (and Bubbling Under the Bubbling Under Chart)
Hi Gary,
I’ve seen just a few present songs that haven’t made the Hot 100 but – and even the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under chart. Some are on American Top 40 With Ryan Seacrest and SiriusXM’s Hits 1 The Weekend Countdown, as I comply with these charts intently.
Among them:
- “Kissing Strangers,” Usher
- “Make You Mine,” Madison Beer
- “Not My Fault,” Renee Rapp & Megan Thee Stallion
- “Not the 1975,” Knox
- “Paradise,” Justin Timberlake feat. *NSYNC
- “Pick Up the Phone,” Henry Moodie
- “Yes I’m a Mess,” AJR
Hope to see them on the Hot 100, as nicely!
Thanks,
Robert Wien
Thanks, Robert.
Two of these songs are at the moment on the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under chart, which ranks the highest 25 tracks but to make the all-genre, multimetric Hot 100: “Not My Fault,” at No. 19 (after reaching No. 2), and “Make You Mine,” at No. 24 (after hitting No. 9). Plus, “Kissing Strangers” rose to No. 5 in February.
Per your musical tastes, all seven songs above have both hit Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart or made inroads at high 40 radio, on which the checklist is predicated. “Not My Fault” ascends to No. 16 on the most recent chart, adopted by “Not the 1975” (No. 25), “Kissing Strangers” (No. 32) and “Make You Mine,” a debut No. 36. “Yes I’m a Mess” reached No. 24 in January, whereas “Pick Up the Phone” and “Paradise” – the latter newly launched (March 15) on Justin Timberlake’s album Everything I Thought It Was – are constructing help.
Says Larry Blackford, who found Knox on Instagram, noting the opening line in “Not the 1975,” “With lyrics like ‘Vodka soda and baggy jeans/ Using none of that art degree,’ how could [radio] not love it?”
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