Drake’s “What Did I Miss?” — the primary single from ICEMAN, the rapper’s forthcoming album — dominated the hip-hop discourse over the vacation weekend.
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Simone Joyner/Getty Pictures
It is a gradual week on the Billboard charts, because the July 4 vacation weekend introduced little in the way in which of recent releases. However just a few albums and singles are nonetheless having a huge effect, beginning with Drake‘s new single (“What Did I Miss?”) and the burgeoning phenomenon of the Netflix unique film KPop Demon Hunters, whose soundtrack is storming the charts. And the scarcity of recent albums created a gap for none aside from Toby Keith, whose 35 Greatest Hits surged again into the highest 10 on the power of vacation streaming.
TOP ALBUMS
This week’s Billboard charts mirror a gradual vacation weekend, as only a handful of main artists bothered to drop new music and plenty of listeners took a break from their normal streaming routines. Meaning just one debut within the high half of the Billboard 200 albums chart — Kesha‘s . (Interval), which bows at No. 17 — and valuable little momentum for most up-to-date titles.
How dangerous was the drop-off for final week’s debuts? Lorde‘s Virgin, KATSEYE‘s Lovely Chaos EP and Russ’ W!LD all drop out of the highest 10 seven days later — W!LD plummets out of the Billboard 200 solely — regardless of going through just about no competitors from newer titles. Virgin and Lovely Chaos stay within the high 25, however each are outperformed by classic albums equivalent to Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours.
Talking of classic titles filling a vacuum, the late nation star Toby Keith blows again into the highest 10 with 35 Greatest Hits, the best-of compilation that briefly topped the Billboard 200 after the singer’s dying in 2024. That assortment was one in all a number of beneficiaries of Independence Day-themed streaming — Bruce Springsteen‘s Best Hits re-enters the chart at No. 107, presumably attributable to listeners streaming “Born in the united statesA.” — as Keith’s 9/11-themed single “Courtesy of the Pink, White and Blue (The Offended American)” additionally re-enters the Scorching 100 singles chart at No. 31.
Even in a down week for streaming, two albums stay recession-proof. Morgan Wallen‘s I am the Drawback stays this summer season’s sturdiest juggernaut, because it holds at No. 1 for an eighth consecutive week because of blockbuster streaming numbers which have barely budged from week to week. And the soundtrack to the Netflix animated movie KPop Demon Hunters has graduated from “buzzy curiosity” to “bona fide sensation,” because it rises from No. 3 to No. 2.
As with I am the Drawback, the chart success of KPop Demon Hunters‘ soundtrack is pushed largely by streaming: Even in a vacation week when most albums posted decrease numbers, streams for KPop Demon Hunters rose 24%. It is now one in all simply 4 soundtracks to hit the highest two within the 2020s, following Depraved, Barbie and Encanto; in actual fact, this week marks the most important streaming week for a soundtrack since Encanto was posting its eighth week at No. 1 again in 2022. KPop Demon Hunters nonetheless has loads of room for development, too, as its many earworms (lookin’ at you, “Golden”) get added to radio playlists and its bodily editions (a CD in August, vinyl in October) lastly drop.
Subsequent week, the chart supremacy of KPop Demon Hunters — and I am the Drawback, for that matter — will possible be no less than momentarily threatened by the shock arrival of Justin Bieber‘s SWAG final Friday. However neither album goes anyplace.
TOP SONGS
For a sixth nonconsecutive week, Alex Warren‘s “Bizarre” sits atop Billboard‘s Scorching 100 singles chart, thanks largely to an awesome presence on business radio playlists. However, at the same time as the same old historical suspects maintain hanging across the high 10, two gate-crashing singles — one by a chart mainstay, one by a fictional newcomer — make their presence felt.
Drake’s “What Did I Miss?” — the primary single from ICEMAN, the rapper’s forthcoming album — dominated the hip-hop discourse over the vacation weekend, because it assesses a number of the fallout from Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar. The music debuts robust this week, coming into the Scorching 100 at No. 2, and extends Drake’s document for many high 10 hits in Billboard chart historical past. He now has 81 high 10 songs, with Taylor Swift coming in at No. 2 with 59.
The highest 10’s different entry comes courtesy of HUNTR/X; that is one of many fictional Ok-pop teams in Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters. As with Drake’s latest hit, HUNTR/X’s “Golden” — carried out by real-life singers EJAE, REI AMI and Tiny Desk veteran Audrey Nuna — derives most of its chart warmth from streaming moderately than airplay. This week, it climbs from No. 23 to No. 6. (HUNTR/X’s in-film rivals in Saja Boys are making a transfer of their very own, as their music “Your Idol” climbs from No. 31 to No. 16; in all, eight songs from the soundtrack flip up on this week’s Scorching 100.)
Elsewhere within the high 10, the same old suspects simply carry on keepin’ on — together with Teddy Swims, whose “Lose Management” extends its all-time information for longest Scorching 100 run (99 weeks!) and longest stretch within the high 10. With Justin Bieber’s new album slated to explode on subsequent week’s charts and KPop Demon Hunters‘ songs on the rise, will Swims’ run within the high 10 finish at 69 weeks? That’d be good.
WORTH NOTING
The highest 10 chart success of HUNTR/X’s “Golden” naturally raises just a few questions concerning the historical past of fictional “bands” touchdown on the Billboard charts. Fortunately, Billboard itself has assembled a useful information — within the course of noting that 4 fictional acts have landed songs at No. 1 on the Scorching 100:
- The Chipmunks, “The Chipmunk Track” (No. 1 in 1958). The primary Christmas music to high the Scorching 100, many years earlier than vacation requirements started to dominate the December charts. (The Scorching 100 originated that 12 months, however nonetheless, it was a feat.)
- The Archies, “Sugar Sugar” (No. 1 in 1969). The Archies have been, in fact, stand-ins for the Archie Comics characters.
- The Partridge Household, “I Assume I Love You” (No. 1 in 1970). The Partridge Household was a healthful ABC sitcom a few household band that bore the identical identify. Although many of the actors did not truly sing on recordings attributed to The Partridge Household, David Cassidy and Shirley Jones do seem on “I Assume I Love You,” with Cassidy singing lead.
- The Heights, “How Do You Discuss to an Angel” (No. 1 in 1992). Led by singer Jamie Walters, The Heights have been the faux band that gave a short-lived Fox drama its identify. The present received canceled whereas “How Do You Discuss to an Angel” was nonetheless on the charts.
The Billboard piece goes deeper than that, because it runs via many fictional faves — The Wonders! The Banana Splits! Spinal Faucet! Hannah Montana! 2gether! Sesame Avenue‘s Ernie! So many extra!
When you learn the article and end up questioning why Billboard by no means mentions MC Skat Kat — the cartoon cat who appeared in the video for Paula Abdul’s 1989 chart-topper “Opposites Entice” — it is as a result of MC Skat Kat is an actual man whose accomplishments in life ought to by no means be overshadowed by the lurid nature of his grisly dying. (Okay, tremendous, it is as a result of the precise “Opposites Entice” single is credited to Paula Abdul that includes The Wild Pair. The Wild Pair was a pair of real-life guys who have been, based on stories, wild.)
All of which is to say that, ought to HUNTR/X land atop the Scorching 100 within the weeks and months to return, the group will be a part of some actually legendary firm.
