Aaliyah Charts Her First New Top 10 Hit In More Than 20 Years

Aaliyah and Tank’s “Gone” rises to No. 7 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart, giving the late star her fourth top 10 and first since 2002. NEW YORK – OCTOBER 5: American R&B singer Aaliyah, aka Aaliyah Dana Houghton (1979-2001) poses for a photo backstage at Madison Square Garden for Lifebeat’s Urban Aid benefit concert on October 5, 1995 in New York City, New York. (Photo by Catherine McGann/Getty Images)

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It’s been almost a quarter-century since Aaliyah passed away tragically at the age of 22 in an airplane crash. The R&B singer rose to prominence before the new millennium, and her career was seemingly just getting started when she passed away.

Decades after her loss, Aaliyah’s legacy remains a powerful one, and her estate has carefully doled out a handful of posthumous tracks in the past few years – tunes which have become clear successes on a handful of Billboard’s genre-specific lists. This frame, the late superstar even manages to score a new proper smash, her first in many years.

“Gone” Rises Into the Top 10

R&B musician Tank joined Aaliyah on“Gone,” which dropped in May, and the tune reached a number of radio rosters in America upon its promotion. This week, the two genre favorites push “Gone” from No. 11 to No. 7 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, and the track cracks the top 10 for the first time on the list of the most successful songs on R&B stations across the United States that cater to a more mature audience.

Aaliyah’s Fourth Top 10 Smash

As “Gone” ascends, Aaliyah claims her fourth top 10 hit on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, and her second posthumous win. The new collaboration joins “At Your Best (You Are Love),” “Back & Forth,” and “I Care 4 U,” which peaked at Nos. 4, 6, and 8, respectively.

Two Decades Since Aaliyah’s Last New Top 10

It’s been more than 20 years since Aaliyah scored a new top 10 on the Adult R&B Airplay ranking. “I Care 4 U” reached the highest tier in late 2002, more than a year after her death. Both “At Your Best (You Are Love)” and “Back & Forth” found their way into the uppermost region more than 30 years ago in 1994.

Tank’s Sixteenth Top 10 Hit

Tank has now scored four times as many top 10s on the Adult R&B Airplay chart as his collaboration partner. That roundup includes nine No. 1s out of the 27 tracks he’s pushed to the roster throughout his lengthy career.

“Gone” Holds on one Billboard Chart and Climbs on Another

As “Gone” hits the top 10 on the Adult R&B Airplay list, the duet holds on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. “Gone” is steady at No. 28, which remains its best showing on the similarly-composed radio tally.

Aaliyah’s Posthumous Album Unstoppable

“Gone” is the second single taken from Aaliyah’s upcoming posthumous album, which is reportedly titled Unstoppable. There have been many delays that have kept the set from the public, and neither tune pushed from the project has performed very well. In 2021, “Poison,” which also credits The Weeknd, was also unleashed, but it too failed to make much of a commercial impact in the U.S.