ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 20: Future and Drake perform onstage at Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash Block Show at … [+]
Drake is back at No. 1 on the Hot 100 this week, returning to the summit of the all-genre ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S. with another immediate leader. As his new song debuts in first place on the competitive tally, he breaks out of a tie with two of the most successful musical acts in America of the past decade and once again proves himself to be perhaps the biggest name in the music industry.
Rapper Future debuts his new song “Wait for U” atop the Hot 100, and he’s not alone at the top. Credited as featured artists on the tune are both Drake and Nigerian singer Tems. The track is the second No. 1 on the chart for Future, the first for Tems, and the milestone tenth for Drake. In fact, not only has the Canadian hip-hop titan reached the peak position with 10 different tracks, he’s seen half a dozen of them start in first place, and that’s something no artist has managed before.
With six Hot 100 No. 1 debuts now to his credit, Drake stands out as the musician with the most immediate rulers in the chart’s half-century-long history. In addition to the newly-anointed “Wait for U,” he has also launched all of the following songs atop the Hot 100: “God’s Plan,” “Nice for What,” “Toosie Slide,” “What’s Next” and most recently, “Way 2 Sexy” with Young Thug and, somewhat coincidentally, Future.
Before this week, Drake was tied with both Ariana Grande and BTS when it came to the most No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100, but “Wait for U” has helped him pull ahead once again, claiming this bit of Billboard chart history for himself.
Grande became the first musical act to snag five No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100, a milestone she reached in late 2020. She first launched a single atop the tally in 2018, when “Thank U, Next” wasted no time going right to the top spot. She then added to her sum in short order, as “7 Rings” opened in first place in 2019, and then in 2020 she collected three more quick smashes with “Stuck With U” with Justin Bieber, “Rain On Me” with Lady Gaga and her own “Positions.”
BTS has also landed five No. 1 starts on the Hot 100, and they managed to rack up their wins faster than anyone else in history. The South Korean boy band first reached the throne with “Dynamite,” which opened atop the tally in September 2020. Before that year had wrapped, they’d tripled their number of leaders, with “Life Goes On” also launching as high as a title can climb (while another climbed to the peak). In 2021, the K-pop stars snagged three more No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100, as “Butter,” “Permission to Dance” and “My Universe” with Coldplay all began their time on the chart in first place.
This week, Future will rule both the Hot 100 and the Billboard 200, once Billboard properly refreshes the two charts tomorrow (Tuesday, May 10). As “Wait for U” leads its respective roster, the album it’s featured on, I Never Liked You, also sits atop the Billboard 200 list. The full-length is the rapper’s eighth chart-topper, and it looks like most, if not all of the tracks featured on it will find their way to the Hot 100.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2022/05/09/drake-breaks-his-tie-with-bts-and-ariana-grande-with-his-new-no-1-song/