10 First-Timers on Billboard’s Charts This Week: Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners, MJ Lenderman, Cat Janice & More

Xander Zellner
·9 min read
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Billboard has more than 200 different weekly charts in its menu, encompassing numerous genres and formats.

While established artists often compete for a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and Billboard 200 albums ranking, which track the most popular songs and albums of the week, respectively, up-and-coming talents typically start off on genre-specific lists.

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Here’s a look at 10 titles by artists who appear on surveys for the first time on the Feb. 3, 2024-dated charts.

Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners

A seven-year-old song sparks Seattle-based Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners’ arrival on Billboard’s charts for the first time.

The folk-rock band’s breakthrough viral single “Evergreen” debuts at No. 15 on Hot Rock Songs and No. 20 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. It debuts with 3.6 million U.S. streams (up 14%) in the latest Jan. 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate. TikTok has been central to the song’s growing profile, as a portion part of the song’s instrumental part has soundtracked over 200,000 clips on the platform to date.

The group released the song in 2017 on its debut full-length RMCM. The band has released two albums since then: 2018’s Solstice and 2019’s Subliming. The act released four new songs in 2023, including a collaboration with Mt. Joy, “Lake Missoula.”

The group has a string of tour dates supporting Flipturn scheduled for March and April. It is also slated to perform at several upcoming music festivals, including Under The the Big Sky in Montana and Hinterland in Iowa.

MJ Lenderman

MJ Lenderman has already reached Billboard’s charts as a member of the group Wednesday, but he lands his first solo appearance thanks to his featured turn on Waxahatchee’s “Right Back to It.” Released Jan. 9 through Anti-/Epitaph Records, the song debuts at No. 39 on Adult Alternative Airplay (up 111% in airplay audience plays Jan. 19-25). The song is slated to appear on Waxahatchee’s seventh LP, Tigers Blood, due March 22.

Lenderman is a guitarist and vocalist for Wednesday, whose music blends elements of shoegaze and alt-country. The band scored its first chart entries in April 2023 when its critically acclaimed album Rat Saw God debuted at No. 50 on Top Album Sales. The band has released three albums since Lenderman joined in 2020: Twin Plagues in 2021, Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘Em Up in 2022 and Rat Saw God last year — the latter was released via Dead Oceans.

Outside of his work with Wednesday, the Asheville, N.C., native has released four solo LPs: MJ Lenderman (2019), Ghost of Your Guitar Solo (2021), Boat Songs (2022) and And the Wind (Live and Loose!) (November). Last year, he also teamed up with Kevin Abstract on the song “My Friend,” also featuring Kara Jackson.

Wednesday is currently on the road touring with Hotline TNT. The band has other shows lined up through August in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Cat Janice

The singer-songwriter banks her first career Billboard chart hit thanks to “Dance You Outta My Head.” After self-releasing the song on Jan. 19, it debuts at No. 37 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs with 353,000 official U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads sold in its opening week. It also starts at No. 2 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and No. 11 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart.

The 31-year-old singer, from Washington, D.C., was diagnosed with sarcoma, a type of rare malignant tumor, in 2021. After going through chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the cancer returned, and she released this song as a final tune for her 7-year-old son, just after entering hospice care. On Jan. 6, she posted her first clip of the song, and wrote in the caption, “My last joy would be if you pre saved my song ‘Dance You Outta My Head’ in my bio and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7 year old boy im leaving behind.”

Janice’s final wish went viral leading up to the song’s official release, and the tune has since soundtracked thousands of clips on TikTok to date. Some of the influencers who used the song include the most followed woman on TikTok, Charli D’Amelio, plus Alix Earle, Abbie Herbert and Kat Stickler.

“I’m just honestly so blown away by everyone’s love and how they’ve supported me through this and shared this story,” Janice said in a recent interview with TODAY.com. “I really wasn’t expecting to be here. I really do believe it’s a miracle to be able to witness this. I’m just very happy to be here.”

Good Neighbours

The London-based duo arrives on Billboard’s charts with its first and only release, “Home.” The song, released Jan. 17 via Some Action, debuts at No. 18 on Hot Alternative Songs, No. 23 on Hot Rock Songs and No. 28 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs with 2.7 million U.S. streams earned in its first full week of availability.

Good Neighbours comprise Oli Fox and Scott Verrill. Before releasing the official audio, a portion of the song’s demo went viral on TikTok, where the band boasts nearly 50,000 followers.

Outside of the band, Fox has been releasing solo music since 2018. He’s released two EPs: Sunburnt in 2021 and The Season in 2022. Verrill also records solo music, under the name Good Scott (previously as kwassa). He’s been releasing music for nearly a decade, including three EPs: 2015’s Animals, 2017’s Wildlife and 2019’s fka kyko.

Shaya Zamora

The singer-songwriter earns his first Billboard chart hit thanks to “Cigarette.” The song debuts at No. 50 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart with 1.5 million U.S. streams earned in its first week of release. Zamora self-released the track Jan. 19 on his debut five-track EP Eulogize.

The song has been boosted by activity on TikTok. Zamora first posted a 32-second performance of the track in a video posted on Dec. 8, and had been teasing it through various other snippets ever since. Many fans liken his voice and musical style to David Kushner.

Before releasing Eulogize, Zamora dropped five tracks on streaming services, all since July.

Honestav & Z

Both artists arrive on Billboard’s charts for the first time with their new collaboration “I’d Rather Overdose” (billed as Honestav featuring Z). The song, self-released on Jan. 13, debuts at No. 14 on Hot Alternative Songs, No. 17 on Hot Rock Songs and No. 22 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs with 3.3 million U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold in its first full week of release.

TikTok has been a major factor in the song’s start. One portion of the song’s audio has soundtracked more than 50,000 clips on the platform to date, while a separate version has been used in 30,000 clips. Honestav himself boasts over 1 million followers on the service.

Honestav (real name Avrey Freeman) hails from Springfield, Mo. He’s released many other songs on streaming services, all since 2021. As for Z (real name Isaiah Fortman), “I’d Rather Overdose” marks his first release.

Lizzen

The Akron, Ohio, native debuts on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay with her breakthrough single, and first career chart hit, “Why” (up 12% in spins), released in September on Run-It-Up Records. TikTok has also been a factor in the song’s recent gains, as it has soundtracked over 13,000 clips on the platform.

Lizzen has released four other songs on streaming services: “Official,” “Care for You” and “Audacity” (all in 2023) and “Great Gatsby Freestyle” on Jan. 11.

Slift

The French progressive rock band from Toulouse scores its first chart entry with its third studio album Ilion. The set, released Jan. 19 on Sub Pop Records, debuts at No. 50 on Top Current Album Sales with 1,000 copies sold in its opening week. The set also helps the group open at No. 30 on Emerging Artists.

Prior to Ilion, the group released its debut full-length project La Planète Inexplorée in 2018 and its follow-up Ummon in 2020. The band is comprised of brothers Jean and Rémi Fossat and Canek Flores. The act’s upcoming tour kicks off on Feb. 23 in Brighton and runs through April.

GaTa

The rapper and actor is officially a Billboard-charting artist, thanks to his guest appearance on Lil Dicky’s “We Good.” The song debuts at No. 10 on Rap Digital Song Sales and No. 11 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales with 1,000 downloads sold in its opening week.

GaTa (real name Davionte Ganter), from South Los Angeles, is the hype man for Lil Dicky, and has co-starred in his FXX series Dave since it premiered in 2020. “We Good” appears on Lil Dicky’s new soundtrack to the series, Penith, released Jan. 19 via Dirty Burd/Commission/BMG. The set debuts at No. 1 on the Comedy Albums chart, plus No. 17 on Top Rap Albums and No. 54 on the Billboard 200.

Outside of Dave, GaTa also recently starred in the films Anyone But You and Self Reliance and, in 2022, appeared in Machine Gun Kelly’s stoner film Good Mourning.

Blake Roman, Sam Haft & Andrew Underberg

All three artists score their first solo chart appearances thanks to their new collaboration “Poison” from the new animated comedy musical series, Hazbin Hotel. Released Jan. 5 on Prime Video/A24 Music, the song debuts at No. 23 on Hot Alternative Songs and No. 34 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs with 2.7 million U.S. streams.

The pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel was released in 2019 on YouTube, but the first season premiered on Jan. 18 on Amazon Prime. Six of the first season’s eight episodes have aired thus far, and “Poison” is one of the musical numbers in the fourth episode, “Masquerade.” The series stars former Hot 100-topping artist Stephanie Beatriz, along with Alex Brightman, Keith David and Kimiko Glenn.

Roman is the vocalist on “Poison,” and also a voice actor in the series, while Haft and Underberg are composers. Haft is also half of the electronic duo The Living Tombstone, which charted multiple songs on Billboard’s rankings in November from the Five Nights at Freddy’s series. Underberg has composed musical numbers for several children’s movies and TV shows, including Barbie: It Takes Two, CoComelon Lane and Monster High: The Movie.

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