Chart Watch: Gaga Is the Real Super Bowl Champ

Tom Brady was named MVP at Super Bowl LI, but Lady Gaga also came away a winner. In the wake of her half-time show, Gaga has two albums in the top 10 on The Billboard 200 for the first time in more than seven years. She also has a single in the top 10 on the Hot 100 for the first time in more than three years.

Gaga’s current album, Joanne, rebounds from No. 66 to No. 2 in its 16th week. Her 2008 debut album, The Fame, re-enters the chart at No. 6. And “Million Reasons,” the second single from Joanne, re-enters the Hot 100 at No. 4. It had previously peaked at No. 52. It’s Gaga’s first top 10 hit since “Applause” in late 2013.

I believe sports fans would call this a “save.” Joanne spent just two weeks in the top 10 last fall before it fell out. Many pundits (me included) dismissed Joanne as one of the sales disappointments of 2016. The album’s resurgence is a useful reminder that—in the immortal words of baseball legend Yogi Berra—”It ain’t over till it’s over.”

“Million Reasons” is Gaga’s 14th top 10 hit on the Hot 100. This extends Gaga’s streak of landing at least one top 10 single from each of her solo studio albums. That streak seemed to have ended when “Perfect Illusion,” the lead single from Joanne, peaked at No. 15.

The ballad sold 149K copies this week, which enables it to vault from No. 63 to No. 1 on Top Digital Songs. It displaces “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” by Taylor Swift and Zayn. It’s Gaga’s fifth No. 1 hit on the digital sales chart; her first since “Born This Way” in 2011.

Gaga’s other two solo studio albums also re-entered The Billboard 200, though not as high. Born This Way re-opened at No. 25. ARTPOP (rudely called ARTFLOP in the tabloid press) returned at No. 174.

Gaga last had two albums in the top 10 the week of Dec. 12, 2009, when The Fame Monster debuted at No. 5 and The Fame surged from No. 34 to No. 6.

The Fame re-enters Top Catalog Albums at No. 1. It displaces New Edition’s All the Number Ones. This is the first time that a Gaga album has ranked No. 1 on the catalog chart.

This is the second year in a row in which the latest album by the Super Bowl headliner returned to the top 10 on The Billboard 200 in the week following the game. Last year, Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams rebounded from No. 16 to No. 4.

Top Songs

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” tops the Hot 100 for the third week in its fifth week on the chart. That’s the longest run at No. 1 for a record that isn’t a collaboration since Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” had three weeks on top early last year.

“Shape of You” tops the Official U.K. Singles Chart for the fifth straight week. Sheeran also holds the No. 2 spot in the U.K. for the fifth straight week with “Castle on the Hill.” This marks the first time in U.K. chart history that an artist has held down both of the top two spots for five weeks running. The old record was held by Justin Bieber, whose hits “Love Yourself” and “Sorry” were No. 1 and No. 2 for four weeks in November and December 2015.

Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) holds at No. 2 in its 13th week. The song logged three weeks at No. 1.

The Taylor Swift/Zayn collabo “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” holds at No. 3 in its ninth week. The song is from Fifty Shades Darker, the sequel to the 2015 hit, Fifty Shades of Grey. That movie spawned a pair of hits that peaked at No. 3—The Weeknd’s “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” and Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do.”

“Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello dips from No. 4 to No. 5 in its 15th week.

Big Sean lands his third top 10 hit as “Bounce Back” jumps from No. 15 to No. 6 in its 12th week. It follows “Dance (A$$)” (featuring Nicki Minaj), which reached No. 10 in 2011, and “As Long As You Love Me,” on which Big Sean was featured (No. 6 in 2012).

The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) drops from No. 5 to No. 7 in its 28th week. It’s the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 28 weeks in the top 10. It logged 12 weeks at No. 1.

Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful” jumps from No. 10 to No. 8 in its 24th week.

Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) drops from its No. 6 peak to No. 9 in its 18th week.

The Chainsmokers’ “Paris” rebounds from No. 11 to No. 10 in its fourth week. The song has climbed as high as No. 7. The duo thus has two songs in this week’s top 10.

Two former No. 1 hits—The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) and Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane)—drop out of the top 10 this week. So does a third hit, Drake’s “Fake Love.”

Two songs—Sia’s “Cheap Thrills” (featuring Sean Paul) and The Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Daya)”—each log their 52nd week on the Hot 100. Both songs still have a long way to go to catch the all-time leader, Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” which spent 87 weeks on the chart. The all-time record for a collaboration is LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock), which spent 68 weeks on the chart.

Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. The song reached No. 5 in June 2003.

Top Albums

Big Sean lands his second No. 1 album in a row as I Decided. enters The Billboard 200 in the top spot. His previous album, Dark Sky Paradise, debuted at No. 1 in March 2015. I Decided. displaces Migos’ Culture, which bowed at No. 1 last week. This marks the first time that hip-hop albums have debuted at No. 1 in successive weeks since the fall of 2015, when Drake & Future’s What a Time to Be Alive and Fetty Wap’s Fetty Wap achieved the feat.

Big Sean is the second rapper named Sean to land a pair of No. 1 albums. Sean Combs topped the chart with 1997’s No Way Out (as Puff Daddy) and 2006’s Press Play (as Diddy).

This is Big Sean’s fifth top five album. All four of his solo albums have cracked the top five, as did a 2016 album he recorded as one half of Twenty88 (alongside Jhené Aiko).

Migos’ Culture drops from No. 1 to No. 3 in its second week.

Reba McEntire lands her 10th top 10 album as Sing it Now: Songs of Faith and Hope debuts at No. 4. Sing it Now enters Top Country Albums at No. 1, displacing Brantley Gilbert’s The Devil Don’t Sleep. It’s McEntire’s 13th No. 1 country album. It’s the seventh collection of inspirational songs to top the country chart. It follows Joey & Rory’s Hymns (2016), Alabama’s Songs of Inspiration (2015), Alan Jackson’s Precious Memories (2006), Le Ann Rimes’ You Light Up My Life—Inspirational Songs(1997), Charley Pride’s Did You Think to Pray (1971) and Buck Owens’ Dust on Mother’s Bible (1966).

The Weeknd’s Starboy dips from No. 4 to No. 5 in its 11th week. The album spent five non-consecutive weeks on top.

Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic holds at No. 7 in its 12th week. The album has climbed as high as No. 2.

The Original Broadway cast album to Dear Evan Hansen debuts at No. 8. That’s the highest debut by a Broadway cast album since Billboard merged separate mono and stereo charts in 1963. Between 1956 and 1963, two cast albums opened in the top 10. Camelot entered the Mono Action Albums chart at No. 4 in January 1961. The Music Man entered the Best Selling Pop Albums chart at No. 6 in February 1958.

Moreover, Dear Evan Hansen instantly becomes one of the highest-charting (not just highest-debuting) Broadway cast albums of the past 50 years. It is topped only by Hair (No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1969), The Book of Mormon (No. 3 in 2011) and Hamilton (No. 3 last year). All three of those albums reached their peaks in the wake of the Tony Awards, which is traditionally Broadway’s biggest platform. The fact that Hansen is doing so well even before the Tonys (which are set for June 11 this year) is remarkable.

Dear Evan Hansen stars Ben Platt, who was featured in the first two Pitch Perfect films (both of which yielded hit soundtracks). Benj Pasek and Justin Paul collaborated on the songs. They also wrote most of the lyrics for the songs in La La Land.

Post Malone’s Stoney holds at No. 9 in its ninth week. The album peaked at No. 6.

The RCA-List, Vol. 4 debuts at No. 10. The album collects 36 songs that have been released on the RCA label.

Six albums drop out of the top 10 this week. They are Brantley Gilbert’s The Devil Don’t Sleep, Kehlani’s SweetSexySavage, Now 61, the La La Land soundtrack, Train’s A Girl A Bottle A Boat and the Moana soundtrack.

Coming Attractions: Look for the 50 Shades Darker soundtrack to be next week’s top debut on The Billboard 200. Also due: Prince Royce’s Five and Alison Krauss’s Windy City. On the Hot 100, look for a high debut by Katy Perry’s “Chained to the Rhythm” (featuring Skip Marley).