Hot 100 First-Timers: Ken Carson Scores First Entry With ‘Overseas’

Xander Zellner
·2 min read
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Ken Carson is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting rapper.

The Atlanta native scores his first career entry on the April 27-dated list as “Overseas” opens at No. 79. Released April 12 on Opium/Interscope Records/ICLG, the track debuts solely on the strength of its streaming sum: 6.9 million official U.S. streams in its opening week (April 12-18), according to Luminate. It also debuts at No. 34 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, marking his third appearance on the ranking, after two hits that peaked last October: “Fighting My Demons” (No. 40) and “Jennifer’s Body” (No. 43).

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Carson first appeared on Billboard’s charts dated Aug. 7, 2021, when his debut full-length Project X debuted and peaked at No. 18 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.

His follow-up album, and first release on Interscope, X, topped the Heatseekers Albums chart in July 2023 and reached No. 115 on the Billboard 200.

Carson’s third and most recent studio project, A Great Chaos, marked his biggest commercial release to date. The set reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200 in October and peaked at No. 4 on the Top Rap Albums chart. It includes collaborations with Destroy Lonely and Lil Uzi Vert.

While “Overseas” earns Carson his first Hot 100-charting hit, he came close to the chart before. He has logged nine songs on the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under list (which ranks the top 25 songs each week yet to reach the Hot 100), including three top 10s: “Jennifer’s Body,” “Fighting My Demons” and “Singapore,” featuring Destroy Lonely.

Carson and Destroy Lonely are both signed to Opium, Playboi Carti’s imprint that he founded in 2019 and is a subsidiary of Interscope.

Next month, Carson will join the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the group’s Unlimited Love tour. Carson’s upcoming headline run, the Chaos World Tour, kicks off July 8 in Orlando, Fla., and runs through October.

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