Chart Watch: A Happy, Hip-Hoppy New Year

Two rap smashes hold down the top two spots on the Hot 100. Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) returns to No. 1 for a seventh week on top. Migos’s “Bad and Boujee” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) leaps from No. 13 to No. 2 in its seventh week. Both songs owe their popularity to viral activity. “Black Beatles” broke in large part because of viral videos linked to the Mannequin Challenge (though it has since become a significant radio hit as well). “Bad and Boujee” has inspired numerous memes and tweets playing off the song’s “raindrop, drop top” lyric.

Rae Sremmurd are just the third hip-hop duo to release a song that logged seven or more weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The brother duo follows Outkast, whose “Hey Ya!” reigned for nine weeks in 2003-2004, and Kris Kross, whose “Jump” was on top for eight weeks in 1992. (Rae Sremmurd pull ahead of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, whose “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, was No. 1 for six weeks in 2013.)

Incidentally, just two Beatles singles logged seven or more weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. “Hey Jude” logged nine weeks on top in 1968. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” spent seven weeks on top in 1964.

“Black Beatles” sold 136,000 digital copies during the week, which puts it back on top of the Top Digital Songs chart (for the sixth week).

Migos first charted in 2013 with “Versace.” The trio’s highest-charting single before its current hit was “Fight Night,” which reached No. 69 in 2014. Lil Uzi Vert’s second-highest-charting single is his other current hit, “You Was Right,” which jumps from No. 52 to No. 42 in its 25th week.

Top Songs

The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) drops from No. 1 to No. 3 in its 15th week.

The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) dips from No. 3 to No. 4 in its 22nd week. The song has ranked in the top 10 all 22 of those weeks. Next week, look for “Closer” to become only the second song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 23 weeks in the top 10. (The first was Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself.”) “Closer” logged 12 weeks at No. 1.

Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic” dips from its No. 4 peak to No. 5 its 12th week. “24K Magic” is this week’s highest-charting hit that isn’t a collaboration.

“Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” by Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall dips from its No. 5 peak to No. 6 in its 14th week.

Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” (featuring Nicki Minaj) dips from No. 6 to No. 7 in its 18th week. The song peaked at No. 4.

DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber) dips from No. 7 to No. 8 in its 21st week. The song reached No. 4.

Drake’s “Fake Love” jumps from No. 10 to No. 9 in its 10th week. This is its highest ranking to date. The song borrows from the O’Jays’ 1972 hit “Back Stabbers.” But pop music was built on such borrowing. “Back Stabbers” borrowed from the Undisputed Truth’s 1971 hit “Smiling Faces Sometimes.”

D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” (featuring Lil Yachty) rebounds from No. 15 to No. 10 in its 29th week. The song has climbed as high as No. 5.

Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week. Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) drops from its No. 8 peak to No. 11. “Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello drops from its No. 9 peak to No. 12.

Shawn Mendes lands his fourth consecutive top-20 hit as “Mercy” jumps from No. 28 to No. 17 in its 15th week. It follows “Stitches” (No. 4), “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (a duet with Camila Cabello, No. 20), and “Treat You Better” (No. 6).

Two other songs break into the top 20 for the first time. Jon Bellion’s “All Time Low” jumps from No. 24 to No. 16 in its 12th week. Niall Horan’s “This Town” leaps from No. 37 to No. 20 in its 14th week. It’s the first top-20 hit for both Bellion and Horan (as solo artists, that is).

Top Albums

Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas holds at No. 1 for the second week in its 10th week on the Billboard 200. It’s just the fourth album that was released in 2016 to spend more than one week at No. 1. The first three were Rihanna’s ANTI, Drake’s Views, and Suicide Squad: The Album.

A Pentatonix Christmas is the first album by a group to spend two weeks at No. 1 since Coldplay’s Ghost Stories two and a half years ago. It’s the first album by an American group to spend two weeks at No. 1 since Zac Brown Band’s Uncaged in the summer of 2012.

A Pentatonix Christmas is the first Christmas album by a group to spend two weeks at No. 1 since Mitch Miller & the Gang’s Christmas Sing-Along with Mitch 58 years ago. It’s the first Christmas album to spend its first 10 weeks inside the top 10 since 2007, when Josh Groban’s Noel spent its first 12 weeks inside the top 10.

Pentatonix have a second album in this week’s top 10. That’s Christmas to Me drops from No. 5 to No. 9 in its 33rd chart week. The album is No. 1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 15th (cumulative) week.

The Weeknd’s Starboy rebounds from No. 3 to No. 2 in its fifth week. The album debuted at No. 1.

Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic dips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its sixth week

J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only holds at No. 4 in its third week. It debuted at No. 1 two weeks ago.

The Hamilton Broadway cast album rebounds from No. 7 to No. 5 in its 66th week. The album peaked at No. 3 in the wake of the Tony Awards in June. This is its 18th week in the top 10, its fifth week in the top five.

The Moana soundtrack (which, like Hamilton, features songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda) rebounds from No. 10 to No. 6 in its sixth week. The album has climbed as high as No. 5. It’s No. 1 on the Top Soundtracks chart for the fourth week.

Blurryface from twenty one pilots rebounds from No. 15 to No. 7 in its 85th week. The album debuted at No. 1 in May 2015.

Drake’s Views rebounds from No. 19 to No. 8 in its 35th week. The album logged 13 weeks at No. 1.

Suicide Squad: The Album rebounds from No. 21 to No. 10 in its 21st week. The album spent its first two weeks at No. 1.

Three albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Garth Brooks’s The Ultimate Collection drops from No. 6 to No. 22, Metallica’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct drops from No. 8 to No. 13, and the Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome drops from No. 9 to No. 15.

George Michael’s two-CD compilation Twenty Five reenters the chart at No. 12 in the wake of his death on Christmas Day. This surpasses the album’s initial peak position (No. 23) when it was first released in 2008. (The album title is a reference to the fact that 2008 was the 25th anniversary of Michael’s debut with Wham!)

Michael’s 1987 solo debut album, Faith, reenters the chart at No. 18. The album logged 12 weeks at No. 1 in 1987-1988, and an additional 12 weeks at No. 2. (It spent eight of those weeks at No. 2 behind the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.) It went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.