Chart Watch: The Chainsmokers Top the Hot 100 (and Why That's So Noteworthy)

You already know that the pop music scene is dominated by solo artists — performing alone or in collaboration with other solo artists — but the extent to which that is true is brought home by this week’s Hot 100. The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) becomes the first #1 hit by an ongoing group or duo in a little more than two years, since MAGIC!’s “Rude” in July 2014.

The Chainsmokers and MAGIC! are two of just eight groups or duos to top the Hot 100 (as lead artists) so far in this decade. The others are the Black Eyed Peas (“Imma Be” in 2010), Far*East Movement (“Like a G6” in 2010), LMFAO (“Party Rock Anthem” in 2011 and “Sexy and I Know It” in 2012), Maroon 5 (“Moves Like Jagger” in 2011 and “One More Night” in 2012), fun. (“We Are Young” in 2012), and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (“Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” both in 2013).

Every other #1 hit since January 2010 has been by a solo artist, performing alone or in collaboration with one or more other solo artists.

And the picture doesn’t change much if you add in featured credits. Just one group or duo has had a featured credit on a #1 hit in this decade — Cataracs, who were featured on Far*East Movement’s aforementioned “Like a G6.”

(The Chainsmokers, LMFAO and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are duos, as were Cataracs, which means just five groups have reached #1 in the past six and half years. These are hard times for groups.)

The Chainsmokers — Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall — have climbed higher on the Hot 100 with each of their four chart entries, a neat trick. “#Selfie” peaked at #16 in 2014. “Roses” (featuring ROZES) reached #6 in February. “Don’t’ Let Me Down” (featuring Daya) hit #3 in July.

This is the first song titled “Closer” to reach #1. A Ne-Yo song with the same title that reached #7 in 2008.

“Closer” also jumps to #1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It’s the first song to reach #1 on both the Hot 100 and the Dance/Electronic chart since Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” in early 2013.

“Closer” is the best-selling digital song for the second time in three weeks. It was displaced last week by DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber). It’s the first song to regain the #1 spot on Top Digital Songs after losing it since Drake’s “One Dance” (featuring Wizkid & Kyla) in the spring. “Closer” sold 116K copies this week.

The Chainsmokers have a second song in the top 10 on this week’s Hot 100. “Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Daya) holds at #8. The Chainsmokers are one of two acts with two songs each in this week’s top 10. The other is twenty one pilots. “Heathens” holds at #4 for the second week. “Ride” rebounds from #7 to #6, matching its highest ranking to date.

Top Songs

Adele’s “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” returns to the top 10, rebounding from #11 to #10 in its 14th week on the Hot 100.

Rihanna’s “Needed Me” drops out of the top 10 this week, falling to #11, but Rihanna will doubtless be back in the top 10 in short order. Drake’s “Too Good,” on which she is featured, jumps from #17 to #14 in its 16th week. “Too Good” is vying to become the fourth collabo by these two superstars to reach the top 10. “What’s My Name?” and “Work” both reached #1. “Take Care” hit #7.

Shawn Mendes’s “Treat You Better” jumps from #14 to #12 in its 11th week. It’s likely to become the teen star’s second top 10 hit, following “Stitches,” which reached #4 earlier this year. “Stitches” has sold an impressive 2,458,000 digital copies.

Flume lands his first top 20 hit as “Never Be Like You” (featuring Kai) jumps from #25 to #20 in its 20th week. Flume, 24, is an Australian record producer and musician.

Daya’s “Sit Still, Look Pretty” vaults from #56 to #36 in its 12th week. It’s Daya’s third top 40 hit, following “Hide Away” and The Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down,” on which she is featured.

Rae Sremmurd’s “Look Alive” is the week’s top new entry at #76. It’s from the duo’s second album, SremmLife 2, which enters The Billboard 200 at #7.

“Pick Up the Phone” by Young Thug and Travis Scott (featuring Quavo) is the week’s second-highest new entry at #90. It’s from Scott’s upcoming album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight.

“In The Name of Love” by Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha is the week’s third-highest new entry at #93. Garrix had a top 30 hit in 2013 with the instrumental “Animals.” Rexha had a top 10 hit earlier this year with “Me, Myself & I,” a collabo with G-Eazy. She first hit the top 10 last year as a featured artist on David Guetta’s “Hey Mama.”

Top Albums

The Suicide Squad soundtrack tops the Billboard 200 for the second week. It’s the first soundtrack to log two weeks at #1 since Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 two years ago. It’s the first soundtrack from a theatrically released movie to spend its first two weeks at #1 since Bad Boys II in 2003. Will Smith stars in both Suicide Squad and Bad Boys II. Suicide Squad has been #1 at the box-office in each of its first three weekends. Guardians of the Galaxy and Bad Boys II also debuted at #1 at the box-office.

Two songs from the Suicide Squad soundtrack are listed in the top 20 on the Hot 100 for the second week in a row. twenty one pilots’ “Heathens” holds at #4 in its ninth week; Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons’ “Sucker for Pain” (with Logic & Ty Dolla $ign featuring X Ambassadors) dips from #15 to #16 in its eighth week.

Drake’s Views holds at #2 for the third straight week. It’s the first album to rank #1 or #2 for each of its 16 weeks since Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992-93. Houston’s album was #1 for 13 of its first 16 weeks, and was #2 the other three weeks (behind Ice Cube’s The Predator and Eric Clapton’s Unplugged). Views has been #1 for 12 of its first 16 weeks, and was #2 the other four weeks (behind blink-182’s California, DJ Khaled’s Major Key and the Suicide Solution soundtrack). PARTYNEXTDOOR’s PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 is the week’s top new entry at #3. It’s the second full-length album by the Canadian artist.

Justin Moore’s Kinda Don’t Care debuts at #4. It’s the country star’s fourth album. All four have reached the top 10. Kinda Don’t Care enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest. A Jason Aldean album with a kinda similar title, My Kinda Party, topped the country chart for 12 weeks in 2011.

twenty one pilots’ Blurryface inches up from #6 to #5 in its 66th week. The album debuted at #1 in May 2015. The duo’s 2013 album Vessel dips from #30 to #33 in its 105th chart week. The album has climbed as high as #21. Vessel is #1 on the Top Catalog Albums chart for the sixth week.

Rae Sremmurd’s SremmLife 2 debuts at #7. It’s the rap duo’s second album. Both have made the top 10.

Three albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Skillet’s Unleashed dives from #3 to #25 in its second week. Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest drops from #4 to #13 in its 13th week. DJ Snake’s Encore drops from #8 to #18 in its second week.

Look for Frank Ocean’s Blonde to be next week’s top new entry. Tory Lanez’s I Told You and Dolly Parton’s Pure & Simple are also expected to make solid debuts.