“Ordinary” by Alex Warren has been at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles list for nine of the past ten weeks. However, this week, an act that isn’t even real—HUNTR/X, the girl trio from the K-Pop film Demon Hunters—has dethroned it. Yeatall, $uicideBoy$, and Rene Rapp all top 10 on the album list. We also examine how Taylor Swift’s albums are presently ranking on the pop charts, as the artist is about to release a new album.
PRIMARY ALBUMS
In recent weeks, the Billboard 200 albums chart has seen a lot of turnover, despite the fact that two top albums are essentially unmovable: Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem, which has been at the top for ten consecutive weeks, and the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack, which is still at number two. When physical copies start to be distributed next month, the latter will probably overtake the former for at least a week or two.
However, the top 10 has been remarkably erratic from No. 3 onward. Six albums drop out and three debut in the top 10, indicating that some albums are “filling a vacuum left when the bottom falls out of other titles’ streaming and sales numbers” rather than “surging.”
Let’s start by discussing the positive news, which includes those three debuts: Rene Rapp’s BITE ME debuts at No. 3, which is a significant career high considering that the singer/actress’s only other album to reach the Billboard 200 was Snow Angel, which came in at No. 44 in 2023. No. 3 is No. 3, but Rapp is unlikely to stay in the top 10 for very long (BITE ME’s stats are primarily based on first-week sales, which only produce a temporary sugar high when it comes to the charts). Next are two rap artists who have previously made it into the top 10: Yeat, whose song “Dangerous Summer” debuts at No. 9, and $uicideBoy$, whose song “Thy Kingdom Come” arrives at No. 4.
The bad news is that we lost two recent recordings by hip-hop heavyweights, in addition to the fact that all three of last week’s debuts—new albums by Tyler Childers, Young Boy Never Broke Again, and Tomorrow X Together—left the top 10. Although Tyler, The Creator’s “Don’t Tap the Glass” only spent two weeks in the top 10, peaking at No. 1 before dropping from No. 4 to No. 11 in week three, JACKBOYS & Travis Scott’s “JACKBOYS 2” never appeared destined to remain in the high reaches of the chart for months on end. For an artist whose previous album, CHROMAKOPIA, peaked at number one on the list for the first three weeks in November, that is a rapid drop. (The Essential Ozzy Osbourne, which shot to the top of the charts following the death of the heavy-metal legend, is the sixth album to fall out of the top 10.)
THE BEST SONGS
Because Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” has dominated the airplay charts for a very long time and because it can be very difficult to remove a song from the top reaches of the chart once it has established itself as an airplay juggernaut, it has been the Hot 100’s No. 1 song for nine of the past ten weeks with no end in sight. For a song like HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” which has ridden the KPop Demon Huntersboom to No. 2 thanks to blockbuster streaming figures but hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much strength with commercial radio programmers, surpassing “Ordinary” would seem particularly difficult.
However, “Golden” does reach the top place this week, marking a significant milestone: the members of HUNTR/X, a fictional K-pop group consisting of real vocalists EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI, have just become the first female K-pop musicians to ever reach the number one slot. (In case you’re curious about “APT.,” the duet between Bruno Mars and Rose from BLACKPINK, which peaked at number three last year,
K-pop artists frequently top the Billboard 200 albums list, and eight K-pop songs—all related to the boy band BTS—hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 before “Golden.” The U.S. Hot 100 has finally been topped by a K-pop girl trio. Additionally, as “Golden” starts to gain traction with radio programmers, its airtime figures have increased by over 70% this week. However, it still lags well behind “Ordinary” in that regard, so it might be difficult to surpass in the upcoming weeks.
The Hot 100’s other big story is about the career-high debut ofChappell Roan’s brand-new single, “The Subway.”Since she debuted the song at a Governors Ball performance last year, Roan has been generating excitement for its release. The completed single now tops the peaks of Roan’s past top 10 singles (“Pink Pony Club,” “The Giver,” and “Good Luck, Babe!”), debuting at No. 3 on the Hot 100.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE
Taylor Swift said early on Tuesday that her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, would soon be available. As of the time of writing, Swift’s website indicates that physical copies will be shipped before October 13; however, this does not prohibit an earlier digital release, so now seems like a good opportunity to take stock of Swift’s current position in the charts.
This week’s charts show a period of time when there hasn’t been any significant Swift news to boost the numbers: no new information about her getting her master’s degree, no videos from the Eras Tour taking over people’s social media feeds, no rumors about potential announcements at award shows, and no dull bursts of controversy where the US president has declared her “NO LONGER HOT.” Thus, we have a good overview of the situation in between cycles of promotions.
Additionally, Taylor Swift looks good in it. Swift has eight albums on the current Billboard 200 albums chart, the Taylor’s Version edition of 1989 (No. 136), the Taylor’s Version edition of Red (No. 179), the non-Taylor’s Version edition of 1989 (No. 180), Folklore (No. 24), The Tortured Poets Department (No. 27), Lover (No. 51), Reputation (No. 62), and Midnights (No. 81). At that time, Swift had nothing to promote and no significant news was lingering in the minds of her fans. Seeing Folklorecharting above TTPD is uncommon.Although the former’s recent five-year anniversary may have helped it, it still sets a strong foundation for those albums’ current level of popularity.
Whether the expectation of new Taylor Swift music improves the chart performance of albums that aren’t yet on the chart—such as her self-titled debut, Speak Now, Fearless, Evermore, the non-Taylor’s Version edition of Red, and so forth—remains to be seen, at least until the release of The Life of a Showgirl. But in any case, Swift will undoubtedly make headlines again throughout the upcoming NFL season and will undoubtedly be on the charts.
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