Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Surges Back to No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100
The song reigns for the first time since July. Plus, Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” and SZA’s “30 for 30,” featuring Lamar, hit the top 10.
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” blasts back to No. 1, from No. 15, on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (dated Feb. 22), sparked by his performance of the song during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show Feb. 9.
The scathing diss track – which on Feb. 2 won the Grammy Awards for record and song of the year, among its five victories – adds a third week atop the Hot 100. It debuted at No. 1 on the May 18, 2024, chart and became a pop-culture fixture, spending the next eight weeks between Nos. 2 and 6. It was further boosted by Lamar’s Juneteenth The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert – in which he performed the song five times. It rebounded for a second week at No. 1 on the July 20 chart, following the July 4 premiere of its official video.
“Not Like Us” leads the Hot 100 again after a break of 29 chart weeks (and 30 total, encompassing a week off the chart while holiday hits decorated the ranking) – the third-longest break between time at No. 1 in the chart’s 66-year history (surpassing two hits that waited nine weeks each between stays on top: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” in 2023, and Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” in 2013).
Among all songs, the only longer breaks between No. 1 Hot 100 runs belong to Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The former returned to the top after a record wait of a year, three months and three weeks, between 1960 and 1962, after it re-entered the chart thanks to new popularity among adult audiences; Carey’s Yuletide anthem has led for 18 total weeks, via annual reigns since December 2019.
Meanwhile, “Not Like Us” becomes the first non-holiday song to top the Hot 100 three separate times with breaks of two or more months in between each domination.
Lamar additionally ties his longest Hot 100 command, as he first led for three weeks last April with “Like That,” with Future and Metro Boomin. He has earned five No. 1s, also ruling for a week each with “Squabble Up” in December (thus, in between his second and third turns at No. 1 with “Not Like Us”); “Humble.” in 2017; and as featured on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” in 2015.
Additionally, two songs reach the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time, led by Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” (18-9), after she performed the song on the Grammys and won for best new artist and has drawn continued attention for her acceptance speech calling for improvements in artists’ healthcare. Plus, SZA’s “30 for 30,” featuring Lamar, leaps 22-10 after she guested during Lamar’s halftime show performance.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Feb. 22, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Feb. 19, a day later than usual due to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the United States Feb. 17. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Source: billboard.com