Ariana Grande Achieves First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as ‘Thank U, Next’ Debuts on Top

After appearing on the list since 2013, Grande reigns, landing the first No. 1 debut for a woman since Adele with “Hello.”

Ariana Grande scores her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Nov. 17), as “Thank U, Next” rockets onto the chart at No. 1, arriving as the top-streamed and top-selling song of the week.

The track dethrones Maroon 5‘s “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, after seven weeks on top, although the collaboration ties for the second-most weeks spent at No. 1 in the history of the Radio Songs chart.

Let’s run down the top 10 of the newest Hot 100, which blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Nov. 13).

Grande’s first Hot 100 No. 1: “Next,” released on Republic Records, is Grande’s first Hot 100 No. 1, and the 1,079th in the chart’s 60-year history. She previously hit a No. 2 high with “Problem,” featuring Iggy Azalea, in 2014. “Next” also bows as her 11th Hot 100 top 10 and first since “God Is a Woman,” which reached No. 8 in September.

Grande reigns at last with her 35th Hot 100 entry. Among Hot 100 chart-topping acts, she ends the longest wait for her first No. 1 (by total chart appearances from a first entry) since Justin Bieber set the mark by earning his first leader with his 47th charted title, “What Do You Mean?,” in 2015.

Grande first hit the Hot 100 (debuting at No. 10) on April 13, 2013, with the eventual No. 9-peaking “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller.

No. 1 in streams & sales: “Next” launches with 55.5 million U.S. streams and 81,000 downloads sold in the week ending Nov. 8, according to Nielsen Music. Notably, the song debuts on the Hot 100 with just over five days of streaming and sales data, as it was released late Saturday, Nov. 3 (as the tracking week for those metrics runs Friday through Thursday). Grande has released two videos for the song so far: an audio clip upon its release and a lyric video Nov. 6.

With “Next,” Grande likewise earns her first No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart and her fourth leader on Digital Song Sales, after “Problem,” for three weeks in 2014; “Bang Bang,” with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj (one week, 2014); and “No Tears Left to Cry” (one, this May).

“Next” also drew 11.3 million in all-format radio audience in the week ending Nov. 11.

“God Is a Woman” and “No Tears” are from Grande’s third Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Sweetener, which debuted atop the list dated Sept. 1, while “Next” is, as of now, a stand-alone track, with the song’s lyrics referencing past relationships with, among others, Big Sean, ex-finance Pete Davidson and the late Miller.

Meme-orable: As for its lyrics, aiding the buzz of “Next” are, specifically, its lines, “One taught me love / One taught me patience / One taught me pain,” which have sparked an onslaught of memes.

New at No. 1: “Next” is the 32nd single to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and the first by a female artist in three years, since Adele’s “Hello” on the chart dated Nov. 14, 2015.

As noticed by chart-watcher Jake Rivera, “Next” is the fourth No. 1 debut of 2018, tying the record established in 1995, the first year that any single soared in at the summit. “Next” follows prior 2018 No. 1 bows for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” (May 19) and Drake’s “Nice for What” (April 21) and “God’s Plan” (Feb. 3). The four No. 1 entrances in 1995: Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone,” Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” and Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day.”

Pop on top, again: As “Next” follows Maroon 5’s “Girls,” featuring Cardi B, at No. 1, two pop songs have led the Hot 100 in succession for the first time since Jan. 27, when Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, replaced Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.” “Next” also ends a record streak of 42 weeks of No. 1s with at least one credited rapper, from Young Thug (on “Havana”) to Cardi B (“Girls” and “I Like It,” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin). The run also included Drake (“Plan,” “Nice” and “In My Feelings”); Childish Gambino (“America”); Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign (“Psycho”); and, XXXTentacion (“Sad!”).

As “Girls” drops to No. 2, pop songs rank at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Hot 100 in the same week for the first time since Jan. 27 (“Havana” and “Perfect,” respectively).

No. 1 is a woman: Grande is the first female soloist to top the Hot 100 unaccompanied by another act since Cardi B on Oct. 21, 2017, when her debut hit “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” spent its third and final week at No. 1.

Solo women in lead roles have led the Hot 100 for just three weeks (of 46 total so far) in 2018, thanks to “Next,” “I Like It” and “Havana.” That follows totals of six weeks in 2017 (via two No. 1s); 16 in 2016 (three No. 1s); 10 in 2015 (four No. 1s); 28 in 2014 (five No. 1s); and, 17 in 2013 (four No. 1s).

The last year in which lead solo women logged as few as three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100? 1975, thanks to one each for Linda Ronstadt (“You’re No Good”), Olivia Newton-John (“Have You Never Been Mellow”) and Minnie Riperton (“Lovin’ You”). (After the Hot 100’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception, no lead solo women reigned until June 27, 1960, when Connie Francis spent her first of two weeks on top with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.”)

‘Thank’s for the memories: Grande is thankful for the fourth Hot 100 No. 1 that includes “thank” in its title, following “Thank God I Found You,” by Carey featuring Joe and 98 Degrees (2000), “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” by John Denver (1975), and “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin”/”Everybody Is a Star,” by Sly & The Family Stone (1970).

(Grande’s new No. 1 also takes over as the highest-charting Hot 100 hit to begin with “Thank U”; Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U” reached No. 17 in 1998. The only other such title? “Thank U Very Much” by The Scaffold, a No. 69 hit in 1968. You’re welcome for that trivia …)

More Grande: Beyond the Hot 100’s top 10, Grande’s “Woman” holds at No. 20 and fellow Sweetener single “Breathin” charges 32-21, passing its prior No. 22 peak; following the Nov. 7 premiere of its official video, “Breathin” bounds by 64 percent to 12.2 million streams by 118 percent to 12,000 sold in the week ending Nov. 8 and claims the Hot 100’s top Streaming and Sales Gainer awards.

“Next” easily outperformed Maroon 5’s “Girls” in the tracking week, as the latter drops to No. 2 on the Hot 100 after seven weeks at No. 1. Still, “Girls” leads Radio Songs for a 16th week, with 109.3 million in audience (down 4 percent), tying for the second-longest No. 1 run in the chart’s 28-year history. “Girls” matches the longest Radio Songs reign this century, equaling Carey’s 16-week command with “We Belong Together” in 2005.

Here is an updated look at the longest-leading Radio Songs No. 1 since the chart launched in December 1990:

Longest-Leading Radio Songs No. 1s
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
18, “Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls, Aug. 1, 1998
16, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, Aug. 4, 2018
16, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey, May 28, 2005
16, “Don’t Speak,” No Doubt, Dec. 7, 1996
14, “No One,” Alicia Keys, Nov. 3, 2007
14, “Because You Loved Me,” Celine Dion, April 13, 1996

Below “Next” and “Girls,” Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode” drops to No. 3 from its No. 2 Hot 100 peak, as it posts a third week at No. 1 on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songsand Hot Rap Songs charts; Marshmello and Bastille‘s “Happier” dips to No. 4 from its No. 3 Hot 100 high, while logging an eighth week atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and becoming each act’s first No. 1 on the Pop Songs airplay chart; and, Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams” descends 4-5 on the Hot 100 after reaching No. 2.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Halsey‘s “Without Me” hits a new high, jumping 9-6; Post Malone‘s “Better Now” falls 5-7, after hitting No. 3; Kodak Black‘s “ZEZE,” featuring Scott and Offset, backtracks 6-8 after debuting at its No. 2 peak; Sheck Wes’ debut hit “Mo Bamba” rises 10-9, reaching a new best rank; and, Lil Baby and Gunna’s “Drip Too Hard” retreats to No. 10 after hitting No. 4.

Find out more Hot 100 news on Billboard.com this week and, for all chart news, you can listen (and subscribe) to Billboard‘s Chart Beat Podcast and Pop Shop Podcast and follow @billboard and @billboardcharts. And again, be sure to visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Nov. 13), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh.

Source: billboard.com