Halsey’s ‘Without Me’ Tops Billboard Hot 100, Becoming Her First No. 1 as a Lead Artist

Halsey earns her second No. 1, after being featured on The Chainsmokers’ “Closer.”

Halsey earns her second No. 1, and first in a lead role, on the Billboard Hot 100chart, as “Without Me” rises from No. 2 to the summit.

The song dethrones Ariana Grande‘s “Thank U, Next,” which spent seven nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.

Let’s run down the top 10 of the newest, Jan. 12-dated Hot 100, which blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 8).

“Without Me,” released on Capitol Records, becomes the 1,081st No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 60-year history. The track dips to No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart after six weeks at No. 1 with 39,000 downloads sold, down 16 percent, in the week ending Jan. 3, according to Nielsen Music (with most songs on the survey down in sales after robust holiday gains). It lifts 4-3 on Radio Songs, up 4 percent to 95.5 million airplay audience impressions in the week ending Jan. 6, and bounds 12-4 on Streaming Songs (as several holiday songs retreat; see below), up 1 percent to 32.4 million U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 3.

Halsey’s second Hot 100 No. 1: Halsey tallies her second Hot 100 No. 1, following her 12-week run at the summit in September-November 2016 as featured on The Chainsmokers’ “Closer.” She first appeared on the chart dated Sept. 19, 2015, with “New Americana,” which reached No. 60 in January 2016.

Halsey is the eighth woman to notch multiple Hot 100 No. 1s this decade. Rihanna, who leads all artists in that span, boasts nine No. 1s in the 2010s, followed by Katy Perry (eight), Taylor Swift (five), Adele (four), Cardi B, Kesha (three each), P!nk and Britney Spears (two each). (Bruno Mars paces male soloists with seven Hot 100 No. 1s in the 2010s, while Maroon 5 is the leading duo or group, with three.)

Capitol’s first No. 1 since 2014: Capitol Records celebrates its first Hot 100 leader in nearly five years, since Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J, spent four weeks at No. 1 beginning on Feb. 8, 2014.

Timberlake & Timbaland also No. 1: The coronation of “Without Me” brings a portion of a prior hit to the top of the Hot 100 at last, as the song interpolates Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” which reached No. 3 in 2003. Among the seven credited writers on “Without Me,” Timbaland scores his eighth No. 1 as a writer and Timberlake tallies his sixth, while Halsey adds her second, after “Closer.” (Notably, “Closer” also reworked a previous top 10: The Fray’s “Over My Head [Cable Car],” which rolled to No. 8 in 2006; “Closer” includes writing credits for The Fray’s Joe King and Isaac Slade.)

A stat you can’t do ‘without’: Halsey’s “Without Me” takes over as the top-charting song titled “Without Me” in the Hot 100’s archives; Eminem’s hit of the same name rose to No. 2 in 2002. One other such-titled composition has hit the Hot 100: Fantasia’s, featuring Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliott, reached No. 74 in 2013. (Conversely, 11 singles titled “Without You” have appeared on the Hot 100, with one hitting No. 1: by Nilsson, in 1972.)

“Without Me” is the eighth Hot 100 No. 1 with “without” in its title, following: “My Life Would Suck Without You,” by Kelly Clarkson, in 2009; “Love Will Never Do (Without You) (Janet Jackson, 1991); “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” (Nelson, 1990); “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” (Michael Bolton, 1990); “With or Without You” (U2, 1987); “Without You” (Nilsson, 1972); and “A World Without Love,” by Peter and Gordon, the only other such No. 1 released on Capitol; written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, it led in June 1964.

Meanwhile, “me” makes its 65th appearance in a No. 1 Hot 100 song title. The Fleetwoods’ “Come Softly to Me” became the first, in 1959, while Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” was the last until “Without Me,” in 2017.

‘Eastside’ up, too: Halsey concurrently climbs 21-11 on the Hot 100 with “Eastside,” with Benny Blanco and Khalid. The collab, which previously reached a No. 16 Hot 100 high in December, keeps at No. 7 on Radio Songs (72.3 million, up 2 percent) and No. 13 on Digital Song Sales (14,000, down 22 percent) and re-enters Streaming Songs at No. 24 (16.5 million, up 10 percent).

“Without Me” supplants Grande’s “Thank U, Next” after seven nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100. Still, the latter gains in airplay, as it holds at No. 5 on Radio Songs (93.1 million, up 3 percent).

Post Malone and Swae Lee‘s “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” hits a new Hot 100 high at No. 3, up from No. 5, and takes over atop Digital Song Sales (40,000, down 8 percent), where it’s Post Malone’s third leader and Swae Lee’s first. The track also reaches No. 1 on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.

Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode,” which led the Dec. 8-dated Hot 100, is steady at No. 4, while reaching No. 1 for the first time (in its 22nd week) on Streaming Songs, where it bounds from No. 8 (43.1 million, up 8 percent).

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five, Panic! at the Disco‘s “High Hopes” returns to its No. 5 peak, from No. 6. The latter leads Hot Rock Songs for a 10th week and Radio Songs for a seventh frame (129.8 million, up 4 percent).

Marshmello and Bastille‘s “Happier” rebounds 7-6 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3, as it tops Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for a 16th week.

Maroon 5‘s former seven-week No. 1 “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, returns to the top 10 (14-7), as it logs a 28th week in the region, becoming just the ninth single in the chart’s history to reach that marker. Sheeran’s “Shape of You” holds the record with 33 weeks in the top 10 in 2017.

Also revisiting the Hot 100’s top 10 are Lil Baby and Gunna‘s “Drip Too Hard” (12-8), after reaching No. 4; Kodak Black‘s No. 2-peaking “ZEZE,” featuring Travis Scott and Offset (15-9); and Post Malone’s “Better Now” (23-10), which  hit No. 3.

Four holiday songs depart the Hot 100’s top 10, with the latest tracking week marking the first full frame after Yuletide music went into hibernation. Off the chart entirely are Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” from its No. 3 peak, the highest rank for a holiday hit in 60 years; Bobby Helms‘ “Jingle Bell Rock,” from its No. 8 high; Brenda Lee‘s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” from its No. 9 apex; and Burl Ives‘ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” from its No. 10 best rank.

Carey’s exit is record-breaking, as no song prior to “Christmas” had disappeared from the chart from as high as No. 3 the week before. It passes Prince’s “Purple Rain,” which left from No. 4 in May 2016 after it had returned following his death (and after originally reaching No. 2 in 1984).

(Like Frosty the Snowman, “Christmas” should be back again someday, on the Hot 100, almost certainly later this year amid the next holiday season.)

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 (Jan. 8), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboard magazine is on sale Friday (Jan. 11).

Source: billboard.com