Ariana Grande’s ‘7 Rings’ Spends Third Week Atop Billboard Hot 100, Marshmello Makes Fortnite-Fueled Flight to No. 2

Marshmello’s “Happier,” with Bastille, blasts to a new high from No. 8.

Ariana Grande‘s “7 Rings” rules the Billboard Hot 100 for a third week, topping the tally dated Feb. 16, after debuting at No. 1 two weeks earlier. The song launched as Grande’s second Hot 100 No. 1, and second to start at the top spot, following “Thank U, Next,” which debuted atop the chart in November and led for seven total weeks.

Meanwhile, Marshmello and Bastille bound from No. 8 to a new No. 2 Hot 100 high with “Happier,” after Marshmello performed a trailblazing in-game concert inside Epic Games’ video game Fortnite Feb. 2.

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

Grande’s “Rings,” released on Republic Records, spends a third week as both the week’s most-streamed and top-selling song, while continuing to soar in airplay.

“Rings” leads the Streaming Songs chart for a third frame, with 57.7 million U.S. streams, down 9 percent, in the week ending Feb. 7, according to Nielsen Music. It also tops the Digital Song Sales chart for a third week, with 42,000 downloads sold, up 7 percent, in the week ending Feb. 7.

On Radio Songs, “Rings” rockets 19-10, up 21 percent to 50.6 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 10, good for the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award. The song reaches the Radio Songs top 10 in just its third week, marking the quickest climb to the region since Drake’s “In My Feelings” also needed only three frames in July-August. Grande ties her fastest ascent, as her “Problem,” featuring Iggy Azalea, hit the Radio Songs top 10 in its third week in 2014.

“Rings” is the radio follow-up to “Next,” and follows the track “Imagine,” which debuted and peaked at No. 24 on the Hot 100 (Dec. 29). All three songs, plus new radio single “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored,” due on next week’s Hot 100 (dated Feb. 23), are from Grande’s new album, Thank U, Next, which is set for a No. 1 launch on next week’s Billboard 200 chart.

Marshmello and Bastille’s “Happier” vaults 8-2, hitting a new peak, on the Hot 100 after Marshmello’s Fortnite concert Feb. 2. The song had previously peaked at No. 3 on Nov. 10.

As previously reported, the DJ’s virtual set, the first of its kind in Fortnite and which mixed his tracks “Alone,” “Check This Out,” “Chasing Colors” (with Ookay and featuring Noah Cyrus), “Flashbacks,” “Everyday” (with Logic), “Fly” (featuring Leah Culver) and “Happier,” took place within the game’s Pleasant Park location. The full roughly 10-minute performance was uploaded to Marshmello’s official YouTube channel, along with other related clips, while he also released an extended mix of the set to Apple Music (while numerous gamers uploaded portions of the performance to their channels).

“We made history today!,” Fortnite fan Marshmello wrote on Twitter afterwards. “The first-ever live virtual concert inside of @fortnite with millions of people in attendance. So insane!”

Aided by the set and its online presence, “Happier” hikes 11-2 on Streaming Songs, up 120 percent to 51.8 million U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 7, earning the Hot 100’s top Streaming Gainer prize. The collab had hit a previous No. 10 high on Streaming Songs in November (and a prior weekly best of 25.4 million streams, as reflected on the chart dated Feb. 2). On Digital Song Sales, it jumps 11-5 (22,000 sold, up 82 percent); it reached No. 2 on the chart on October. “Happier” holds at No. 4 on Radio Songs (89.3 million, down 4 percent) after leading the list for a week in November.

Marshmello and Bastille each earn a new career-best rank in the Hot 100 at No. 2, as “Happier” completes the longest trip to the top two (25 weeks) in over five years, since OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” also reached No. 2 in its 25th frame (Jan. 18, 2014).

“Happier” concurrently leads Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for a 21st week (while “Alone” re-enters at No. 2, besting its prior No. 9 peak; on the Hot 100, “Alone” returns at No. 29, also a new high, after becoming Marshmello’s first Hot 100 entry in November 2016 and reaching No. 60 the following January).

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five are three former No. 1s: Halsey‘s “Without Me” dips 2-3; Post Malone and Swae Lee‘s “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” drops 3-4, as it tops the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a sixth week each; and Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode” is stationary at No. 5, while showing across-the-board gains after Scott performed the song as part of the Super Bowl LIII halftime show performance Feb. 3, headlined by Maroon 5 (see below). “Sicko” holds at No. 5 on Streaming Songs (41.7 million, up 5 percent) and No. 8 on Radio Songs (63 million, up less than 1 percent) and elevates 13-8 on Digital Song Sales (17,000, up 63 percent).

Panic! at the Disco‘s “High Hopes” rebounds 7-6 on the Hot 100 after reaching No. 4. The track paces Hot Rock Songs for a 15th week and Radio Songs for a 12th (115.1 million, down 2 percent).

Grande’s “Next” backtracks 6-7 on the Hot 100; J. Cole‘s “Middle Child” tumbles from its No. 4 peak to No. 8; and Post Malone’s “Wow.” keeps at No. 9 after reaching No. 8.

Helped by the band’s Super Bowl LIII halftime show performance Feb. 3, Maroon 5 holds at No. 10 on the Hot 100 with its former seven-week No. 1 “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, as the song ties a longevity record: “Girls” logs a 33rd week in the top 10, matching the longest top 10 run in the chart’s 60-year history:

Most weeks in Hot 100’s top 10
33, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, 2018-19
33, “Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran, 2017
32, “Closer,” The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey, 2016-17
32, “How Do I Live,” LeAnn Rimes, 1997-98
31, “Uptown Funk!,” Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, 2014-15
30, “Smooth,” Santana feat, Rob Thomas, 1999-2000

“Girls” charges 22-6 on Digital Song Sales (19,000, up 123 percent, claiming top Sales Gainer honors on the Hot 100) and pushes 24-21 on Streaming Songs (20.5 million, up 13 percent), while keeping at No. 6 on Radio Songs (77.8 million, down 2 percent), which it led for 16 weeks.

Just beyond the Hot 100’s top 10, four songs enter the top 20 for the first time: 21 Savage’s “A Lot” leaps 26-12; alt-pop singer-songwriter Billie Eilish earns a new personal-best rank as “Bury a Friend,” from her debut LP, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (due March 29), flies 74-14 after its first full week of tracking; Khalid’s “Better” rises 23-18, as it leads Hot R&B Songs for a fifth week; and rap newcomer Blueface climbs 28-20 with his debut hit “Thotiana”).

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 (Feb. 12), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboard magazine is on sale Friday (Feb. 15).

Source: billboard.com