Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ Tops Billboard Hot 100 for Fifth Week, Taylor Swift’s ‘Me!’ Vaults to No. 2

Swift’s new single boasts the best sales week since her own ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ in 2017.

Lil Nas X leads the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week with “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. The song fends off Taylor Swift‘s new single, “Me!,”featuring Brendon Urie, which makes the biggest vault in the Hot 100’s history, blasting from No. 100 to No. 2, after it debuted a week earlier based solely on its first three days of airplay, before its first week of streaming and sales factored into its Hot 100 rank.

Let’s run down the top 10 of the newest Hot 100 (dated May 11), which blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (May 7).

As on the Hot 100, “Road” paves the way atop the Streaming Songs chart for a fifth week, with 104 million U.S. streams (down 9%) in the week ending May 2, according to Nielsen Music; the sum includes the song’s new remix with Diplo, released April 29. “Road” set the weekly streaming record following the April 5 arrival of its remix with Cyrus, and now claims four of the six biggest streaming weeks ever:

Total Weekly U.S. Streams, Title, Artist, Chart Date
143 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, April 20, 2019
125.2 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, April 27, 2019
116.2 million, “In My Feelings,” Drake, July 28, 2018
114.4 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, May 4, 2019
106.2 million, “In My Feelings,” Drake, Aug. 4, 2018
104 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, May 11, 2019
103.1 million, “Harlem Shake,” Baauer, March 2, 2013
101.7 million, “God’s Plan,” Drake, March 3, 2018

“Road” drops to No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart after three weeks at No. 1, with 78,000 downloads sold (down 12%) in the week ending May 2.

“Road” continues to bound in radio airplay, reaching the Radio Songs chart’s top 10 (12-6; 67.7 million audience impressions, up 22%, in the week ending May 5). Lil Nas X scores his first Radio Songs top 10 in his first visit to the chart, while Cyrus ascends to the tier for the first time nearly 27 years after his first entry. He charted three titles on Radio Songs prior to “Road”: “Achy Breaky Heart” (No. 38, 1992); “Busy Man” (No. 31, 1999); and “Ready, Set, Don’t Go,” with Miley Cyrus (No. 37, 2008).

“Road” reaches the Radio Songs top 10 in just its fourth week on the chart, marking the fastest flight to the bracket for an act’s debut entry on the survey (with lead billing) since Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” (four weeks, 2014).

“Road” concurrently collects a fifth week at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songsand Hot Rap Songs charts.

Unable to dislodge the juggernaut that is “Old Town Road,” Swift’s “Me!,” featuring Urie (of Panic! at the Disco), rockets 100-2 on the Hot 100. To recap: the song, expected to serve as the lead single from Swift’s seventh proper studio LP, debuted at the anchor spot a week earlier based solely on its first three days of airplay, after its release at midnight ET Friday (April 26). As the Hot 100’s airplay tracking week runs Monday through Sunday while streaming and sales are tracked Friday through Thursday, the first-week streams and sales for “Me!” (April 26-May 2) impact this week’s Hot 100 (dated May 11), along with the track’s first full week of airplay (April 29-May 5).

With all metrics combined, “Me!,” which Swift and Urie performed live for the first time to kick off the 2019 Billboard Music Awards last Wednesday (May 1), makes notable moves on the Hot 100 and other charts.

Biggest jump in Hot 100 history: The 98-spot leap for “Me!” is the biggest in the Hot 100’s 60-year history, besting the prior mark by two positions. Here’s a look at the biggest jumps ever:

Position Increase, Title, Artist, Date
98 (100-2), “Me!,” Taylor Swift feat. Brendon Urie, May 11, 2019
96 (97-1), “My Life Would Suck Without You,” Kelly Clarkson, Feb. 7, 2009
95 (96-1), “Womanizer,” Britney Spears, Oct. 25, 2008
91 (94-3), “Beautiful Liar,” Beyonce & Shakira, April 7, 2007
90 (94-4), “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, June 16, 2018
88 (97-9), “Make Me Proud,” Drake feat. Nicki Minaj, Nov. 5, 2011
88 (95-7), “Smack That,” Akon feat. Eminem, Oct. 14, 2006
85 (96-11), “Cowboy Casanova,” Carrie Underwood, Oct. 10, 2009
85 (100-15), “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny),” A R Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger, March 14, 2009
83 (85-2), “Roar,” Katy Perry, Aug. 31, 2013

In making its record Hot 100 surge, “Me!” passes the last two songs on the above list for both the biggest jump from No. 100 and to No. 2, respectively.

Swift’s 23rd top 10: Swift scores her 23rd Hot 100 top 10, tying for the 12th-best total in the Hot 100’s archives. Whitney Houston, Paul McCartney (solo and with Wings) and The Rolling Stones have also tallied 23. (Madonna leads with 38 top 10s, followed by The Beatles with 34 and Drake with 33.)

“Me!” also marks Swift’s 57th top 40 Hot 100 hit, matching Elton John for fourth place, after Drake (95), Lil Wayne and Elvis Presley (81 each, with Presley’s chart career having predated the Hot 100’s 1958 inception).

Urie’s highest: After Panic! at the Disco notched its highest-charting Hot 100 hit with “High Hopes,” which reached No. 4 in January, frontman Urie does two spots better. Prior to “Me!,” he charted one other solo entry, also this year: Benny Blanco and Juice WRLD’s “Roses,” featuring Urie, peaked at No. 85 in February.

Swift’s record-extending 16th sales No. 1: “Me!” launches as Swift’s record-padding 16th Digital Song Sales No. 1 with 193,000 first-week downloads sold. (Rihanna ranks second with 14 leaders.) The sum is the best since Swift’s own “Look What You Made Me Do” sold 353,000 in its first week (Sept. 16, 2017).

Streaming & airplay: “Me!” opens at No. 2 on Streaming Songs with 50.7 million U.S. streams. (To compare, Swift’s “Look” opened with 84.5 million, then a weekly record among women.)

Following its first full week of airplay tracking, “Me!” flies 27-13 on Radio Songs (54.1 million in the audience, up from 36.9 million in its first three days).

Post Malone‘s “Wow.” dips to No. 3 on the Hot 100 from its No. 2 high and Jonas Brothers‘ former one-week leader “Sucker” rises 5-4, as it spends a third week atop Radio Songs (98.9 million, up 4%). Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five, Post Malone and Swae Lee‘s one-week No. 1 “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” falls 3-5.

Ariana Grande‘s former eight-week Hot 100 No. 1 “7 Rings” retreats 4-6 and Halsey‘s two-week topper “Without Me” slips 6-7; Sam Smith and Normani‘s “Dancing With a Stranger” descends to No. 8 from its No. 7 high; Billie Eilish‘s “Bad Guy” holds at No. 9 after reaching No. 7; and Khalid‘s “Talk” backtracks to No. 10 a week after hitting its No. 8 best.

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 (May 7), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboard magazine is on sale Friday (May 10).

Source: billboard.com