The Chainsmokers & Halsey’s ‘Closer’ Climbs to No. 1 on Hot 100

The Chainsmokers and Halsey each earn their first Hot 100 leader with a 6-1 jump to the top.

EDM duo The Chainsmokers and featured alt-pop singer-songwriterHalsey crown the Billboard Hot 100(dated Sept. 3), as “Closer” leaps 6-1 in its third week on the chart. The song marks each act’s first trip to the Hot 100’s summit.

As we do every Monday when the chart is refreshed, let’s run down the Hot 100’s top 10 and more. Highlights of the airplay, sales and streaming-based Hot 100 post on Billboard.com each Monday, with all charts updated each Tuesday.

“Closer” concurrently hits the top of the Streaming Songs chart for the first time (3-1), where it’s also The Chainsmokers’ and Halsey’s first No. 1 each, up by 24 percent to 23.1 million U.S. streams. Spotify streams mark more than half (51 percent) of the song’s total clicks; its only official video so far is a lyric video (ahead of an expected proper clip). “Closer” leads the audio subscription services-based On-Demand Songs streaming chart for a second week (16.3 million on-demand streams, up 16 percent).

On Radio Songs, the collab leaps 35-19 (49 million in airplay audience, up 41 percent), sweeping the Hot 100’s top Digital, Streaming and Airplay Gainer awards; it’s the first song to claim all three honors simultaneously since Drake‘s “One Dance” (featuring WizKid and Kyla) on May 21, likewise its first week at No. 1 (of 10 total).

The Chainsmokers, the duo of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall, have charted higher with each successive Hot 100 hit since arriving in 2014 with the kitschy, No. 16-peaking “#Selfie.” In 2016, they’ve added their first three top 10s: “Roses,” featuring Rozes, which reached No. 6 in February, and “Don’t Let Me Down,” featuring Daya, which climbed to No. 3 in July; this week it holds at No. 8.

Meanwhile, Halsey, in her third Hot 100 visit (all since September 2015), has far outpaced the No. 60 peak of her breakthrough single “New Americana” and the No. 31 high of Justin Bieber’s “The Feeling,” on which she’s featured.

“Closer” additionally crowns Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (3-1), where it becomes The Chainsmokers’ fourth No. 1, passing Calvin Harris (three) for the most in the list’s brief three-year history. “#Selfie” led for two weeks; “Roses,” for 14; and “Don’t Let Me Down,” for 12.

Notably, “Closer” is just the second track to have topped both Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and the Hot 100; Baauer‘s “Harlem Shake” ruled the charts for eight and five weeks, respectively, beginning March 2, 2013. Unsurprisingly, most Hot 100 leaders in that span have been pop or R&B/hip-hop-leaning: of the 33 Hot 100 No. 1s between “Shake” and “Closer,” 12 topped Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs; just one ruled Hot Rock Songs (Lorde’s “Royals), while no No. 1s on Hot Country Songs or Hot Latin Songs also led the Hot 100 in that span.

Meanwhile, The Chainsmokers are the first duo to top the Hot 100 since 2013, when Macklemore & Ryan Lewis notched two career-opening No. 1s: “Thrift Shop” (featuring Wanz; six weeks) and “Can’t Hold Us” (featuring Ray Dalton; five). On a related note, The Chainsmokers are the first duo or group to pace the Hot 100 in more than two years, since MAGIC! led for six weeks in July and August 2014 with “Rude.”  In between that song and “Closer,” 19 songs by soloists (lead and featured acts) held the top spot. That’s the longest run of soloists’ No. 1s since 24 led in-a-row in 2006-07 (from Nelly‘s “Grillz,” featuring Paul Wall, Ali and Gipp, through Avril Lavigne‘s “Girlfriend”).

As for its title, “Closer” is the first Hot 100 No. 1 by that name; next, well, closest, isNe-Yo‘s “Closer,” which reached No. 7 in 2008. The word “closer” previously got closest to the top when Roberta Flack closed in on the summit with “The Closer I Get to You,” with Donny Hathaway, which hit No. 2 in 1978. (The word “close” has appeared in the titles of three No. 1s: Next‘s “Too Close” (1998); Maxi Priest‘s “Close to You” (1990); and The Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You” (1970).

And, by reaching No. 1 in its third week, “Closer” makes the fastest climb to the top of the Hot 100 (for a non-No. 1-debuting song, excluding four No. 1 starters in 2015-16) since Taylor Swift‘s “Blank Space,” which also needed just three weeks to reign (Nov. 29, 2014). Plus, the 6-1 jump for “Closer” is the greatest to the top since Swift’s “Bad Blood,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, which vaulted 53-1 (June 6, 2015), following the premiere of its video on ABC’s broadcast of the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.

“Closer” dethrones Sia‘s “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Sean Paul, after four weeks atop the Hot 100 (1-2). Still, the song remains the most-heard song on U.S. radio, posting a third week at No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart (155 million, up 2 percent). It rebounds 6-5 on Digital Songs (56,000 downloads sold, down 8 percent) and keeps at No. 9 on Streaming Songs (12.5 million, down 4 percent).

“Thrills” concurrently tops the Pop Songs airplay chart for a fifth week, tying Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself” for the chart’s longest reign of 2016, and rises 3-1 to crown Adult Pop Songs, where it’s both Sia and Paul’s first No. 1.

Major Lazer‘s “Cold Water,” featuring Bieber and MO, slips to No. 3 from its No. 2 peak in its fourth week on the Hot 100. It falls to No. 2 after spending its first three weeks atop Streaming Songs, although with a 3 percent gain to 20.2 million U.S. streams; lifts 4-3 on Digital Songs (63,000, down 4 percent); and holds at No. 10 on Radio Songs, logging a 15 percent burst to 75 million.

Twenty One Pilots hold at their No. 4 high on the Hot 100 with “Heathens,” from the Suicide Squad: The Album soundtrack, which spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The track is steady at No. 2 on Digital Songs (82,000, down 8 percent); slips 2-3 on Streaming Songs (although with a 2 percent gain 19.6 million); and debuts on Radio Songs at No. 42 (29 million, up 33 percent). “Heathens” notches a second week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart.

Meanwhile, Twenty One Pilots’ “Ride,” from the duo’s 2015 album Blurryface, rebounds from No. 7 back to its No. 6 peak. Thus, for a second week, the act boasts two concurrent top 10s; on the Aug. 27 Hot 100, the pair (Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun) made history as the first alternative duo or group ever with two simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s. (Among all alt acts, only Lorde previously doubled up in a week, for three weeks in February 2014 with “Royals” and “Team.”)

In between Twenty One Pilots’ two Hot 100 top 10s, “This Is What You Came For,” by this past weekend’s Hot 100 Fest headliner Calvin Harris (featuring Rihanna), descends to No. 5 from its No. 3 peak. It stays at No. 2 on Radio Songs (134 million, down 1 percent) and No. 7 on Streaming Songs (13.6 million, down 6 percent).

Drake’s “One Dance” drops 5-7 on the Hot 100. Still, it adds a 16th week atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, extending the longest command of his 16 No. 1s on the chart. “Dance” also rules the Songs of the Summer chart for a 12th week, having led the seasonal running tally each week since the list relaunched.

And, as Drake remains in the Hot 100’s top 10, he has now spent 49 consecutive weeks in the bracket, padding his record among solo males and claiming the second-longest streak among all acts all to himself (passing Ace of Base). Here’s an updated look at the artists to spend the most weeks in-a-row in the top 10 in the Hot 100’s history:

69 weeks, Katy Perry, 2010-11
49 weeks, Drake, 2015-16
48 weeks, Ace of Base, 1993-94
46 weeks, Rihanna, 2010-11
45 weeks, The Weeknd, 2015

Drake’s streak began on the Oct. 3, 2015, Hot 100, when “Hotline Bling” soared 16-9. (He has been credited as the lead artist on songs in 38 weeks of his 49-week run.)

Capping the Hot 100’s top 10, as noted above, The Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down” keeps at No. 8; Justin Timberlake‘s former No. 1 “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” stays at No. 9; and Adele‘s “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” returns to the tier (11-10), after reaching No. 9 on the Aug. 13 chart. “Send” becomes Adele’s fifth top five on Radio Songs (following four No. 1s), rising 6-4 (126 million, up 11 percent).

Just outside the Hot 100’s top 10, Shawn Mendes‘ “Treat You Better” hits a new high, rising 14-12; Drake’s “Too Good,” featuring Rihanna, reaches the top 15 (17-14); and Flume‘s “Never Be Like You,” featuring Kai, enters the top 20 (25-20). Plus, one song enters the top 40 for the first time: Daya‘s “Sit Still, Look Pretty” (56-36), marking her third top 40 Hot 100 in three tries (all this year), following her debut single “Hide Away” (No. 23 in March) and “Don’t Let Me Down.”

Find out more Hot 100 news in Billboard’s new weekly original video series, Charts Center, featuring chart information and commentary, interviews with artists, exclusive performances and more, posting this week. Also look for the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column later this week and visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Aug. 23), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The Hot 100 and other charts will also appear in the next issue of Billboard magazine, on sale Friday (Aug. 26).

Source: billboard.com