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Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ Rules Hot 100, Bruno Mars & Cardi B’s ‘Finesse’ Flies to No. 3 & Justin Timberlake’s ‘Filthy’ Debuts at No. 9
Sheeran’s ballad, on top for a sixth week, heads up an action-packed top 10.
Ed Sheeran‘s “Perfect” leads the Billboard Hot 100 for a sixth week on the chart dated Jan. 20.
Meanwhile, two songs surge to the top 10, as Bruno Mars and Cardi B‘s “Finesse” blasts from its No. 35 debut to No. 3, following the first full week of tracking for its new remix, and Justin Timberlake‘s “Filthy” launches at No. 9 after its first seven days of availability.
Let’s run down the top 10 of the Hot 100, which blends all-genre streaming, airplay and sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 17).
Starting with “Finesse,” the new jack swing-reviving collaboration was originally released as a solo song on Mars’ 2016 album 24K Magic (on Atlantic Records). After the arrival of its remix and official video Jan. 4, the song entered the Jan. 13-dated Hot 100 on the strength of a day of streaming and sales tracking, and three days of airplay tracking, for its new version (with all versions contributing to its singular chart listing).
After a first full week of tracking after the new version’s release, “Finesse” roars onto the Streaming Songs chart at No. 1, with 38.3 million U.S. streams (up 342 percent) in the week ending Jan. 11, according to Nielsen Music. It charges 13-2 on Digital Song Sales, with 87,000 downloads sold (up 189 percent) in the week ending Jan. 11, and 49-14 on Radio Songs, with 52 million in all-format airplay audience (up 103 percent) in the week ending Jan. 14.
No. 1 streaming debut: “Finesse” is the first No. 1-debuting title on Streaming Songs since the song that it dethrones after 14 weeks on top: Post Malone’s “Rockstar,” featuring 21 Savage. Mars notches his second No. 1 on the list and first as a lead artist, following his 12-week reign in 2015 as featured on Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!”
Cardi B likewise achieves her second Streaming Songs No. 1, after her debut hit “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” topped the chart for two weeks beginning Sept. 30.
Top 10 totals: Mars tallies his 15th Hot 100 top 10 and Cardi B collects her fourth. Her second and third top 10s remain in the region: G-Eazy’s “No Limit,” featuring A$AP Rocky and Cardi B, holds at No. 5 (after reaching No. 4) and Migos, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s “MotorSport” descends 8-10 (after hitting No. 6).
Third time’s a charm, for third time, for Mars: Especially impressively, Mars has now earned three Hot 100 top 10s from each of his first three proper albums, becoming just the second male artist and sixth act overall to achieve the career-opening feat.
“Finesse” follows the 24K Magic title cut, which reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in December 2016, and “That’s What I Like,” which topped the May 13, 2017-dated chart. (Third single “Versace on the Floor” peaked at No. 33 in September.)
Mars’ debut LP, 2010’s Doo-Wops & Hooligans, generated the twin four-week Hot 100 leaders “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade” and the No. 4-peaking “The Lazy Song.” 2012’s Unorthodox Jukebox yielded two more No. 1s, “Locked Out of Heaven” (six weeks) and “When I Was Your Man” (one), and the No. 5 hit “Treasure.” (Mars first released the EP It’s Better If You Don’t Understand in 2010.)
The only other acts with at least three Hot 100 top 10s apiece from each of their first three proper solo albums: Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Lady Gaga (including 2010’s The Fame Monster) and the only male before Mars to earn the honor, and the first artist overall to do so, in 1982-86, Lionel Richie.
35-3: Studious chart fans may notice that “Finesse” makes the second 35-3 jump in the Hot 100’s history (which dates to Aug. 4, 1958). The only other song to do so? Answer at the end of this story. (Hint: the first such song made the move during new jack swing’s original heyday.)
R&B/hip-hop royalty: “Finesse” concurrently climbs 16-1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and 2-1 on Hot R&B Songs. On the former ranking, Mars earns his second No. 1, following “That’s What I Like” (10 weeks), as does Cardi B, following “Bodak Yellow” (six). On the latter list (which began in 2012), Mars also adds his second No. 1, after “Like” led for a record-tying 20 weeks. Cardi B tops Hot R&B Songs in her first appearance on the chart.
Meanwhile, Timberlake’s “Filthy” (on RCA Records) bows at No. 9 on the Hot 100. It enters Digital Song Sales at No. 3 (79,000 sold) and Streaming Songs at No. 26 (15.8 million U.S. streams) and jumps 45-32 on Radio Songs (36 million impressions).
Timberlake scores his 18th solo Hot 100 top 10 (to go along with six visits that he made to the region in 1999-2002 as a member of *NSYNC). He earns his third-highest debut among 30 charted titles, after the No. 1-launching “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” (May 28, 2016), his previous Hot 100 hit before “Filthy,” and “Holy Grail,” by JAY-Z featuring Timberlake, which started at No. 8, and peaked at No. 4, in 2013. (Thus, Timberlake has tallied his two highest Hot 100 debuts as a lead artist with his 29th and 30th entries.) He landed his first solo top 10 with “Cry Me a River,” which hit No. 3 in 2003.
“Filthy” is the lead single from Timberlake’s fifth album (and first in over four years), Man of the Woods, due Feb. 2. Two days later, Timberlake will perform at the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show.
Atop the Hot 100, Sheeran’s “Perfect” (on Atlantic Records) leads for a sixth week. The ballad crowns Digital Song Sales for a seventh week (98,000, down 10 percent) and Radio Songs for a second frame (145 million, up 6 percent), while rebounding 4-3 (after a week at No. 1) on Streaming Songs (38 million, up 4 percent). The song also takes over at No. 1 on both the Pop Songs and Adult Pop Songs airplay charts.
As previously reported, “Perfect” has reverted to being billed as by Sheeran solo on almost all Billboard charts after five weeks in which Beyoncé received co-lead credit following the release of its duet version. After its first week of release, that version was the most dominant in sales and streams, while also receiving significant airplay, as it was being promoted to radio.
After multiple weeks of the duet no longer contributing the bulk of its sales (or streams or airplay), only Sheeran is now credited (except on Rhythmic Songs, where Beyonce remains co-billed, as that version is still logging notable activity at the format); all versions will continue to contribute to the song’s singular chart listing.
This practice of temporarily adding artist credit while a particular version factors heavily into a song’s success has been applied to previous singles, including, for example, Rihanna’s “S&M” (Britney Spears) and Spears’ “Till the World Ends” (Nicki Minaj and Kesha), both in 2011.
Camila Cabello’s “Havana” logs a seventh week at its No. 2 Hot 100 peak. The last No. 2 hit by a lead female to post seven weeks at the runner-up rank? Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” in 2009-10. (Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott’s “Work It” shares the peak longevity mark among all No. 2 Hot 100 hits: it spent 10 weeks at the position in 2002-03. The track tied Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” which hit a No. 2 high for 10 weeks in 1981-82.)
Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, former eight-week No. 1 “Rockstar” retreats 3-4, while topping Hot Rap Songs for a 14th week; Imagine Dragons’ “Thunder” drops from its No. 4 peak to No. 6, while leading Hot Rock Songs for an 11th frame; Halsey’s “Bad at Love” dips from its No. 6 Hot 100 high to No. 7; and Sam Smith’s No. 4-peaking “Too Good at Goodbyes” slides 7-8.
Quiz answer! The only song before Bruno Mars and Cardi B’s “Finesse” to fly from No. 35 to No. 3 on the Hot 100? Michael Jackson’s “Black or White,” on the chart dated Nov. 30, 1991 (the week that the chart adopted Nielsen Music data). The King of Pop’s smash began a seven-week run at No. 1 the following week.
Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column and by listening (and subscribing) to Billboard‘s Chart Beat Podcast and Pop Shop Podcast. And again, be sure to visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 17), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboardmagazine is on sale Friday (Jan. 19).
Source: billboard.com