![Bebe-Rexha-and-Florida-Georgia-Line-may-2017-billboard-1548[2]](https://musicnow.iprorecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Bebe-Rexha-and-Florida-Georgia-Line-may-2017-billboard-15482.jpg)
Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’ Leads Billboard Hot 100, Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Meant to Be’ Rises to No. 2
“Plan” rules for a ninth week, while “Meant” is the highest-charting hit for a country duo or group in eight years. Plus, XXXTentacion & Lil Dicky land their first top 10s.
Drake‘s “God’s Plan” tops the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a ninth week, encompassing the song’s entire run on the tally, dating to its debut at No. 1.
Meanwhile, Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line‘s “Meant to Be” pushes 4-2, becoming the highest-charting Hot 100 hit by a country duo or group in eight years.
Plus, two acts earn their first Hot 100 top 10s: XXXTentacion, whose “Sad!” surges 19-7 as parent album ? debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and comic rapper Lil Dicky, whose “Freaky Friday,” featuring Chris Brown, debuts at No. 9.
Let’s run down the top 10 of the Hot 100 (dated March 31), which blends all-genre streaming, airplay and sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (March 27).
As on the Hot 100, “Plan,” released on Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records, logs its ninth week at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, down 6 percent to 68.5 million U.S. streams in the week ending March 22, according to Nielsen Music.
While the streaming sum is the lowest for “Plan” so far, the song now sports nine of the top 14 streaming weeks all-time. It reached a high of 101.7 million U.S. clicks on the chart dated March 3. Only Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” has drawn more streams in a week: 103.1 million (March 2, 2013; driven by viral videos incorporating the song’s official audio).
“Plan” drops to No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart after six weeks at No. 1 (44,000 downloads sold, down 9 percent, in the week ending March 22). On the Radio Songs chart, “Plan” holds at No. 4, after hitting No. 3, up 3 percent to 104 million in all-format airplay audience in the week ending March 25.
“Plan,” which launched atop the Feb. 3-dated Hot 100, is just the fifth song in the chart’s 59-year history to spend at least its first nine weeks on the survey at No. 1. It passes the halfway point to the record of 16 weeks at No. 1 from the start of a song’s time on the chart, set by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” in 1995-96.
“Plan” posts a ninth week at No. 1 on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” ascends 4-2 on the Hot 100. Rexha earns another new career-best rank, while FGL earns its top-charting hit. It bests the twosome’s debut smash “Cruise,” featuring Nelly, which reached No. 4 in 2013.
With the collab’s climb, Florida Georgia Line lands the highest-charting Hot 100 hit for a country duo or group since trio Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now,” which reached No. 2 in March 2010.
“Meant” lifts 3-2 on Radio Songs (111 million, up 8 percent) and 6-4 on Digital Song Sales (35,000, essentially even week-over-week), while slipping 11-12 on Streaming Songs (22.7 million, down 1 percent). It tops Hot Country Songs for a 17th week and hits the top five on both Country Airplay (7-4) and Pop Songs (6-5).
Ed Sheeran‘s former Hot 100 No. 1 “Perfect” descends 2-3. It led the list for six weeks beginning Dec. 23.
Bruno Mars and Cardi B‘s “Finesse” drops to No. 4 from its No. 3 Hot 100 peak, while crowning Radio Songs for a third week (140 million, up 3 percent). It leads Hot R&B Songs for an 11th frame. As previously reported, the track hits No. 1 on Pop Songs, where it’s Cardi B’s first leader and Mars’ ninth, pushing him past Justin Timberlake for the most among solo males.
Post Malone‘s “Psycho,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, holds at No. 5 on the Hot 100, after debuting at its No. 2 high on the March 10-dated chart.
Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey‘s “The Middle” is likewise steady, at its No. 6 Hot 100 high, while claiming the chart’s top gain in airplay for a second straight week, as it leaps 9-5 on Radio Songs (91 million, up 17 percent). It leads Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for an eighth week.
XXXTentacion tallies his first Hot 100 top 10, as “Sad!” vaults 19-7. The singer/rapper’s debut LP ? arrives at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 131,000 equivalent album units, and streaming accounts for the bulk of the song’s Hot 100 activity, as it pushes 5-2 on Streaming Songs (34.9 million, up 48 percent).
“Sad!” is one of seven songs that XXXTentacion places on the Hot 100, all from ?. His chart success, however, is concurrent with numerous legal issues. The 20-year-old, born Jahseh Onfroy, is currently awaiting trial for aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and witness-tampering. He is also facing 15 further felony counts relating to the caseand was under house arrest from late December through March 21.
Camila Cabello‘s “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, descends 7-8 on the Hot 100, after topping the Jan. 27-dated chart.
Lil Dicky’s “Freaky Friday,” featuring Chris Brown, launches at No. 9 on the Hot 100, surging after the March 15 release of its official video. Its premise borrows from the body-switching movie Freaky Friday, first starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in 1976, and remade with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in 2003.
This time, Lil Dicky self-deprecatingly celebrates the benefits of temporarily becoming Chris Brown, while Brown panics at the prospect of assuming Lil Dicky’s form. Lil Dicky also briefly turns into Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner, all of whom who make cameos near the end of the clip.
“Friday” enters Digital Song Sales at No. 3 (38,000) and Streaming Songs at No. 4 (26.5 million).
Lil Dicky scores his first Hot 100 top 10, after charting one prior entry; “$ave Dat Money,” featuring Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan, reached No. 71 in October 2015. Brown earns his 14th top 10 (and first since “Loyal” hit No. 9 in May 2014). He posts his 90th total Hot 100 entry, the seventh-best sum among all acts in the chart’s history.
“Friday” concurrently spends a second week at No. 1 on the Comedy Digital Track Sales chart. Since the list launched in 2010, it’s the first song to top the tally and reach the Hot 100’s top 10.
“Friday” fun fact: “Freaky Friday” arrives as the second-highest-charting hit with “Friday” in its title; Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” topped the tally in 2011.
And, from “Friday” to The Weeknd (naturally), rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Pray for Me” slips 8-10 after debuting at its No. 7 peak.
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 (March 27), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboardmagazine is on sale Friday (March 30).
Source: billboard.com