After two weeks of Pentatonix ruling the Billboard 200 with its holiday effort A Pentatonix Christmas, the vocal group steps aside, to let The Weeknd return to the top slot with Starboy. The latter set climbs from No. 2 to No. 1 (for a second week in the penthouse) with 69,000 equivalent album units (down 26 percent) earned in the week ending Jan. 5, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 18,000 were in traditional album sales (down 46 percent).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 21, 2017-dated chart (where The Weekend jumps back to No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

The Weeknd’s Starboy debuted at No. 1 six weeks ago, fell to No. 2 in its second week, but has been within the top three of the list each week since. It’s the first album to return to No. 1 in three months, since Drake’s Views spent its 13th and (so far) final week at No. 1, jumping from No. 2 to No. 1 on the Oct. 8, 2016-dated list — after having spent the previous seven weeks not at No. 1.

Meanwhile, last week’s leader, Penatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas, falls to No. 41 (12,000 units; down 88 percent). It is the only holiday album within the top 100 of the chart. The next highest-ranking seasonal set is Pentatonix’s previous holiday effort, That’s Christmas to Me, which falls from No. 9 to No. 112.

The Moana film soundtrack rises from No. 6 to No. 2 with 64,000 units (up 21 percent) and 44,000 in traditional album sales (up 37 percent — it is the best selling album of the week). It’s the only title in the top 10 to post a gain in either total units or sales, so, for the most part, albums with a small decline in units will rise up the list. That is typical for the first tracking week after the holiday shopping season and Christmas — when the chart adjusts to normal non-holiday business. And, soundtracks to music-heavy films popular at the beginning of the year ­— like Moana — tend to profit on the chart in January.

For example, two years ago this month, the soundtracks to both Into the Woods and the remake of Annie jumped into the top 15 for the first time. Back in January of 2013, the Les Miserables soundtrack rose to No. 1, while the Pitch Perfect soundtrack hit the top 10 for the first time (on its way to a No. 3 peak in February of that year). Other stunning January jumps for soundtracks include when Titanic sailed from No. 11 to No. 1 on the Jan. 24, 1998 chart and Dreamgirls zoomed from No. 31 on Jan. 6, 2007 to No. 1 just two weeks later.

Moana isn’t the only soundtrack basking in that post-holiday glow in the latest top 10: three more soundtracks populate the region: Sing (rising 21-8 with 28,000 units; though its down 9 percent), Suicide Squad (10-9 with 27,000 units; down 36 percent) and Trolls (14-10 with 26,000 units; down 28 percent). For Sing, the soundtrack hits a new peak, as it has climbed steadily since its debut at No. 113 on the Dec. 31, 2016-dated list. It then jumped to No. 70, then to No. 21 and now to No. 8. (While Moana, Sing and Trolls are all still currently in theaters, Suicide Squad was released in August and closed in November. However, the movie was issued on DVD and blu-ray on Dec. 13, which aids in its popularity this month.)

With four soundtracks inside the top 10, that’s the most concurrently charting soundtracks in the top tier in more than 18 years. It last happened on the Sept. 5, 1998-dated list when the soundtracks to Armageddon (No. 4), Dr. Dolittle (No. 7), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (No. 8) and City of Angels (No. 10) populated the top 10.

Farther up the top 10, Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic is steady at No. 3 with 45,000 units (down 44 percent) and Drake’s Views climbs 8-4 with 41,000 units (down 17 percent). J. Cole’s former No. 1, 4 Your Eyez Only, slips one rung to No. 5 with 39,000 units (down 48 percent), the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton falls a step to No. 6 with 32,000 units (down 41 percent) and Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface is a non-mover at No. 7 with 30,000 units (down 42 percent).

Source: billboard.com

“Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane, rebounds for a seventh week at the summit, while Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, vaults into the top 10.

Rae Sremmurd‘s “Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane, rises 2-1 for a seventh week atop the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 14). Meanwhile, Migos‘ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, blasts 13-2, driven in part by viral buzz and marking the first top 10 for each hip-hop act.

Let’s run down the top 10 of the Hot 100, which blends sales, airplay and streaming data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 4 (a day later than usual, due to the New Year’s Day holiday having pushed back chart processing this week).

“Beatles,” released on Interscope Records and the first Hot 100 No. 1 for the brother duo of Khalif “Swae Lee” and Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown (and likewise the first leader for Gucci Mane), returns to the top after a week at No. 2. It adds a sixth week at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart (rising 3-1) with a 120 percent gain to 136,000 downloads sold in the week ending Dec. 29, according to Nielsen Music. (All 50 titles on Digital Song Sales sport gains for the week, reflecting robust holiday shopping.) “Beatles” slips to No. 3 after seven weeks atop Streaming Songs (28.4 million U.S. streams, down 3 percent), while holding at its No. 8 high on Radio Songs (90 million in airplay audience, down 1 percent).

“Beatles” tops Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs chart for an eighth week. As on the Hot 100, it rules Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for a seventh week.

“Beatles” had first topped the Hot 100 (dated Nov. 26) powered in large part by viral videos, with the song serving as the soundtrack to Mannequin Challenge clips, and the runner-up song on the new Jan. 14-dated tally similarly leaps with a viral assist. Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, vaults 13-2 and becomes the most-streamed song of the week, surging 5-1 on Streaming Songs (32.5 million, up 86 percent). The majority (54 percent) of its streams stem from YouTube (17.6 million), followed by Spotify (7.9 million). The track also crowns the audio subscription services-based On-Demand Streaming Songs chart (3-1; 14.8 million on-demand clicks, up 32 percent).

As previously reported, “Bad” has inspired numerous memes and tweets playing off the song’s “raindrop, drop top” lyrics. A 60-second clip of Migos of performing “Bad” in Lagos, Nigeria, posted to Twitter Dec. 20, has also helped propel the song’s profile.

“Bad” easily marks the first Hot 100 top 10 for each act. Trio Migos had previously peaked as high as No. 69 in 2014 with “Fight Night,” its first of six entries on the chart. Rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s second-highest-charting Hot 100 hit (of five to date) is still climbing, as “You Was Right” jumps 52-42 (in its 25th week on the list).

Also notably, with “Beatles” and “Bad” at Nos. 1 and 2 on both the Hot 100 and Hot Rap Songs concurrently, the top two tracks on each chart match for the first time in more than a year-and-a-half; on May 30, 2015, Wiz Khalifa‘s “See You Again,” featuring Charlie Puth, and Fetty Wap‘s “Trap Queen” ranked at Nos. 1 and 2 on the tallies, respectively (for a third straight week).

The Weeknd‘s “Starboy,” featuring Daft Punk, descends to No. 3 on the Hot 100 after rising 2-1 on the Jan. 7 chart, becoming The Weeknd’s third leader and Daft Punk’s first. The track drops 3-4 on Streaming Songs (23.3 million, down 7 percent); 5-7 on Radio Songs (100 million, down 3 percent); and 1-11 on Digital Song Sales (although up 18 percent to 101,000; the song had topped the chart the week before partly due to 69-cent sale-pricing in the iTunes Store during the week ending Dec. 22). Still, “Starboy” leads the Hot R&B Songs chart for a 14th week.

The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer,” featuring Halsey, slides 3-4 on the Hot 100 after spending 12 weeks at No. 1. Impressively, the collab has spent all 22 of its weeks on the chart in the top 10, dating to its debut at No. 9 on Aug. 20. Only one song has logged more weeks in the top 10 from its debut week: Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself” (23 weeks, Dec. 5, 2015-May 7, 2016, including two at No. 1; the song went on to become the top title on the 2016 year-end Hot 100).

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five, Bruno Mars‘ “24K Magic” retreats to No. 5 from its No. 4 peak.

Also each dropping a notch on the Hot 100, Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall’s “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” falls to No. 6 from its No. 5 peak; Ariana Grande‘s “Side to Side,” featuring Nicki Minaj, slips 6-7 after reaching No. 4 (and leads the top 40-based Pop Songs airplay chart for a fourth week); and DJ Snake‘s “Let Me Love You,” featuring Bieber, drops 7-8, after peaking at No. 4.

Drake‘s “Fake Love” hits a new high on the Hot 100, lifting 10-9. The track pushes 8-6 on Digital Song Sales (111,000, up 39 percent); bullets at No. 9 on Streaming Songs (14.7 million, up 4 percent); and dips 16-18 on Radio Songs but with a 3 percent gain to 51 million.

D.R.A.M.‘s No. 5-peaking “Broccoli,” featuring Lil Yachty, rebounds 15-10 on the Hot 100, led by its 21-5 hike on Digital Song Sales (114,000, up 281 percent), aided by a 69-cent iTunes sale price.

Just beyond the Hot 100’s top 10, Maroon 5‘s “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, drops from its No. 8 peak to No. 11, although it leads Radio Songs for a third week (130 million, up 6 percent). Meanwhile, Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello‘s “Bad Things” descends to No. 12 on the Hot 100 from its No. 9 high but hits the Radio Songs top 10 (11-10; 68 million, up 8 percent). Kelly and Cabello each earn their first Radio Songs top 10 (after Cabello had notched two while she was a member of Fifth Harmony).

Plus, three songs reach the Hot 100’s top 20 for the first time: Jon Bellion‘s “All Time Low” (jumping 24-16), Shawn Mendes‘ “Mercy” (28-17) and Niall Horan‘s “This Town” (37-20).

Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column later this week, and visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 4), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The Hot 100 and other rankings will also appear in the next issue of Billboard magazine, on sale Friday (Jan. 6).

Source: billboard.com

Pentatonix spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 with A Pentatonix Christmas, as the set earned 101,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 29, 2016 — the final tracking week of the calendar year.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 14, 2017-dated chart (where Pentatonix holds at No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Wednesday, Jan. 4 (one day later than normal, due to the New Year’s Day holiday on Jan. 1).

The closing tracking frame of 2016 includes the two days leading up to Christmas Day and the holiday itself, so it’s fitting that a Christmas album leads the tally. While A Pentatonix Christmas’ total units earned for the week were down by 51 percent, its traditional album sales were greater than any other album: it sold 82,000 copies (down 55 percent), far ahead of the No. 2 selling set of the week, Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic, with 55,000 copies (down 39 percent).

A Pentatonix Christmas‘ handsome sales, along with small declines in SEA and TEA (down 12 and 10 percent, respectively), helps keep the album ahead of the No. 2 set on the Billboard 200, The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Starboy. The latter climbs one rung with 94,000 units (down only 7 percent).

Mars’ 24K Magic dips one slot to No. 3 with 81,000 units (down 29 percent), while J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only is steady at No. 4 with 75,000 units (down 16 percent).

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical climbs two positions to No. 5 with 54,000 units (down 7 percent). This is the highest rank for the title in five months, since it also placed at No. 5 on the Aug. 6, 2016-dated list. The album has so far peaked at No. 3 (July 2, 2016), following its 11 Tony Award wins on June 12.

The soundtrack to the animated film Moana jumps 10-6 on the new chart with 53,000 units (up 4 percent), while Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface vaults 15-7 with 52,000 units (up 37 percent). The latter album benefits from a $5.99 sale price in the Apple iTunes store, as well as promotion generated by the release of Twenty One Pilots’ new EP with MuteMath, The MuteMath Sessions, on Dec. 20. Overall sales of Blurryface were up by 23 percent to 33,000, while its download sales increased by a whopping 268 percent to 20,000.

Drake’s Views also rises, thanks to sale pricing, as it steps 19-8 with 49,000 units (up 48 percent). The album was discounted to $6.99 in the iTunes Store.

Pentatonix’s first full-length holiday album, 2014’s That’s Christmas to Me, retreats 5-9 with 42,000 units (down 45 percent). In the previous tracking week, the album surpassed 2 million in U.S. sales. Its total sales now stand at 2.05 million.

Rounding out the top 10 is the Suicide Squad soundtrack, as it rises 21-10 with 42,000 units (up 25 percent). The set is goosed by sales of the album’s hit single “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots, which is bolstered by Christmas-related purchases (consumers redeeming digital gift cards and filling up newly acquired devices, etc.), as well as a just-released version of the track (found on The MuteMath Sessions EP). Track equivalent album units for the Suicide Squad soundtrack rally by 164 percent to 14,000.

Source: billboard.com

The song reigns after eight weeks at No. 2, marking The Weeknd’s third No. 1 and Daft Punk’s first.

The Weeknd‘s “Starboy,” featuring Daft Punk, rises to No. 1, from No. 2, on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 7, 2017), marking The Weeknd’s third Hot 100 No. 1 and Daft Punk’s first.

Let’s run down the top 10 of the Hot 100, which blends sales, airplay and streaming data as measured by Nielsen Music. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Dec. 28 (a day later than usual, due to Christmas Day having pushed back chart processing this week).

“Starboy,” released on XO/Republic Records, and the title cut from his new album (which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Dec. 17), reaches No. 1 in its 14th week on the Hot 100. It also crowns the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time (5-1), logging the chart’s greatest week-over-week sales gain (up 28,000), surging by 49 percent to 86,000 downloads sold in the week ending Dec. 22. Its coronation on both charts was boosted by 69-cent sale-pricing in the iTunes Store during the tracking week.

“Starboy” holds at No. 3 on Streaming Songs (25 million U.S. streams, down 2 percent) and dips 4-5 on Radio Songs (106 million in airplay audience, down 7 percent). It peaked at No. 2 on both lists.

Five fun facts about “Starboy” shining atop the Hot 100:

The Weeknd’s third Hot 100 No. 1: The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) adds his third Hot 100 leader. He first reigned with “Can’t Feel My Face” for three (nonconsecutive) weeks beginning Aug. 22, 2015. “The Hills” followed (directly dethroning “Face” after its last week on top) for six weeks beginning Oct. 3, 2015.

Daft Punk’s first Hot 100 No. 1: The acclaimed French EDM duo (Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) celebrates its first Hot 100 topper. The pair had previously peaked at a No. 2 high (before “Starboy”) for six weeks with “Get Lucky,” featuring Pharrell Williams, in 2013.

Daft Punk first hit the Hot 100 on Aug. 30, 1997 with “Around the World,” which would peak at No. 61. (“One More Time” would follow in 2001, also with a No. 61 peak, marking the duo’s last Hot 100 entry until “Get Lucky.”) Thus, Daft Punk waited 19 years, four months and one week between its first Hot 100 appearance and its first No. 1. That’s the longest wait between a first Hot 100 visit and first No. 1 since Santana went a record two days shy of 30 years between its first entry (“Jingo,” which debuted Oct. 25, 1969) and first leader, “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas, which spent its first of 12 weeks at No. 1 on Oct. 23, 1999.

No. 1 After Eight Weeks at No. 2: “Starboy” tops the Hot 100 after eight nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2, tying for the most weeks spent at No. 2 before leading the list. It matches Justin Bieber‘s “Sorry,” which ruled at last on the Jan. 23, 2016, chart, and OutKast‘s “The Way You Move,” featuring Sleepy Brown (Feb. 14, 2004). (Of the three songs, only “Move” logged its eight weeks consecutively before hitting No. 1.)

No. 1 in Its 14th Week: By ascending to No. 1 in its 14th week, “Starboy” completes the longest trip to the top of the Hot 100 since Sia‘s “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Sean Paul, reached No. 1 in its 23rd week (Aug. 6). “Starboy” wraps the steadiest flight to the summit by a male since … The Weeknd’s own “The Hills” (17 weeks).

Next Up: As “Starboy” crowns the Hot 100, its follow-up single continues to climb. “I Feel It Coming,” also featuring Daft Punk, jumps 33-25, nearing its No. 22 high (set Dec. 17, when Starboy debuted atop the Billboard 200). “Feel” climbs 30-23 on Radio Songs (41 million, up 14 percent); 47-29 on Digital Song Sales (21,000, up 35 percent); and 40-37 on Streaming Songs (6.7 million, down 11 percent).

Meanwhile, “Starboy” leads the Hot R&B Songs chart for a 13th week and rebounds 2-1 for a seventh total week atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

“Starboy” nearly first topped the Hot 100 dated Dec. 17, narrowly held off that week by Rae Sremmurd‘s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane), which was aided by viral Mannequin Challenge videos featuring the song’s audio (as it led that week for its fourth of six weeks at No. 1). On the new Jan. 7-dated Hot 100, “Beatles” drops to No. 2. Still, it spends a seventh week atop Streaming Songs (29.3 million, down 10 percent) and holds at No. 3 on Digital Song Sales (62,000, up 2 percent) and No. 8 on Radio Songs (92 million, down 1 percent). It leads the Hot Rap Songs chart for a seventh week.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five, The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer,” featuring Halsey, keeps at No. 3 after spending 12 weeks at No. 1; Bruno Mars‘ “24K Magic” holds at its No. 4 high; and Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall’s “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” rebounds to its No. 5 peak from No. 8, led most notably by its 4-2 advance on Streaming Songs (28.3 million, up 14 percent).

Ariana Grande‘s “Side to Side,” featuring Nicki Minaj, slips 5-6 on the Hot 100 after reaching No. 4 (and leads the top 40-based Pop Songs airplay chart for a third week); DJ Snake‘s “Let Me Love You,” featuring Bieber, reverses course, rising 9-7, after peaking at No. 4; and Maroon 5‘s “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, likewise rebounds, climbing 10-8 after reaching No. 7. “Know” concurrently tops Radio Songs for a second week (124 million, down 1 percent).

Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello‘s “Bad Things” returns to the Hot 100’s top 10 at a new peak, surging 14-9, after hitting No. 10 two weeks ago. Surely helped by buzz of the Dec. 19 announcement of Cabello’s departure from Fifth Harmony, “Things” charges 10-6 on Digital Song Sales (48,000, up 21 percent); bullets for a second week at No. 11 on Radio Songs (64 million, up 12 percent); and bounds 22-12 on Streaming Songs (12.3 million, up 12 percent).

Also returning to the Hot 100’s top 10, Drake‘s “Fake Love” lifts 12-10, matching its peak first set on the Nov. 19 chart. The track pushes 13-8 on Digital Song Sales (46,000, up 30 percent); 16-9 on Streaming Songs (14.1 million, essentially even from the week before); and 19-16 on Radio Songs (50 million, up percent). The track also zooms 10-1 for a second week atop the audio subscription services-based On-Demand Streaming Songs chart (13.9 million domestic on-demand clicks, essentially even from the week before).

In action just below the Hot 100’s top 10, Amine‘s “Caroline” climbs 16-11 and Migos‘ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, roars 26-13, both hitting new highpoints. Plus, Young M.A’s “OOOUUU” jumps 47-19 and Rihanna‘s “Love on the Brain” rebounds 27-20, both revisiting their highest ranks.

Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column later this week, and visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 28), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh.

Source: billboard.com

“Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane, rules for a sixth week, while Zayn & Swift’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and Cole’s “Deja Vu” debut at Nos. 6 &7, respectively. Plus, Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” takes over as the most-heard song on radio.

Rae Sremmurd leads the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Dec. 31) for a sixth week with “Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane. Meanwhile, Zayn and Taylor Swift’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” debuts at No. 6, marking Swift’s 20th Hot 100 top 10, and J. Cole‘s “Deja Vu” begins at No. 7. Plus, Maroon 5‘s “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, is newly minted as the most-heard song on radio.

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

“Beatles,” released on Interscope Records and the first Hot 100 No. 1 for the brother duo of Khalif “Swae Lee” and Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown (and likewise the first leader for Gucci Mane), is the most-streamed song of the week for a sixth week, leading the Streaming Songs chart with 32.7 million U.S. streams (down 14 percent), according to Nielsen Music. It drops to No. 3 after five weeks atop Digital Song Sales with 61,000 sold (down 13 percent), while bulleting at its No. 8 high on Radio Songs (92 million in audience, up 6 percent).

As on the Hot 100, “Beatles” tops Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a sixth week each.

The Weeknd‘s “Starboy,” featuring Daft Punk, spends an eighth (nonconsecutive) week at its No. 2 Hot 100 peak. It slips 2-3 on Streaming Songs (25.6 million, down 17 percent); 2-4 on Radio Songs (113 million, down 6 percent); and 2-5 on Digital Song Sales (58,000, down 4 percent). Still, it commands the Hot R&B Songs chart for a 12th week.

Notably, “Starboy” becomes the 10th song in the Hot 100’s 58-year history to spend at least eight weeks at No. 2 without reaching the summit; it’s the first since Ed Sheeran‘s “Thinking Out Loud,” which peaked at No. 2 for eight weeks in 2015. Four songs have spent more time peaking at the runner-up spot: Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott’s “Work It” (10 weeks, 2003-03); Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (10 weeks, 1981-82); Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” (nine weeks, 1998); and Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever” (nine weeks, 1996).

The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer,” featuring Halsey, holds at No. 3 on the Hot 100 after spending 12 weeks at No. 1, the longest rule of 2016. The song drops to No. 2 after 11 weeks at No. 1 on Radio Songs (125 million, down 7 percent); 4-7 on Streaming Songs (19.9 million, down 8 percent); and 7-11 on Digital Song Sales (38,000, down 12 percent). The track crowns the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for an 18th week.

The Hot 100’s entire top five, in fact, stays in place from the previous week, as Bruno Mars‘ “24K Magic” holds at its No. 4 high and Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side,” featuring Nicki Minaj, keeps at No. 5 after reaching No. 4 (and leads the top 40-based Pop Songs airplay chart for a second week).

Zayn and Swift’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” launches at No. 6 on the Hot 100 following its first full week of tracking. It bows as the week’s best-selling song, entering Digital Song Sales at No. 1 with 188,000 sold in the week ending Dec. 15 (thus, encompassing all the song’s first-week sales following its Dec. 9 release). Swift scores her 11th Digital Song Sales No. 1, tying Katy Perry for the second-most in the chart’s history; Rihanna leads with 14.

Zayn adds his second Digital Song Sales No. 1, following his debut solo single after leaving One Direction (with whom he notched two), as “Pillowtalk” likewise launched on top (Feb. 20).

“Live” also debuts at No. 26 on Radio Songs (39 million), drawing 3.5 million domestic streams for the week. Notably, the track, while available on Apple Music, Tidal and other subscription-only streaming services, was withheld from Spotify during the tracking week; however, it was made available on Spotify as of Dec. 16. Plus, the lack of an official video for “Live” kept it from bowing even higher on the Hot 100 (as YouTube clicks are often a major driver for songs’ streaming totals).

With the debut, Swift earns her 20th Hot 100 top 10, and Zayn, his second as a soloist (after four with 1D). She’s the 16th artist in the Hot 100’s archives to tally at least 20 top 10s, and the sixth woman; Madonna leads all acts with 38 top 10s. The other women to have reached the milestone: Rihanna, with 29; Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson, 27 each; and Whitney Houston, with 23. (Now with 20 top 10s, Swift matches the totals of Chicago and The Supremes.) “Live” is also Swift’s record-extending 13th top 10 Hot 100 debut.

“Live” is from Fifty Shades Darker, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. The film, the follow-up to 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey, hits theaters Feb. 10, the same day that its soundtrack will be released.

Meanwhile, J. Cole achieves his first Hot 100 top 10, as “Deja Vu” debuts at No. 7. (He had reached a prior best peak of No. 13 with “Work Out” in January 2012.) “Deja Vu” is from Cole’s new album, 4 Your Eyez Only, which arrives as his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 492,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 15, marking the third-highest unit debut of 2016. The song starts at No. 2 on Streaming Songs (26.9 million) and No. 21 on Digital Song Sales (30,000). It launches at No. 1 on the audio subscription services-based On-Demand Streaming Songs chart (26.9 million on-demand clicks), where the rapper ranks at Nos. 1 through 7, an unprecedented lock on all those spots in a single week.

All 10 songs from 4 Your Eyez Only debut on the Hot 100, along with “Everybody Dies,” from Cole’s recently-released Eyez documentary. He charts 12 titles in all on the Hot 100, as “False Prophets,” also from the Eyez doc, bounds 93-54.

With “Live” and “Deja Vu” entering in the Hot 100’s top 10 simultaneously, two songs debut in the top 10 in the same week for the second time in 2016, and both frames have featured Zayn. On Feb. 20, when “Pillowtalk” premiered at No. 1, Drake’s “Summer Sixteen” started at No. 6.

Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall’s “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” retreats 6-8 on the Hot 100 after reaching No. 5, and DJ Snake‘s “Let Me Love You,” featuring Justin Bieber, drops 8-9, after peaking at No. 4.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Lamar, falls to No. 10 from its No. 7 high, while lifting 3-1 to crown Radio Songs (126 million, up 6 percent), where it’s the group’s fifth leader and Lamar’s second (following his featured turn on Swift’s five-week 2015 No. 1 “Bad Blood”). Dating to the inception of Radio Songs in December 1990, Maroon 5 ties Boyz II Men for the most No. 1s on the chart among groups. (Rihanna is the overall leader with 12 Radio Songs rulers.)

“Know” also takes over atop the Adult Pop Songs airplay chart (2-1), where it’s Maroon 5’s record-extending 12th No. 1. (Perry and P!nk follow with eight each.) Earlier this year, Maroon 5 earned the honor of the top act of the Adult Pop Songs chart’s first 20 years.

Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column later this week, and visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 20), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh.

Source: billboard.com

J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only bounds in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, granting the rapper his fourth chart-topper and notching the third-largest debut of 2016, according to Nielsen Music. The set earned 492,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 15. Only the bows of Drake’s Views (1.04 million units) and Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000) were larger this year.

Of J. Cole’s overall 492,000 unit start, 363,000 were in traditional album sales — the third-biggest weekly sales sum for a single album this year. Again, it trails only the arrivals of Views (852,000 sold in its first week) and Lemonade (a 485,000 sales launch).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Dec. 31-dated chart (where 4 Your Eyez Only opens at No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s Websites on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

4 Your Eyez Only also logs a big streaming week as it tallied 118,000 in SEA units (equaling 51.7 million streams of the album’s songs), which is the second-largest streaming debut ever for an album. It trails only the bow of Drake’s Views, which launched with 163,000 streaming units in its opening frame (equating to 245.1 million streams of songs from the album that week). 4 Your Eyez Only is just the third album to surpass 100,000 streaming equivalent album units in a single week, following Views and The Weeknd’s Starboy (with its opening frame of 117,000 in SEA units). Views actually did it three times: during its debut week, along with its third (124,000) and fourth (111,000) frames.

4 Your Eyez Only is J. Cole’s fourth studio album, and all four have debuted at No. 1. He joins Drake and DMX as the only rap acts to debut at No. 1 with their first four full-length studio efforts. Drake did it with his first six, starting with 2010’s Thank Me Later (and including his collaborative set with Future, What a Time to Be Alive, in 2015). DMX saw his first five full-length studio sets all enter atop the list, between 1998 and 2003.

J. Cole first hit No. 1 with his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in 2011, when it launched with 217,000 copies sold. He followed it in 2013 with Born Sinner (297,000 sold in its first week) and then the following year with 2014 Forest Hills Drive (354,000 first week sales). Thus, J. Cole has achieved an infrequent feat: each of his successive albums has started with a larger debut sales week than the previous set, as his new album bows with 363,000 sold.

Other acts that have shown steady gains with the opening frames of their recent albums include Bruno Mars, Adele (both with their first three studio sets) and Taylor Swift (with her first five studio efforts).

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 is a surging Pentatonix, with A Pentatonix Christmas. The set earned 156,000 units for the week (up 22 percent). The group’s previous holiday album, That’s Christmas To Me, returns to the top five, as it climbs 8-5 with 65,000 units (up 24 percent). Pentatonix is the first act to chart a pair of albums concurrently in the top five since Prince on the May 21-dated chart, following an outpouring of support for his music following his death on April 21. Previous to Prince, both David Bowie and Whitney Houston also scored the feat, in 2016 and 2012, respectively — but again, only after their deaths. The last living act to notch a pair of albums in the top five at the same time was Adele on the March 3, 2012-dated chart. That week’s chart reflected impact from the 2012 Grammy Awards, where Adele’s 21 took home multiple trophies, including the award for album of the year. The set held at No. 1 on the list, while her previous album, 19, jumped 9-4.

Back on the new Billboard 200 chart, The Weeknd’s Starboy slips 2-3 with 109,000 units (down 28 percent in its third week) and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic rises 6-4 with 74,000 units (up 27 percent).

Singer/songwriter/rapper Post Malone sees his debut studio album, Stoney, bow at No. 6 with 58,000 units (19,000 in album sales). The album had a particularly robust number of streams for the week (51.7 million streams, equating to 34,000 SEA units), as the set garnered the third-most streams for its tracks among any album on the chart for the week (behind 4 Your Eyez Only and Starboy).

Stoney features Post Malone’s breakthrough smash single “White Iverson,” which reached No. 3 on the Hot Rap Songs chart in January.

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton returns to the top 10, as it climbs 11-7 with 48,000 units (up 7 percent). Its rise comes as its spin-off album, The Hamilton Mixtape, tumbles 1-14 in its second week with 36,000 units (down 81 percent).

The Moana movie soundtrack slips one rung to No. 8 with 48,000 units (down 10 percent) and Michael Buble’s Christmas jumps 13-9 with a little more than 43,000 units (up 1 percent). The Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome rounds out the top 10, as it descends 4-10 in its second week with 43,000 units (down 65 percent).

Source: billboard.com

A look at some of 2016’s most notable numbers, from 1 (Direction) to 9:57 (the length of David Bowie’s “Blackstar,” a record for a Hot 100 hit) & more.

Every year brings new superlatives to Billboard‘s charts, and 2016 was no different.

Here is a look at 10 chart records rewritten over the past year.

(Meanwhile, click here for all of Billboard‘s 2016 year-end charts.)

• 7 – Record consecutive studio albums by Rihanna to yield a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, from 2006’s A Girl Like You (“SOS”) through 2016’s Anti (“Work,” featuring Drake).

• 30 – Total acts who teamed as Artists of Then, Now & Forever for “Forever Country,” the medley celebrating 50 years of the Country Music Association Awards. The charity single became the first title by a non-solo act to debut at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs.

• 3 – When the title cut from her third studio set Dangerous Woman launched at No. 10 on the Hot 100 in April, Ariana Grande became the first artist in the chart’s 58-year history to debut in the top 10 with the lead single from each of her first three albums. “The Way” (featuring Mac Miller) and “Problem” (featuring Iggy Azalea) each previously launched in the region, ushering in 2013’s Yours Truly and 2014’s My Everything, respectively.

• 1 – From One Direction to an historic No. 1 on his own, Zayn, born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, became the only male U.K. soloist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with a first album, when Mind of Mine started atop the April 16 list.

• 4 – Taylor Momsen-led quartet The Pretty Reckless became the first act to send its first four entries to No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart (which began in 1981), when “Take Me Down” rose 2-1 in November.

• 27 – Enrique Iglesias‘ record total of No. 1s on Hot Latin Songs. He padded his mark with “Duele El Corazon” (featuring Wisin), which led for 14 weeks beginning in May.

• 5 – Luke Bryan became the first artist to bank five No. 1s from two albums apiece on Country Airplay thanks to “Move,” the fifth leader from Kill the Lights. He first accomplished the feat with Crash My Party, which generated five No. 1s in 2013-15.

• 38 – Rae Sremmurd‘s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) made history ahead of its coronation on the Hot 100: when it rose 41-38, it passed The Carefrees’ “We Love You Beatles,” a No. 39 hit in 1964, as the highest-charting Beatles-inspired song (by another act) to namecheck the Fab Four in a song title.

• 71 – Characters (including spaces) in The 1975‘s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, the most ever for a leading title on the tally.

• 9:57 – Similarly, late legend David Bowie charted the longest Hot 100 hit — by running time — with the No. 78-peaking “Blackstar,” the just-shy-of-10-minutes-long title cut from his final studio album.

Source: billboard.com

“Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane, reigns for a fifth week, while “Bad Things” blasts 17-10.

Rae Sremmurd leads the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Dec. 24) for a fifth week with “Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane. Meanwhile, Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello‘s “Bad Things” bounds into the top 10, soaring from No. 17 to No. 10.

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

“Beatles,” released on Interscope Records, continues atop the Hot 100, having first topped the tally sparked heavily by the momentum of its use in viral Mannequin Challenge videos. The first Hot 100 No. 1 for the brother duo of Khalif “Swae Lee” and Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown (and likewise the first leader for Gucci Mane), is the top-selling and most-streamed song of the week for a fifth week (and is the top gainer in airplay for a fourth frame).

“Beatles” leads the Streaming Songs chart with 38 million U.S. streams (down 10 percent), according to Nielsen Music. Of its streams for the week, 23.4 million were from YouTube and 9.6 million from Spotify. It also tops Digital Song Sales with 70,000 sold (down 16 percent). (Notably, the sum is the lowest for a Digital Song Sales No. 1 in nearly 11 years, since Beyonce’s “Check On It,” featuring Slim Thug, led the Jan. 28, 2006, chart with 61,000. Nielsen began tracking digital song sales in 2003.)

“Beatles” continues to build in airplay, as it pushes 9-8 on Radio Songs (87 million in audience, up 19 percent) and ranks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay for a fourth week (36 million in format audience, up 5 percent). The track tops Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a fifth week each.

The Weeknd‘s “Starboy,” featuring Daft Punk, spends a seventh (nonconsecutive) week at its No. 2 Hot 100 peak. It keeps at No. 2 on Radio Songs (120 million, down 4 percent), Digital Song Sales (60,000, up 13 percent) and Streaming Songs (30.7 million, down 8 percent), while leading On-Demand Streaming Songs for a third week (17.4 million, down 15 percent) and the Hot R&B Songs chart for an 11th week.

The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer,” featuring Halsey, holds at No. 3 on the Hot 100 after spending 12 weeks at No. 1, the longest rule of 2016. (Halsey was honored with the Rising Star award at Billboard’s 2016 Women in Music celebration Dec. 9, airing tonight, Dec. 12, at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.) “Closer” tops Radio Songs for an 11th week (133 million, down 4 percent), tying Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself” (11 weeks, February-May) for the airplay chart’s longest command this year (Adele’s “Hello” also posted 11 weeks at No. 1 on Radio Songs from November 2015 to February 2016). “Closer” holds at No. 4 on Streaming Songs (21.6 million, down 1 percent) and slips 5-7 on Digital Song Sales (43,000, down 5 percent). The track additionally tops Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 17th week.

Bruno Mars‘ “24K Magic” returns to its No. 4 high on the Hot 100 from No. 5. It stays at No. 4 on Digital Song Sales (52,000, up 12 percent); descends 3-5 on Radio Songs (117 million, down 1 percent); and lifts 10-8 on Streaming Songs (14.6 million, up 9 percent).

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top five, Ariana Grande‘s “Side to Side,” featuring Nicki Minaj, slips to No. 5 from its No. 4 Hot 100 peak, although, as previously reported, it crowns the Pop Songs airplay chart, where it’s Grande’s second No. 1 (following “Problem,” featuring Iggy Azalea, in 2014) and Minaj’s first.

Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall remain at No. 6 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 5 two weeks ago, with “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)”; Maroon 5‘s “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, hits a new high of No. 7, up from No. 8; DJ Snake‘s “Let Me Love You,” featuring Bieber, retreats 7-8, after peaking at No. 4; and Twenty One Pilots‘ “Heathens” is steady at No. 9, after ascending to No. 2, and rules Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart for an 18th week.

New to the top 10, Machine Gun Kelly earns his first top 10 and Cabello her first as a soloist, as “Bad Things” surges 17-10. Following the arrival of the song’s official video Dec. 1, and the pair’s performance of the song on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the night before, the track roars 7-3 on Digital Song Sales (and 4-1 on Pop Digital Song Sales), up 45 percent to 58,000 sold. It also charges 30-12 on Streaming Songs (11.4 million, up 50 percent). On Radio Songs, it powers 27-20 (47 million, up 27 percent).

In his lone prior Hot 100 appearance, Kelly had spent a week at No. 98 (Jan. 28, 2012) with “Wild Boy,” featuring Waka Flocka Flame. Cabello had also made one previous solo visit: “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” with Shawn Mendes, reached No. 20 in January.

Before “Things,” Cabello hit the top 10 as part of Fifth Harmony, whose first top 10, “Work From Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, peaked at No. 4 in June. Cabello, thus, joins an uncommon selection of soloists who have earned their first top 10 in the same year that they earned their first with a group. (Most often, unsurprisingly, soloists achieve a first top 10, if they do at all, of course, years after first reaching the region with a group, a la all four Beatles scoring top 10s several years after the group’s first in 1964, among numerous examples over the 58 years of the Hot 100’s history.)

Still, just last year, Diplo made his first trip to the top 10 with “Where Are U Now,” with Skrillex and featuring Bieber, while Major Lazer (of which Diplo is a third) followed in 2015 with the No. 4-peaking “Lean On,” with DJ Snake and featuring MO. (Among others, Jonas Brothers and Joe Jonas each first made the top 10 in 2008.)

Just beyond the Hot 100’s top 10, “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara, winner of the Rule Breaker award at Women in Music, hits a new high (15-13); Mariah Carey‘s seasonal classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” dashes 23-17 (nearing its No. 11 peak, set last holiday season), while remaining atop the Holiday 100 chart; and, Rihanna‘s “Love on the Brain” leaps into the top 20 (30-20).

Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column later this week, and visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 13), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh.

Also: next week should bring a shakeup in the Hot 100’s upper reaches, as Zayn and Taylor Swift‘s new single, “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” is expected to blast in with a lofty debut (on the Dec. 31-dated Hot 100), following its first week of tracking after its Dec. 9 release. The collab from the former One Direction member and Swift is from the forthcoming Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. As previously reported, the track debuts at No. 25 on the Dec. 24 Pop Songs airplay chart following its first three days of tracking.

In other solo 1D news, the group’s Louis Tomlinson should also debut with his new Steve Aoki team-up single “Just Hold On.” Check Billboard.com this week for projections of how much both “Forever” and “Hold” could sell and stream, and how much airplay they might draw, in their first full week each of tracking.

The all-star compilation album The Hamilton Mixtape debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 187,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 8, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 169,000 were in traditional album sales. The album — inspired by the runaway hit stage show Hamilton: An American Musical — consists of covers of songs from the show and songs inspired by the production. Among the guests on the album: Sia, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, Andra Day, Wiz Khalifa, and many more.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Dec. 24-dated chart (where The Hamilton Mixtape bows at No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

The No. 1-arrival of The Hamilton Mixtape comes following the phenomenal success of the show that inspired the set: Hamilton: An American Musical. The 11-time Tony Award-winning show premiered off-Broadway on Jan. 20, 2015 and moved to Broadway later that year. The show is sold out on Broadway through July of 2017, while its Chicago production (which launched in previews on Sept. 27) is sold out through February of 2017.

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton peaked at No. 3 on the July 2-dated chart, and has spent 63 weeks (and counting) on the tally. On the latest chart, it moves 10-11 with 45,000 units (though it is up 33 percent). It was remarkably only the third cast recording to reach the top 10 in the last 50 years, following Hair (No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1969) and The Book of Mormon (No. 3 in 2011). The cast recording of Hamilton has so far sold 876,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, is the fifth-biggest selling album of 2016, and is the tenth-biggest selling cast recording since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991.

The Hamilton Mixtape logs the largest sales week for a compilation album since 2012, when the GOOD Music Cruel Summer album debuted with 205,000 copies sold. The Hamilton Mixtape is also the first compilation to be No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in over two years, since Now 50 led for one week on the list dated May 24, 2014. Further, The Hamilton Mixtape is the first No. 1 compilation that isn’t a Now-branded album since the all-star live charity set, Hope for Haiti Now, spend one week at No. 1 on Feb. 6, 2010.

It’s rare for any compilation album that is not a Now-branded set to lead the Billboard 200. In the past 40 years, 24 compilations have reached No. 1, and Nowsets comprise 18 of those titles.

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, The Weeknd’s Starboy slips one rung to No. 2 in its second chart week, with 151,000 units (down 57 percent). Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas is pushed back a slot as well, to No. 3, with 128,000 units (down 2 percent).

The Rolling Stones rock at No. 4 with its new blues covers album, Blue & Lonesome, which debuts with 123,000 units (120,000 in traditional album sales). The set — which is the band’s first album of all-new recordings since 2005’s A Bigger Bang — marks the group’s record-extending 37th top 10 effort. (No act has earned more top 10 albums in the history of the chart.) It’s the band’s first new top 10 since A Bigger Bang debuted and peaked at No. 3 with 129,000 copies sold in its first week. (It was also the last album of new tunes written by the group.)

At No. 5 on the new Billboard 200, Childish Gambino earns his highest charting album ever, as Awaken, My Love! debuts with 101,000 units (72,000 in traditional album sales). It’s the second top 10 set for the act (also known as actor Donald Glover), following his last full-length album, 2014’s Because the Internet, which debuted and peaked at No. 7.

Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic falls 4-6 with with 58,000 units (down 20 percent), the soundtrack to Moana descends 5-7 with 53,000 units (down 20 percent) and Pentatonix’s That’s Christmas to Me slips 7-8 with 53,000 units (up 31 percent).

Rounding out the top 10 are two new entries to the chart: Grace VanderWaal’s Perfectly Imperfect EP at No. 9 with 52,000 units (47,000 in album sales) and Kane Brown’s debut full-length self-titled album at No. 10 with 51,000 units (45,000 in album sales).

The 12-year-old VanderWaal won the 11th season of the NBC competition program America’s Got Talent in September after wowing audiences with her self-written material, and was quickly signed by SYCO Music and Columbia Records after winning the show. Her EP features new studio recordings of songs heard on the show, including her breakthrough performance of “I Don’t Know My Name,” which has collected 47 million global views on YouTube through Dec. 11.

As for Brown, the country singer/songwriter’s new set marks his second top 10 effort, following his Closer EP back in April, which debuted and peaked at No. 9.

Source: billboard.com