Maroon 5 & Cardi B's 'Girls Like You' Hits No. 1 on Hot 100, Eminem & 5SOS New to Top 10
9/24/2018 by Gary TrustA pop song rules for the first time since January, ending a record 34-week streak of rap No. 1s.
Maroon 5's "Girls Like You," featuring Cardi B, ascends to No. 1, after six weeks waiting at No. 2, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Sept. 29). Maroon 5 dethrones the 6 God, as Drake's "In My Feelings," which led the list for 10 weeks, drops to No. 2. Notably, "Girls" is the first pop song to top the Hot 100 since January, ending a record 34-week streak of rap No. 1s.
Meanwhile, two tracks enter the Hot 100's top 10: Eminem's "Killshot" soars onto the chart at No. 3, arriving as the rapper's milestone 20th top 10, and 5 Seconds of Summer's "Youngblood" lifts 11-10, becoming the band's first top 10.
Let's run down the top 10 on the newest Hot 100, which blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 25).
"Girls," released on 222/Interscope Records and driven in part (especially early on in its chart run) by the buzz of its female star-studded video, becomes the 1,078th No. 1 in the Hot 100's 60-year history. The track tops the Radio Songs chart for a ninth week (127.6 million in audience in the week ending Sept. 23, up 2 percent, according to Nielsen Music), claiming sole ownership of Maroon 5's longest-leading No. 1, passing the eight-week Radio Songs reigns of "One More Night" in 2012 and "Don't Wanna Know," featuring Kendrick Lamar, in 2016-17.
"Girls" dips 3-4 on Digital Song Sales (21,000 downloads sold, down 3 percent, in the week ending Sept. 20), after leading for six weeks, the band's longest rule on the list, and slides 7-10 on Streaming Songs (25.4 million U.S. streams, down 3 percent, in the week ending Sept. 20), where it reached No. 5.
Here is a look at five other highlights of Maroon 5's, and Cardi B's, new Hot 100 coronation:
Maroon 5's fourth No. 1: "Girls" marks Maroon 5's fourth Hot 100 No. 1, after the Adam Levine-fronted band first led in 2007 (and after first reaching the chart on Aug. 23, 2003, with "Harder to Breathe"):
"Makes Me Wonder," three weeks at No. 1, beginning May 12, 2007
"Moves Like Jagger," featuring Christina Aguilera, four, beginning Sept. 10, 2011
"One More Night," nine, beginning Sept. 29, 2012
"Girls Like You," featuring Cardi B, one to-date, beginning Sept. 29, 2018 (coincidentally, exactly six years after "One" hit No. 1)
Maroon 5 takes full control of the lead among duos or groups for the most Hot 100 No. 1s in the 2000s and 2010s; the band passes The Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child and OutKast, each with three since the start of that span. Among all acts, Rihanna leads with 14 No. 1s this century (all since her first, "SOS," in 2006).
Over 11 years of No. 1s: Further reflecting its longevity, Maroon 5 extends its span of Hot 100 No. 1s to 11 years, four months and two weeks, dating to its first week on top with "Makes Me Wonder" in 2007. The last act to reign with a longer career stretch of leading the Hot 100? Another act with a color in its name (allowing a little leeway for spelling): P!nk, whose "Just Give Me a Reason," featuring Nate Ruess, began a three-week command in April 2013, 11 years, 10 months and three weeks after she first led with "Lady Marmalade," with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim and Mya, in June-July 2001.
Cardi B's third No. 1: As for Cardi B, already the only female rapper with two Hot 100 No. 1s, she extends her record, as "Girls" becomes her third. Her debut smash "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" led for three weeks beginning Oct. 7, 2017, and "I Like It," with Bad Bunny and J Balvin paced the July 7 chart.
("Girls" was originally released by Maroon 5-only on the band's 2017 album Red Pill Blues; Cardi B joined for its single remix.)
Rap's streak wraps up: "Girls" ends the record run of 34 consecutive weeks that rap songs had ruled the Hot 100. The streak began on Feb. 3 with Drake's "God's Plan" (for 11 weeks) and continued with his "Nice for What" (eight); Childish Gambino's "This Is America" (two); Post Malone's "Psycho," featuring Ty Dolla $ign (one); XXXTentacion's "Sad!" (one); Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin's "I Like It" (one); and Drake's "Feelings" (10).
"Girls" is the first pop Hot 100 No. 1 since Camila Cabello's "Havana" (featuring Young Thug), which topped the Jan. 27-dated chart. Speaking of "Havana" โฆ
17 weeks to No. 1: "Girls" completes the longest trip to No. 1 on the Hot 100 (17 weeks) since Cabello's "Havana" (23). It also finishes the greatest positional rise to No. 1 since "Havana"; "Girls" debuted at No. 94 on June 9, while "Havana" began at No. 99 (Aug. 26, 2017).
In between the two leaders, the six rap No. 1s noted above (from "Plan" to "Feelings") all debuted in the top 10 (including "Plan," "Nice" and "America" at No. 1), except for "Sad" (No. 17), driven at the time most strongly by streaming. This week, airplay accounts for just over half of the Hot 100 chart points for "Girls."
Also, the six weeks that "Girls" spent at No. 2 on the Hot 100 before leading this week mark the most since "Havana" waited seven weeks at No. 2 before taking the top spot.
"Girls" (down 3 percent in overall activity) narrowly defeats Drake's "Feelings" (down 9 percent) atop the Hot 100, as the latter descends 3-5 on Streaming Songs (39 million, down 2 percent), 5-6 on Digital Song Sales (19,000, down 14 percent) and 5-8 on Radio Songs (67.3 million, down 20 percent).
As reported last week, when "Feelings" logged its 10th week atop the Hot 100, Drake led the chart for an unprecedented 29th week in 2018, via his three No. 1s this year, passing Usher for the most time at the summit in a single year; Usher tallied 28 weeks at No. 1 in 2004.
"Feelings" concurrently tops the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for an 11th week each.
Eminem's Machine Gun Kelly diss track "Killshot" blasts onto the Hot 100 at No. 3. It starts as his 10th No. 1 on Digital Song Sales (38,000), and first since "The Monster," featuring Rihanna, in 2013, as he ties Drake for the most leaders among males; overall, they trail only Taylor Swift (15), Rihanna (14) and Katy Perry (11). The song soars onto Streaming Songs at No. 2 with 51.3 million U.S. streams.
Eminem earns his 20th Hot 100 top 10, and third in a row in a three-week span, after "Lucky You" and "The Ringer" bowed at Nos. 6 and 8, respectively, on the Sept. 15-dated chart. He's the 19th act to tally at least 20 top 10s; among rappers, Eminem ties Lil Wayne for the third-best top 10 total, trailing only Drake (31) and JAY-Z (21).
Juice WRLD's No. 3-peaking "Lucid Dreams" rises 5-4 on the Hot 100, as it reaches the Radio Songs top 10 (11-10; up 7 percent to 57.8 million); Post Malone's "Better Now" drops to No. 5 from its No. 4 peak; Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin's "I Like It" descends 5-6; Kanye West and Lil Pump's "I Love It" drops to No. 7 after debuting at No. 6 a week ago, while leading Streaming Songs for a second week; 6ix9ine's "FEFE," featuring Nicki Minaj and Murda Beatz, backtracks 7-8, after reaching No. 3; and Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode" is steady at No. 9, after hitting No. 4.
Rounding out the Hot 100's upper tier, 5 Seconds of Summer (just days after summer turned to fall) achieves its first top 10, as "Youngblood" bumps 11-10. It wins the Hot 100's top Greatest Gainer/Airplay award for a third consecutive week, as it hits the Radio Songs top five (7-5; 83.2 million, up 14 percent). It also reaches the Digital Song Sales top five (6-5; 20,000, essentially even week-over-week).
"Youngblood" is the title track and second single from 5SOS' third LP, which debuted atop the June 30-dated Billboard 200 (making the group the first Australian act with three No. 1s on the survey). Lead single "Want You Back" spent a week on the Hot 100, at No. 61, in March; as the band toured to promote the new set, "Youngblood" was getting a noticeably stronger reaction than "Back" and Capitol Records pivoted to promoting "Youngblood."
Among its 11 previous Hot 100 entries dating to the band's arrival in April 2014, 5SOS had peaked as high as No. 16 with "Amnesia" in July 2014.
Find out more Hot 100 news in the weekly "Hot 100 Chart Moves" column 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 (Sept. 25), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh. The next issue of Billboard magazine is on sale Friday (Sept. 28).
