Future, Drake & Tems’ ‘Wait For U’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100
Future adds his second No. 1, Drake scores his milestone 10th & Tems achieves her first.
By Gary Trust
05/9/2022*
Future‘s “Wait For U,” featuring Drake and Tems, soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. The track debuts as Future’s second Hot 100 leader – and his first in a lead role. It’s Drake’s landmark 10th No. 1 and Tems’ first.
“Wait For U” is from Future’s new LP I Never Liked You, which launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The track joins three others from the set that debut in the Hot 100’s top 10: “Puffin on Zootiez,” at No. 4, and “712PM,” at No. 8, and “I’m Dat N***a,” at No. 10.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated May 14, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (May 10). For all chart news, you can follow
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“Wait For U” was released on Future’s album I Never Liked You on April 29, via Freebandz/Epic Records, while its official video premiered May 5. The track arrives as the 1,137th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 63-year history, and the 61st to enter on top.
Streams, airplay, & sales: “Wait For U” bows with 40.2 million streams, 7.9 million radio airplay audience impressions and 6,400 downloads sold in the April 29-May 5 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The track opens at No. 1 on Streaming Songs, where it’s Future’s second leader, following his, and Young Thug’s, featured turn on Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” which reigned for a week upon its debut (Sept. 18, 2021). “Wait For U” is Drake’s record-extending 12th Streaming Songs No. 1 and Tems’ first. On Digital Song Sales, the cut debuts at No. 7.
Future’s 2nd Hot 100 No. 1: Future claims his first Hot 100 No. 1 as a lead artist and second overall, following, again, his and Young Thug’s featured roles on Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” which opened atop the Sept. 18, 2021, chart.
Drake’s 10th Hot 100 No. 1: Drake collects his milestone 10th Hot 100 No. 1, and first since “Way 2 Sexy.” He first led as featured on Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?,” for a week in November 2010, and first ruled as a lead artist with “One Dance,” featuring Wizkid and Kyla, for 10 frames beginning in March 2016.
Drake becomes the 10th act in the Hot 100’s history with at least 10 No. 1s (an elite club that last inducted Rihanna, thanks to her 10th leader, of 14 to-date, “S&M,” featuring Britney Spears, on the chart dated April 30, 2011). Among solo males, Drake joins only Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder for the achievement.
Most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s
20, The Beatles
19, Mariah Carey
14, Rihanna
13, Michael Jackson
12, Madonna
12, The Supremes
11, Whitney Houston
10, Drake
10, Janet Jackson
10, Stevie Wonder
“Wait For U” is additionally Drake’s 55th Hot 100 top 10, 146th top 40 hit and 261st overall entry on the chart, record-extending sums in all three categories.
Tems’ 1st Hot 100 No. 1: Tems tallies her first Hot 100 leader and second top 10, after Wizkid’s “Essence,” on which she and Justin Bieber are featured, hit No. 9 in October. Tems (like Wizkid, from Lagos, Nigeria) has also hit the Hot 100 as featured on Drake’s “Fountains” (No. 26 peak, September).
Future debuts atop Billboard 200 & Hot 100: Future’s I Never Liked You blasts in atop the Billboard 200, with 222,000 equivalent album units earned, becoming his eighth leader, concurrent with the Hot 100-topping entrance of “Wait for U.” He makes the seventh such double debut; Taylor Swift first achieved the feat in August 2020 and, with three such starts, is the only artist to earn the honor multiple times.
Simultaneous Artist Debuts Atop the Billboard 200 & Hot 100
Future: I Never Liked You & “Wait for U,” feat. Drake & Tems, May 14, 2022
Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version) & “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” Nov. 27, 2021
Drake: Certified Lover Boy & “Way 2 Sexy,” feat. Future & Young Thug, Sept. 18, 2021
Justin Bieber: Justice & “Peaches,” feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon, April 3, 2021
Taylor Swift: Evermore & “Willow,” Dec. 26, 2020
BTS: BE & “Life Goes On,” Dec. 5, 2020
Taylor Swift: Folkore & “Cardigan,” Aug. 8, 2020
Three more Future top 10s: Below “Wait for U,” Future debuts three other tracks from I Never Liked You in the Hot 100’s top 10: “Puffin on Zootiez,” at No. 4, “712PM,” at No. 8, and “I’m Dat N***a,” at No. 10. They start at Nos. 2, 5 and 6 on Streaming Songs with 26.3 million, 22.1 million and 20 million streams, respectively.
Future logs the sixth week in which an act has posted four or more concurrent top 10 Hot 100 debuts, and the first since Drake bounded in with a record nine top 10 chart entrances (Sept. 18, 2021). Before that, J. Cole (May 29, 2021), Juice WRLD (July 25, 2020), Lil Wayne (Oct. 13, 2018) and Drake (July 14, 2018) each debuted four songs in the top 10 simultaneously.
Future ups his career total to nine Hot 100 top 10s, as well as 149 entries on the chart overall, as all 16 tracks from the standard edition of I Never Liked You enter the list. He moves up to the fifth-most Hot 100 appearances in the chart’s archives, after Drake (262), Glee Cast (207), Lil Wayne (180) and Taylor Swift (166). Ye, with 138, now places sixth.
(Also among the Hot 100 debuts from I Never Liked You, “I’m on One,” featuring Drake, begins at No. 11 and “Keep It Burnin,” featuring Ye, starts at No. 15.)
Winning ‘Wait’s: After a bit of a wait, Future, Drake and Tems bring the third song with “wait” in its title to No. 1 on the Hot 100. “Wait for U” follows “Right Here Waiting,” by Richard Marx (for three weeks in August 1989), and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” by Aretha Franklin and George Michael (two weeks, April 1987).
(Honorable mention, not to be missed: John Waite led with “Missing You” for a week in 1984.)
No. 1 R&B/hip-hop, rap: “Wait for U” also premieres atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts, which use the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100. Future earns his second No. 1 on each ranking, after “Way 2 Sexy”; Drake notches his record-extending 24th leader on each list; and Tems scores her first No. 1 on each chart.
Harry Styles’ “As It Was” dips to No. 2 on the Hot 100, after three weeks at No. 1, with 60 million in airplay audience (up 14%), 25.7 million streams (down 9%) and 16,300 sold (up 78%, good for top Sales Gainer honors). The track hits No. 1 on Digital Song Sales – becoming Styles’ third leader, after “Sign of the Times” and “Watermelon Sugar” (for a week each in April 2017 and August 2020, respectively) – aided by the May 4 release of a download option with alternate artwork.
Jack Harlow’s “First Class” falls 2-3 on the Hot 100, three weeks after it launched at No. 1. It wins the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award, as it flies 23-10 in just its second week on Radio Songs (37 million, up 41%), as it completes the quickest climb to the chart’s top 10 this year.
Notably, 20 weeks into 2022, sparked by Future’s four arrivals joining Styles and Harlow’s hits, the Hot 100 hosts six songs in the top 10 that were released in 2022, marking the first week that more than half the top 10 consists of songs released this year.
Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” drops 3-5 on the Hot 100, after five weeks at No. 1, as it leads the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 33rd week each, and Latto’s “Big Energy” descends 4-6 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3.
Imagine Dragons and JID’s “Enemy” backtracks to No. 7 from its No. 5 Hot 100 high as it leads Radio Songs for a second week (65.9 million, down 1%).
Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” slips 6-9, after seven weeks at No. 1.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow
billboard and
billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated May 14), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (May 10).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to final calculations.
