Elton John & Britney Spears - "Hold Me Closer"

[Az Paynter]

POP:
-- 36 ELTON JOHN & BRITNEY SPEARS Hold Me Closer 1105 0 1105 5.723

HOT AC:
-- 35 ELTON JOHN & BRITNEY SPEARS Hold Me Closer 375 0 375 2.210

AC:
-- 17 ELTON JOHN & BRITNEY SPEARS Hold Me Closer 114 0 114 1.001

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

And it’s currently at #39 on Apple Music

[think pink.]

Whoa! Imagine if she released her own new single 😭.

[thiagoserpa]

what is the peak expectation in the hot 100?

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2022 6:38:33 GMT -5 think pink. said:

Whoa! Imagine if she released her own new single 😭.

Not sure there would be the same impact, right now we are talking about the followup to Elton John´s arguably the biggest hit ever as nowadays if the song becomes a hit, it will stay in charts half a year or a year or even two years, on global Itunes Cold Heart is still top 10 after one year of release. This is definitely the most popular Elton John song ever! And as US radio definitely has the correlation between previous big hit and the follow-up, this is the situation right now, obviously there is a radio deal and some money involved...

[upsidedown]

The Spotify result is particularly stunning considering it didn't even get a TTH placement like many others have (and had kind of mediocre playlisting in comparison generally)

[leonagwen]

Very impressive first day on Spotify.

[GivesYouHell]

Good debut, if this becomes a hit we will have had Kate Bush (though it was obviously recorded when she was younger), Beyoncé, Nicki and Britney all scoring hits over/nearly 40 which would be great to see.

Seems like ageism isn’t as much of a factor in the streaming era if the song clicks and the hype is there

[think pink.]

Aug 27, 2022 7:42:44 GMT -5 @sigur said:

Aug 27, 2022 6:38:33 GMT -5 think pink. said:

Whoa! Imagine if she released her own new single 😭.

Not sure there would be the same impact, right now we are talking about the followup to Elton John´s arguably the biggest hit ever as nowadays if the song becomes a hit, it will stay in charts half a year or a year or even two years, on global Itunes Cold Heart is still top 10 after one year of release. This is definitely the most popular Elton John song ever! And as US radio definitely has the correlation between previous big hit and the follow-up, this is the situation right now, obviously there is a radio deal and some money involved...

That was largely in part due to Dua. Elton dropped an entire album with other big & current collaborators with no song making noise. This is Britney’s first release in 6 years and coming off the Free Britney movement. The world has been waiting.

[dkampy]

Aug 27, 2022 9:09:32 GMT -5 think pink. said:

Aug 27, 2022 7:42:44 GMT -5 @sigur said:

Not sure there would be the same impact, right now we are talking about the followup to Elton John´s arguably the biggest hit ever as nowadays if the song becomes a hit, it will stay in charts half a year or a year or even two years, on global Itunes Cold Heart is still top 10 after one year of release. This is definitely the most popular Elton John song ever! And as US radio definitely has the correlation between previous big hit and the follow-up, this is the situation right now, obviously there is a radio deal and some money involved...

That was largely in part due to Dua. Elton dropped an entire album with other big & current collaborators with no song making noise. This is Britney’s first release in 6 years and coming off the Free Britney movement. The world has been waiting.

I disagree… IMO… the powers at be were look for another Elton John collaboration after the success of Cold Heart… and Britney Spears made sense since their would be initial interest in her… I think a solo song by either artist would not have as big as an impact… Britney Spears own Toxic pony did not do much… plus we will have to wait until the dust settles after the radio deal how big it could be

[upsidedown]

Aug 27, 2022 9:20:36 GMT -5 dkampy said:

Aug 27, 2022 9:09:32 GMT -5 think pink. said:

That was largely in part due to Dua. Elton dropped an entire album with other big & current collaborators with no song making noise. This is Britney’s first release in 6 years and coming off the Free Britney movement. The world has been waiting.

I disagree… IMO… the powers at be were look for another Elton John collaboration after the success of Cold Heart… and Britney Spears made sense since their would be initial interest in her… I think a solo song by either artist would not have as big as an impact… Britney Spears own Toxic pony did not do much… plus we will have to wait until the dust settles after the radio deal how big it could be

Toxic Pony was a random mash-up that happened to go viral, what does that have to do with any of this? lol

[kimberly]

this song is fine. I don't think it's as good as "Cold Heart" unfortunately but it's catchy enough.

imagine thinking "Toxic Pony" has anything to do with how a new Britney Spears song would perform...

[dkampy]

I am not saying Toxic Pony would be a smash… but I think It would have gone top 30…if there really was so much interest in her smashing… people are kidding themselves if they think Britney solo song would smash

[Tylerjamesnerd]

They need to add this to the TTH playlist on Spotify to see this rise. It was a great first day at Spotify I agree but it cloud do some real damage on the hot 100 with better Spotify playlisting.

[Az Paynter]

'Toxic Pony' was never going to be a smash. Had it been a more complex/interesting mash-up it could have had longer legs, but as mash-ups go it was incredibly basic - vox from song A over instrumental of song B. Thanks to DJ Earworm popularizing these massive multi-song pile-up style megamixes (which many other creatives have gone on to do bigger and better) one-to-one mash-ups aren't novel anymore. The fact that radio was even prepared to entertain it to the tune of top 40 says something regardless of what artists were mashed up or whatever pull they may or may not have, because on its face there is nothing remotely unique or clever about 'Toxic Pony'. It's functional and it's catchy, but that's about all it had going for it.

[💙𝖇𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖋𝖆𝖓]

Pretty sure this is going to be a hit.

[upsidedown]

Aug 27, 2022 9:54:37 GMT -5 dkampy said:

I am not saying Toxic Pony would be a smash… but I think It would have gone top 30…if there really was so much interest in her smashing… people are kidding themselves if they think Britney solo song would smash

I mean, honestly, to me, the fact that Toxic Pony - a random TikTok mash-up of her song that came out 20 years ago, even went to *Top 40 on Pop Radio* actually makes the point that Pop radio is still incredibly hungry and curious about Britney Spears, even 25 years into her career. This is not giving what you thought it would.

[SPRΞΞ]

just listened to this for the first time...

is Britney even on this track? where?

Even Elton is buried, but I disagree that his voice as of late is unlistenable. His duet with Ed Sheeran "Merry Christmas Everyone" is outstanding, with a great vocal performance by Elton. For me, it's the best Xmas song to come out in decades.

but back to this, it's all "let's make a song on a machine and autotune these voices to death". Very much pales in comparison to Cold Heart. First day Spotify numbers are surprising, as is the iTunes placement. But I guess the radio deal helped with that.

I'd give this song about a 5/10 whereas Cold Heart is easily an 8 or 9. I never heard any demos tho, so maybe I should. But Britney is like no where on this track.

[upsidedown]

Aug 27, 2022 11:55:38 GMT -5 SPRΞΞ said:

just listened to this for the first time...

is Britney even on this track? where?

Even Elton is buried, but I disagree that his voice as of late is unlistenable. His duet with Ed Sheeran "Merry Christmas Everyone" is outstanding, with a great vocal performance by Elton. For me, it's the best Xmas song to come out in decades.

but back to this, it's all "let's make a song on a machine and autotune these voices to death". Very much pales in comparison to Cold Heart. First day Spotify numbers are surprising, as is the iTunes placement. But I guess the radio deal helped with that.

I'd give this song about a 5/10 whereas Cold Heart is easily an 8 or 9. I never heard any demos tho, so maybe I should. But Britney is like no where on this track.

then who is the female on the entire song tho

it's really like some people have never heard of duets before. I just-

[slw84]

Aug 27, 2022 6:38:33 GMT -5 think pink. said:

Whoa! Imagine if she released her own new single 😭.

This is the appetizer to the main entree coming in 2023 (B10).

Like Where are you now? was to Bieber...
Like I know what you want ft Busta Rhymes or U make me wanna f/Jadakiss was to Mariah...

I hope this is a hit with longevity from August-November before the Christmas holiday.

I think she'll put out something in 2023 after the book so this is getting her feet wet again.

[degen]

Good Spotify debut but I predict this is going to have a harsh fall moving forward. Even during her prime Britney was known to do well out of the gate with no legs whatsoever. I think that trajectory can be applied here but even more heightened since there’s a nostalgia factor attached to this that will certainly wear off, along with universally mixed reviews.

[upsidedown]

Aug 27, 2022 12:39:42 GMT -5 degen said:

Good Spotify debut but I predict this is going to have a harsh fall moving forward. Even during her prime Britney was known to do well out of the gate with no legs whatsoever. I think that trajectory can be applied here but even more heightened since there’s a nostalgia factor attached to this that will certainly wear off, along with universally mixed reviews.

We'll see. This is certainly the most radio/GP-friendly thing she's released in quite some time.

[Daenerys]

I'm surprised there is so much discussion about if Britney is on this song or not. I recently heard the song on the radio for the first time this morning, and her ad libs are what sell the song. They are the hook.

I can't imagine her being more prominent on this, unless Elton's vocal was erased. Maybe fans and listeners just want a new solo Britney single.

[upsidedown]

First day was actually even higher - 3.5M unfiltered!

[Koochie]

Britney threads are always fun because there are always a bunch of people debating whether or not she’s still relevant, and have been doing so for the past 14 years to varying degrees of success.

You’d think at a certain point those same people would take the hint and realize that, if they’re still asking that question after all this time, the answer is still yes.

[Maximillian]

Aug 27, 2022 16:32:52 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Britney threads are always fun because you have a bunch of people debating whether or not she’s still relevant, and have been doing so for the past 14 years, with varying degrees of success.

You’d think at a certain point you’d take the hint and realize that if you’re still asking that question after all that time, the answer is still yes.

Right, like obviously this thread is on fire and people have strong opinions. I’d say people are still very interested, even if they don’t care for her.

[It's me, bitch.]

Aug 27, 2022 12:34:05 GMT -5 slw84 said:

Aug 27, 2022 6:38:33 GMT -5 think pink. said:

Whoa! Imagine if she released her own new single 😭.

This is the appetizer to the main entree coming in 2023 (B10).

Like Where are you now? was to Bieber...
Like I know what you want ft Busta Rhymes or U make me wanna f/Jadakiss was to Mariah...

I hope this is a hit with longevity from August-November before the Christmas holiday.

I think she'll put out something in 2023 after the book so this is getting her feet wet again.

Are we sure a 2023 album from Britney is coming?

[Stefan85]

Aug 27, 2022 17:35:04 GMT -5 It's me, bitch. said:

Aug 27, 2022 12:34:05 GMT -5 slw84 said:

This is the appetizer to the main entree coming in 2023 (B10).

Like Where are you now? was to Bieber...
Like I know what you want ft Busta Rhymes or U make me wanna f/Jadakiss was to Mariah...

I hope this is a hit with longevity from August-November before the Christmas holiday.

I think she'll put out something in 2023 after the book so this is getting her feet wet again.

Are we sure a 2023 album from Britney is coming?

There’s no way to tell but then again, no one saw this release coming.

[beachboi69]

Aug 27, 2022 15:59:19 GMT -5 upsidedown said:

First day was actually even higher - 3.5M unfiltered!

[slw84]

Aug 27, 2022 17:35:04 GMT -5 It's me, bitch. said:

Aug 27, 2022 12:34:05 GMT -5 slw84 said:

This is the appetizer to the main entree coming in 2023 (B10).

Like Where are you now? was to Bieber...
Like I know what you want ft Busta Rhymes or U make me wanna f/Jadakiss was to Mariah...

I hope this is a hit with longevity from August-November before the Christmas holiday.

I think she'll put out something in 2023 after the book so this is getting her feet wet again.

Are we sure a 2023 album from Britney is coming?

I think her putting out Hold Me Closer measures the temperature of interest. Elton has his own agenda but if this takes off I think she will look into more music and it doesn't take her long to create.

But here's to hoping Hold me closer has legs.