Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ Holds Atop Hot 100, ‘Late Night Talking’ Leaps to No. 3
Plus, OneRepublic's "I Ain't Worried" hits the Hot 100's top 10, jumping 14-8.
By Gary Trust
09/12/2022Harry Styles‘ “As It Was” posts a 13th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
Meanwhile, Styles’ follow-up single, “Late Night Talking,” with both songs from his album Harry’s House, surges from No. 12 to a new No. 3 Hot 100 high, following the arrival of new versions of “Talking” made available for purchase in the tracking week. Styles becomes the first artist with two songs in the chart’s top three spots simultaneously this year.
“As It Was” concurrently returns to No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart after a 13-week break, the longest between reigns for a song in the list’s history.
Plus, OneRepublic‘s “I Ain’t Worried” jumps from No. 14 to No. 8 on the Hot 100, marking the band’s fourth top 10 and first since 2014. The Ryan Tedder-fronted act also becomes the latest to have notched top 10s in the 2000s, ’10s and ’20s, and one of just three groups to earn the honor.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Sept. 17, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 13). For all chart news, you can follow
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“As It Was,” released on Erskine/Columbia Records, tallied 68.4 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 2%), 15.8 million streams (up 3%) and 3,000 downloads sold (down 13%) in the Sept. 2-8 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The single rebounds from No. 2 for a fifth week atop Radio Songs; rises 7-5 on Streaming Songs, after two weeks on top starting in its debut week in April; and drops 19-21 on Digital Song Sales, following a week in charge in May.
13 Weeks, 13 Songs
“As It Was” becomes one of just 13 songs in the Hot 100’s history, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception, to reign for at least 13 weeks. It boasts the longest command since Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, ruled for a record 19 weeks in 2019.
Most Weeks Ever in Hot 100’s Top Two
“As It Was” breaks the record for the most weeks spent in the Hot 100’s top two positions, having logged 22 of its 23 weeks on the chart in the top two, from its April 16 debut through the newest, Sept. 17-dated survey.
Most Weeks in the Hot 100’s Top Two:
22, “As It Was,” Harry Styles, beginning April 16, 2022 (13 weeks at No. 1, 9 weeks at No. 2)
21, “Stay,” The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber, Aug. 14, 2021 (7, 14)
19, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, April 13, 2019 (19, 0)
18, “Uptown Funk!,” Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Jan. 17, 2015 (14, 4)
17, “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, May 27, 2017 (16, 1)
The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” added its 21st week in the Hot 100’s top two on the chart dated this April 9 – with Columbia having released the songs with the three longest runs in the Hot 100’s top two ranks, all since 2019.
No. 1 for 13 Weeks Over 23 Weeks“As It Was” has now placed atop the Hot 100 for 13 weeks over a span of 23 weeks, from its debut through the current chart. (In its other 10 weeks on the list, it ranked at, as noted above, No. 2 for nine weeks, plus No. 3 for one frame.) The song extends the longest span of a title topping the tally in a single release cycle. (Overall, Mariah Carey’s 1994 carol “All I Want for Christmas Is You” holds the record for the longest stretch from a song’s first to its most recent week at No. 1: two years and three weeks [Dec. 21, 2019-Jan. 8, 2022]).
Record Return to No. 1 on Radio SongsOn the Radio Songs chart, “As It Was” rebounds to No. 1 after 13 weeks between Nos. 2 and 3, during which Jack Harlow’s “First Class” led for four frames and Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” ruled for nine. That’s easily the longest break between stints at the summit for a title since Radio Songs began in December 1990, surpassing three songs that each logged three-week gaps between No. 1 stays, most recently Drake’s “One Dance,” featuring WizKid and Kyla, in 2016.
Before that, two songs traded turns atop Radio Songs over 12 weeks in 2001, for three blocks at a time each: Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’ ” (Aug. 18-Sept. 1; Sept. 29-Oct. 13) and Jennifer Lopez’s “I’m Real,” featuring Ja Rule (Sept. 8-22; Oct. 20-Nov. 3). (Billboard‘s “Between the Bullets” column in the Oct. 20, 2001, issue dubbed the run of hand-offs a “hip-hop flip-flop.”)
With “As It Was” having first led Radio Songs beginning on the May 21 chart, as well as on the lists dated May 28, June 4 and 11 and now Sept. 17, it has reigned over a span of 18 weeks, the third-longest stretch of a song ranking at No. 1, after The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” which ruled for 26 weeks over a span of 28 weeks (2020), and Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” which led for 18 weeks over a 19-week span (1998).
Talking ‘Talking’Meanwhile, Styles’ “Late Night Talking” surges 12-3 on the Hot 100, besting its previous No. 4 peak set upon its June 4 debut, concurrent that week with the No. 1 Billboard 200 launch of parent LP Harry’s House (with 521,000 equivalent album units, the largest week for an album this year).
“Talking” holds at its No. 4 high on Radio Songs (62 million, up 3%) and bounds 40-28 on Streaming Songs (9.2 million, up 8%), while sporting a 731% gain to 15,000 sold, digital and physical singles combined, as it wins the Hot 100’s top Sales Gainer award. On Sept. 2, the song was released in Styles’ official webstore with new digital artwork, along with an instrumental version for download (both for the standard $1.29) and the original version on cassette ($17.98), 7-inch vinyl ($15.98) and CD ($10.98).
Thanks to “As It Was” and “Talking,” Styles is the first artist this year to claim two of the Hot 100’s top three in a single week, and the first since Drake dominated with a record nine simultaneous top 10s, including the entire top five, on the Sept. 18, 2021, chart.
Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” holds at its No. 2 Hot 100 high, as it posts a fourth week at No. 1 on Streaming Songs (20 million, down 2%) and earns the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer nod (32.8 million, up 19%). It also leads the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a third week each and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs charts for a second frame each, a week after it became the first song to rule all five lists (dating to October 2012, when Billboard‘s main genre-based song charts adopted the Hot 100’s methodology).
Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top five, Nicky Youre and dazy’s “Sunroof” rises 5-4 for a new best and Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” descends 3-5, after two weeks at No. 1 beginning in late July.
Post Malone’s “I Like You (A Happier Song),” featuring Doja Cat, climbs 8-6 for a new Hot 100 high and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” repeats at No. 7, three weeks after it roared in at No. 1, as it leads the multi-metric Hot Rap Songs chart for a fourth week.
OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried” charges 14-8 on the Hot 100, with 39.4 million in radio airplay audience (up 4%), 12.8 million streams (up 7%) and 6,000 sold (down 8%).
The band notches its fourth Hot 100 top 10 and first since 2014, when “Counting Stars” hit No. 2. The group also reached No. 8 with “Good Life” (2011) and No. 2 as featured on its breakthrough hit “Apologize” by Timbaland (2007). OneRepublic becomes the 18th act with top 10s in the 2000s, ’10s and ’20s – and one of just three groups in those ranks, joining Coldplay and Maroon 5. (A week earlier, Britney Spears added her name to the list of all such acts with the debut of her and Elton John’s “Hold Me Closer”).
“Worried” is the first Hot 100 top 10 from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack, released in May; the set’s “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga reached No. 49 in June, as well as No. 2 on Digital Song Sales and No. 33 on Radio Songs. (The original Top Gun soundtrack yielded Berlin’s No. 1 ballad “Take My Breath Away,” which led the list dated Sept. 13, 1986, plus Kenny Loggins’ No. 2-peaking “Danger Zone” and Loverboy’s No. 12 hit “Heaven in Your Eyes” the same year.)
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” falls 4-9, after hitting No. 3, and Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” re-enters the region, rising 13-10, after it debuted at its No. 6 high on the May 28 chart; the latter leads the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart for a fourth week.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow
billboard and
billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Sept. 17), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 13).
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.
