Billboard Hot 100: 11/12/2022

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Rihanna also released new music all the time and had current singles out there for literal years on end, so while she had hype behind the new albums, she was never one to have a tonne of promo and effort put into first weeks. I think ANTI changed that a bit with her, but even still, it’s a different time now and people have been waiting for new Rihanna, so it’s not like she’d drop a bop and it would be a grower. People would eat it up! If this were a banger, it absolutely could be a #1 debut. Even now that it’s not, I’m sure a Top 10 debut is still within the cards.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

Oct 28, 2022 8:21:54 GMT -5 iHype. said:

Oct 28, 2022 7:46:41 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

She was never a big first week force, nothing to do with airplay.

We Found Love debuted #7 on Sales and Diamonds also debuted #7 on Sales.

Her albums all struggled to debut #1 and her first week ceiling was always 150-250k, versus many of her peers doing 500k+ openings at their peaks.

She was always a slow burner, many people thought her first weeks were never huge because of the constant releasing and to the public her eras sorted blended together.

I agree with the slow burner part, but it should be noted that Diamonds was released on Wednesday and We Found Love on Thursday (when the weekly tracking period was from Monday to Sunday) and Work on Wednesday (when the tracking period was from Friday to Thursday). It's like, she never really cared about it, she knew she would get there eventually.😂

[iHype.]

Oct 28, 2022 8:37:38 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

Oct 28, 2022 8:21:54 GMT -5 iHype. said:

She was never a big first week force, nothing to do with airplay.

We Found Love debuted #7 on Sales and Diamonds also debuted #7 on Sales.

Her albums all struggled to debut #1 and her first week ceiling was always 150-250k, versus many of her peers doing 500k+ openings at their peaks.

She was always a slow burner, many people thought her first weeks were never huge because of the constant releasing and to the public her eras sorted blended together.

I agree with the slow burner part, but it should be noted that Diamonds was released on Wednesday and We Found Love on Thursday (when the weekly tracking period was from Monday to Sunday) and Work on Wednesday (when the tracking period was from Friday to Thursday). It's like, she never really cared about it, she knew she would get there eventually.😂

Her lead singles dropping mid-week was because even her team knew she wasn't going to do a strong debut out the gate so an emphasis on first weeks did not matter lol.

Diamonds only reached #4 on iTunes first week, and didn't crack top 3 until 1 month later.
We Found Love reached #2 on iTunes first week, and didn't re-peak until 1 month later also.

They were never going to be close to being #1 debuts in any scenario. 

[king_billboard_100]

I think Lift Me Up is a great song. Its not a hit but she definitely has a hit on the way so relax

[fengyu]

definitely top 10 based on hype alone

[joshtheking]

is Lift Me Up being sent to radio?

[Choco]

Oct 28, 2022 10:43:01 GMT -5 fengyu said:

definitely top 10 based on hype alone

I'd agree but I also think there's a very strong chance the daily drops might be nasty after initial hype dies down. It's not exactly a fun track that lends itself to repeated plays, by design.

Oct 28, 2022 10:54:45 GMT -5 joshtheking said:

is Lift Me Up being sent to radio?

Yup, went for adds immediately.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

And instrumental is #46

[Choco]

Is she coming??

[rosalina4812]

Oct 28, 2022 12:47:18 GMT -5 Choco said:

Is she coming??

She is pulling a Charlie Puth and she might be more successful about it. Grow a fanbase on Tiktok based on your previous hits -> free marketing for your next single.

[m450n]

lift me up is gonna do really good first day and then crash, let's not lie to ourselves.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

I think it'll have some longevity because of the movie.

[m450n]

Oct 28, 2022 14:44:31 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

I think it'll have some longevity because of the movie.

oh for sure, i just meant it will debut with like 3 million and then drop to like 1 mil

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

[Ryan]

[Music Fan]

Oct 28, 2022 12:47:18 GMT -5 Choco said:

Is she coming??

I think the song is connecting well on TikTok and actually is radio friendly. So, I see this being moderately successful. Maybe slightly better than Charlie, but not an ADT TikTok to mainstream success.

[M5AGTS]

Rihanna's new song is drop dead gorgeous. Also Charli D'amelio's song actually is quite good to my astonishment.

[atg]

Oct 28, 2022 14:55:27 GMT -5 Ryan said:

“5k” views and 110k likes in 1 hour, I think this is definitely going top 3 for sure. I have seen more positive feedback surrounding the song, and i think its just here that’s saying that its boring and won’t do well… it’s literally Rihanna’s comeback song whether its a movie soundtrack single or not.

[85la]

I'm liking it a lot too. It's kind of getting better with each listen, and I could definitely see this becoming another See You Again, it seems that's what they're aiming for. It has that epic, tribute sound, and also unusual in that it's very uplifting yet also haunting and smoldering at the same time. It's not great, but it's simple and has this "universal" sound that the public could really eat up, and I see this possibly becoming a worldwide smash.

[nathanalbright]

I have a fondness for melancholy ballads myself and this strikes a chord with me, personally. I'm sure there are plenty of people who will enjoy listening to it, possibly for a good while. It sounds like it could be successful on pop as well as AC and Hot AC without any difficulty.

[fridayteenage]

Oct 28, 2022 18:05:15 GMT -5 85la said:

I'm liking it a lot too. It's kind of getting better with each listen, and I could definitely see this becoming another See You Again, it seems that's what they're aiming for. It has that epic, tribute sound, and also unusual in that it's very uplifting yet also haunting and smoldering at the same time. It's not great, but it's simple and has this "universal" sound that the public could really eat up, and I see this possibly becoming a worldwide smash.

disagree

[chanman]

The track from Rihanna is decent. There is nothing wrong with it. It comes across as a simple structured song that is meant to be "thought reflecting" on listening.

It's interesting how this year turned out. Felt like music was dragging for months and then a resurgence/resurrection of "old stars"....Imagine Dragons, Kate, Beyonce, Elton, Britney, One Republic, Rihanna and others. I'm confused about where music is heading because I thought by now, there would be more new stars this year following Olivia Rodrigo's success. I mean Steve Lacy did it for me this year, but I was expecting more unknown artists to be knocking on top of the charts.. but this may happen a bit longer.

[lazer]

I don't really consider that Rihanna song to be a true comeback single since this is a movie soundtrack.

[nathanalbright]

Oct 28, 2022 21:17:57 GMT -5 chanman said:

The track from Rihanna is decent. There is nothing wrong with it. It comes across as a simple structured song that is meant to be "thought reflecting" on listening.

It's interesting how this year turned out. Felt like music was dragging for months and then a resurgence/resurrection of "old stars"....Imagine Dragons, Kate, Beyonce, Elton, Britney, One Republic, Rihanna and others. I'm confused about where music is heading because I thought by now, there would be more new stars this year following Olivia Rodrigo's success. I mean Steve Lacy did it for me this year, but I was expecting more unknown artists to be knocking on top of the charts.. but this may happen a bit longer.

I think of this year as a classic transition year, in that there are a lot of attempts at unusual songs and offbeat choices as well as old stars coming back again to try to fill up the charts, but where the musical direction isn't clear and people are waiting on what's next.  I'm not sure when we're going to get that clarity about the next thing, but I imagine we will have a lot to say about it when that time arrives.

[forg]

I think Lift Me Up will play well in the context of the movie and maybe that's what matters if her team is gunning for an Oscar.
No Time To Die and Writing's on the Wall as standalone are forgettable (hence no chart impact) but used in a movie changed things for me and not surprised they won the Oscar.

[king_billboard_100]

Maybe it’ll be Rihanna 4th #2 after PDR, RTT & WT, unless Unholy take it

[kierz7]

“LMU” is a gorgeous song.

It’s a tribute single to Chadwick Boseman, and was never going to be none other than a ballad, stylistically speaking. 💀

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that it wasn’t mid- or even uptempo but I’m not sure what they expected. Also, it apparently plays during a pivotal part of the movie.

It’s topped AM in 50 countries and will have a good Spotify debut.

Anything else for SOUNDTRACK SINGLE, in the first week, will be a plus.

[shayonce]

US AM Friday
1. Rihanna - Lift Me Up
2. Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero
3. Lil Baby - California Breeze
4. SZA - Shirt
5. Taylor Swift - Lavender Haze

36. Kodak Black - 300 Blackout
42. Juice WRLD - In My Head
45. Rihanna - Lift Me Up [Instrumental]
98. Michael Jackson - Thriller

[kierz7]

Oct 28, 2022 21:23:11 GMT -5 lazer said:

I don't really consider that Rihanna song to be a true comeback single since this is a movie soundtrack.

Also, THIS.

#R9 is clearly coming just before or after the Superbowl and she’ll drop the lead single then. She alluded to this herself at the BP premiere.

This song, so far, is getting strong reviews from major publications and has massive Oscar buzz already.

[rideordie]

I know it’s a sound track song but it’s kinda of lower than I expected.