Drake Beats The Beatles’ Record For Most Simultaneous Songs In The Top 10
Arthur Mola/Invision/AP
Drake dominates the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated 7/14) in record-breaking fashion, as his new LP Scorpion launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the biggest week of consumption for an album in 2018. Atop the Hot 100, the set’s “Nice for What” rebounds from No. 6 to No. 1 for an eighth total week at the summit.
Among Drake’s record feats on the Hot 100, he boasts seven songs in the top 10 simultaneously, besting the Beatles’ record of five that had stood since 1964. (The Beatles remain the only act to monopolize the Hot 100’s entire top five in a week.) Drake adds five new Hot 100 top 10s, upping his career count to 31, passing Michael Jackson for the most among male soloists; one of those new top 10s, “Don’t Matter to Me,” features Jackson, who earns his 30th top 10.
Beyond the top 10, Drake charts 27 songs overall on the July 14-dated Hot 100, breaking his own record for the most simultaneously charted titles. All 25 tracks from Scorpion, released on Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records, appear on the chart.
Let’s run down Drake’s numerous achievements and the top 10 on the newest Hot 100, which blends all-genre streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (July 10).
Record-breaking seven simultaneous top 10s: Here’s a look at all seven of Drake’s songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 on the July 14-dated chart, five of which reach the region for the first time:
Rank this week, Title (Rank last week)
No. 1, “Nice for What” (No. 6; eighth week at No. 1)
No. 2, “Nonstop” (debut this week)
No. 4, “God’s Plan” (No. 9; previously spent 11 weeks at No. 1)
No. 6, “In My Feelings” (debut this week)
No. 7, “I’m Upset” (No. 26; previously reached No. 15)
No. 8, “Emotionless” (debut this week)
No. 9, “Don’t Matter to Me,” featuring Michael Jackson (debut this week)
Drake breaks the prior record of five simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s by the Beatles. On April 4, 1964, at the height of early Beatlemania, the band dominated the entire top five, with, in order from No. 1 to No. 5, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Twist and Shout,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Please Please Me.” The following week, the same five songs placed between Nos. 1 and 9.
The 6 God Passes the King of Pop: With five new Hot 100 top 10s (“Nonstop,” “Feelings,” “Upset,” “Emotionless” and “Matter”), Drake ups his career total to 31 Hot 100 top 10s, passing the late Michael Jackson for the most among solo males. Still, Jackson adds his 30th top 10, via his featured turn on “Matter,” which is built around an unreleased Jackson track (and is now being promoted as a single to pop radio).
Drake ties Rihanna for the third-most Hot 100 top 10s, while he and Jackson become only the fourth and fifth acts to reach the milestone of at least 30 top 10s. Here is an updated look at the acts with the most Hot 100 top 10s, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception:
38, Madonna
34, The Beatles
31, Drake
31, Rihanna
30, Michael Jackson
28, Mariah Carey
28, Stevie Wonder
27, Janet Jackson
27, Elton John
Along with his 30 solo Hot 100 top 10s, The Jackson 5/Jacksons scored 11 top 10s with Jackson as a member.
(“Emotionless,” new on the Hot 100 at No. 8, samples a remix of Mariah Carey’s three-week 1991 No. 1 “Emotions,” although she is not credited as an artist on “Emotionless.” As a co-writer of “Emotionless,” via its sample, Carey earns her 25th Hot 100 top 10 as a songwriter.)
Record-breaking four top 10 debuts: With four debuts in the Hot 100’s top 10 (“Nonstop,” “Feelings,” “Emotionless” and “Matter”), Drake is the first act with that many arrivals in the bracket in a week. He passes J. Cole, who debuted three songs in the top 10 on May 5, as parent album KOD launched atop the Billboard 200: “ATM” (No. 6), “Kevin’s Heart” (No. 8) and the title track (No. 10).
Record-breaking 27 titles on Hot 100 this week: Drake breaks his own record for the most concurrent Hot 100 titles, charting 27 songs on the latest list. He previously logged 24 on the April 8, 2017-dated chart, when More Life, his LP prior to Scorpion, debuted atop the Billboard 200. He also charted 21 titles on the April 15, 2017-dated Hot 100 and became the first artist to log 20 songs simultaneously, on the May 21, 2016-dated Hot 100, when his album Views opened atop the Billboard 200.
(Beyond Drake’s four weeks of at least 20 concurrent Hot 100 entries, Post Malone and The Weeknd have each charted as many as 18 in a week. The former notched that sum on May 12, when his album beerbongs & bentleys began atop the Billboard 200, while The Weeknd reached that total on Dec. 17, 2016, concurrent with the No. 1 Billboard 200 start of his set Starboy.)
Drake also bests Post Malone for the most simultaneous top 20 Hot 100 hits (12, passing the former’s nine on May 12) and the most simultaneous top 40 Hot 100 hits (21, surpassing the former’s 14, also on May 12).
186 career charted Hot 100 titles: With 22 debuts on the July 14-dated Hot 100, Drake ups his career count to 186 appearances, dating to his debut with “Best I Ever Had” in 2009. Only the Glee Cast has tallied more titles, 207. Lil Wayne ranks third with 138.
‘Nice’ at No. 1 on the Hot 100: “Nice for What” returns for an eighth week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 fueled most heavily by its 63 percent gain to 41.9 million U.S. streams in the week ending July 5, according to Nielsen Music, as it bullets at No. 10 on the Streaming Songs chart. It ranks at No. 5 on the Radio Songs chart with 92.3 million audience impressions, down 1 percent, in the week ending July 8.
“Nice is the first song to notch four distinct runs at No. 1 on the Hot 100. It first led for four consecutive weeks from its April 21 debut at No. 1; added two weeks on top on June 2 and 9; and ruled again on June 23. Most recently, The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” had totaled three separate stays at the summit in 2015.
“Nice” also holds atop the Songs of the Summer chart, which ranks the top-performing titles on the Hot 100 between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and rebounds for an eighth week atop both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
‘Nonstop’ No. 1 in streaming: Drake’s “Nonstop” starts at No. 1 on Streaming Songs with 58.6 million U.S. streams, becoming Drake’s record-extending sixth leader on the list. Justin Bieber ranks second with four, followed by Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, each with three since the list launched in 2013.
Rap keeps ruling: Rap songs have now led the Hot 100 for a record-extending 24 consecutive weeks. The streak has encompassed Drake’s “Plan” (for 11 weeks) and “Nice” (eight); Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” (two); Post Malone’s “Psycho,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign (one); XXXTentacion’s “Sad!” (one); and, last week’s leader, Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin’s “I Like It.”
As for the three songs not by Drake in the Hot 100’s top 10 this week, Cardi B, Bad Bunny and Balvin’s “I Like It” ranks highest, dropping to No. 3 after topping the chart a week ago. It holds at No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart with 47,000 downloads sold in the week ending July 5, up 7 percent, and rises 7-6 on Radio Songs (88.9 million, up 14 percent), while falling 3-16 on Streaming Songs, despite a 3 percent gain to 38.7 million. (Drake dominates the top eight spots on Streaming Songs; no act had previously charted more than the top two simultaneously.)
Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, slips to No. 5 on the Hot 100 from its No. 4 peak, as it leads Digital Song Sales for a fifth week (49,000, up 8 percent) and adds top Airplay Gainer honors on the Hot 100 for a fifth consecutive week, as it lifts 15-10 on Radio Songs (72.6 million, up 22 percent). Maroon 5 notches its 16th Radio Songs top 10, extending its mark for the most among groups, dating to the chart’s 1990 origin; Destiny’s Child ranks second among groups with 10 top 10s.
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, XXXTentacion’s “Sad!” falls 2-10.
This week’s Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts, dated July 14, reflect the first week of Billboard’s new weighting tiers for streams, with a greater emphasis now given to paid-subscription streams. Plus, Billboard has applied a formula adjustment, as is regularly administered, to the Hot 100 (and genre charts that employ the same streaming, airplay and sales-based methodology) to rebalance the ratio among streaming, airplay and sales to account for changes in music consumption patterns, i.e., continued increases in streaming and decreases in sales.
A version of this article originally appeared on Billboard.
