“Old Town Road” Is #1 For The 6th Week, “ME!” Drops To #3
Lil Nas X extends his reign atop the Billboard Hot 100 to a sixth week with “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.
Meanwhile, two songs launch on the Hot 100 in the top five: Shawn Mendes debuts at a career-best No. 2 rank with “If I Can’t Have You” and Logic enters at No. 5 with “Homicide,” featuring Eminem.
As on the Hot 100, “Road” leads the Streaming Songs chart for a sixth week, with 104.1 million U.S. streams (up less than 1%) in the week ending May 9, according to Nielsen Music. “Road” set the weekly streaming record following the April 5 arrival of its remix with Cyrus, and now claims five of the seven biggest streaming weeks ever:
Total weekly U.S. streams, Title, Artist, Chart date
143 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, April 20, 2019
125.2 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, April 27, 2019
116.2 million, “In My Feelings,” Drake, July 28, 2018
114.4 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, May 4, 2019
106.2 million, “In My Feelings,” Drake, Aug. 4, 2018
104.1 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, May 11, 2019
104 million, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, May 11, 2019
“Road” rebounds 2-1 on the Digital Song Sales chart for a fourth week at No. 1, with 78,000 downloads sold (up 1%) in the week ending May 9.
As “Road” marks Lil Nas X’s first Hot 100 entry, he boasts the longest-leading debut No. 1 (among artists billed as leads) since OMI ruled for six weeks in 2015 with his first Hot 100 hit, “Cheerleader.” No such rookie No. 1 has led longer since earlier in 2015, when Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!,” featuring Bruno Mars, dominated for 14 weeks beginning that January. (Before then, Ronson tallied two top 10s as a writer and producer, of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” a No. 9 hit in 2007, and Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” No. 1 for six weeks in 2012-13.)
“Road” concurrently adds a sixth week at No. 1 on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
Mendes’ “If I Can’t Have You” soars in at a personal-best No. 2 on the Hot 100, as it opens at No. 2 on Digital Song Sales (64,000) and No. 8 on Streaming Songs (24 million) and bounds 43-27 on Radio Songs (35.7 million).
Taylor Swift’s “Me!,” featuring Brendon Urie, dips to No. 3 from its No. 2 Hot 100 high reached a week earlier, when it made a record 98-spot vault after its first full week of tracking. The collab falls from No. 1 to No. 4 on Digital Song Sales (29,000, down 85%) and 2-5 on Streaming Songs (26.8 million, down 47%), while ascending to the Radio Songs top 10 (13-10; 62.2 million, up 15%).
Swift scores her 15th Radio Songs top 10, while Panic! at the Disco frontman Urie earns his first as a soloist; In December, Panic achieved its first No. 1 (with its first top 10), as “High Hopes” began a 14-week command.
More rundown and analysis of the Billboard Top 10 for the week can be found here.
A version of this article appeared on Billboard.