Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” Becomes Longest Single To Chart On The Hot 100
Songs are noticeably succinct in 2019, with, for instance, 19-week Billboard Hot 100 leader “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X the shortest #1 hit by song length since 1965.
Still, the record for the lengthiest Hot 100 hit by run time is rewritten this week, as Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” debuts at #93 on the Aug. 17-dated tally, becoming the first song in the chart’s history to make the list with a time exceeding 10 minutes. At 10 minutes and 21 seconds, it bests David Bowie’s “Blackstar,” which, running 9:57-long, reached #78 in 2016.
Here’s an updated look at the longest, as well as shortest, Hot 100 hits all-time (as researched by the invaluable Paul Haney of Joel Whitburn’s Record Research):
The Longest Hot 100 Hits
(10:21) “Fear Inoculum,” Tool, #93 peak (to date), 2019
(9:57) “Blackstar,” David Bowie, #78 peak, 2016
(9:30) “Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2),” Harry Chapin, #86, 1976
(8:55) “November Rain,” Guns N’ Roses, #3, 1992
(8:37) “American Pie (Parts I & II),” Don McLean, #1 (four weeks), 1972
The Shortest Hot 100 Hits
(0:45) “PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen),” Piko-Taro, #77, 2016
(1:02) “Little Boxes,” The Womenfolk, #83, 1964
(1:17) “Some Kind-A Earthquake,” Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and the Rebels, #37, 1959
(1:19) “Forward,” Beyonce feat. James Blake, #63, 2016
(1:20) “What I’ve Been Looking For (Reprise),” Andrew Seeley & Vanessa Anne Hudgens, #67, 2006
“Fear” additionally debuts at #20 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart, with rock radio historically known for playing long songs (such as “November Rain” and “American Pie,” as noted above). On the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart, the track starts at #28 with 2.6 million in first-week audience, according to Nielsen Music. It opens at #2 on Rock Digital Song Sales and #8 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart with 17,000 downloads sold and drew 3.5 million first-week US streams.
The song is Tool’s first new track in 13 years. The band recently made all its previous albums available on streaming and digital services for the first time, which sent 1996’s Ænima back to the top 10 this week.
This article originally appeared at Billboard.