SZA’s “Kill Bill” Finally Hits #1
SZA’s S.O.S. has been a chart behemoth since its release in December, spending 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and sending the bulk of its tracks to the Hot 100. “Kill Bill” instantly emerged as the album’s biggest hit, climbing all the way to #2 and ultimately spending eight weeks there, stymied by hits from Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Morgan Wallen. For a while there it looked like “Kill Bill” would be one of those smashes that stalls out just short of the top spot, but as of today, the song has finally become SZA’s first career #1 hit on the Hot 100.
As Billboard reports, the release of a new “Kill Bill” remix featuring SZA’s old “Kiss Me More” duet partner Doja Cat was enough to push the track to #1. Because the remix “did not account for a majority of the song’s overall consumption” last week, Doja Cat is not listed on the chart or credited with an additional #1 hit of her own. (Doja previously reached #1 with “Say So” by similar means, adding Nicki Minaj to a remix just in time to push the song over the top.)
“Kill Bill” ties the record for second most weeks spent at #2 before hitting #1, joining the Weeknd and Daft Punk’s “Starboy,” Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” and OutKast and Sleepy Brown’s “The Way You Move.” Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” holds the record with nine weeks at #2 before reaching the top. “Kill Bill” is one of seven top-10 hits for SZA, also including the aforementioned “Kiss Me More,” “I Hate U,” the Kendrick Lamar duet “All The Stars,” “Good Days,” the Maroon 5 collab “What Lovers Do,” and “Nobody Gets Me.”
Former chart-toppers from Morgan Wallen and Miley Cyrus, “Last Night” and “Flowers,” are at #2 and #3. Debuting at #4 is the Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj collab “Princess Diana,” which becomes Minaj’s 22nd top-10 hit and Ice Spice’s second after the recent PinkPantheress team-up “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2.” Rising to a new #5 peak is Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola,” the first regional Mexican top-five hit in Hot 100 history.