J. Cole Is First Act To Debut 3 Songs In Hot 100 Top 10
As J. Cole scores his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 5), as KOD arrives with 397,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music, the rapper makes history by becoming the first act ever to debut three songs simultaneously in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
All 12 tracks from KOD debut on the Hot 100, led by “ATM” at No. 6, with “Kevin’s Heart” new at No. 8 and “KOD” an arrival at No. 10. Cole adds his second, third and fourth Hot 100 top 10s, all of which have debuted in the top tier; he first reached the region when “Deja Vu,” from his previous LP, 4 Your Eyez Only, debuted at its No. 7 peak in December 2016.
In the Hot 100’s 59-year history, no act had previously debuted three songs in the top 10 in the same week. Ed Sheeran and Drake are the only other artists to have debuted two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. Sheeran first achieved the feat with”Shape of You” (No. 1) and “Castle on the Hill” (No. 6) on Jan. 28, 2017, while Drake has doubled up twice, with “Passionfruit” (No. 8) and “Portland” (featuring Quavo and Travis Scott, No. 9) on April 8, 2017, and “God’s Plan” (No. 1) and “Diplomatic Immunity” (No. 7) this Feb. 3.
Here’s a look at all of J. Cole’s songs (all debuts) on the new, May 5-dated Hot 100:
Hot 100 Rank, Title
No. 6, “ATM”
No. 8, “Kevin’s Heart”
No. 10, “KOD”
No. 14, “Photograph”
No. 15, “Motiv8″
No. 20, “1985 (Intro to The Fall Off)”
No. 28, “The Cut Off,” featuring kiLL edward
No. 30, “Brackets”
No. 41, “Window Pain (Outro)”
No. 46, “Friends,” featuring kiLL edward
No. 47, “Once an Addict (Interlude)”
No. 53, “Intro”
Impressively, this isn’t the first time that J. Cole has charted 12 songs on the Hot 100 simultaneously, or sent an entire album to the ranking. On Dec. 31, 2016, all 10 tracks from 4 Your Eyez Only landed on the Hot 100, along with two additional non-album tracks (“False Prophets” and “Everybody Dies”).
J. Cole also becomes the first artist to have landed eight simultaneous entries in the Hot 100’s top 40 twice. Concurrent with the chart bow 4 Your Eyez Only, he charted a record 10 songs in the top 40. (Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar and Drake have each charted nine songs in the top 40 simultaneously once, while Prince and Beyoncé have both tallied eight at a time once.)
Further, this week’s Hot 100’s marks the second time that two artists each boast three simultaneous top 10s: Drake and J. Cole. Drake claims Nos. 1, 2 and 9 with, respectively, “Nice for What,””God’s Plan” and BlocBoy JB’s “Look Alive,” on which Drake is featured, joining J. Cole at Nos. 6, 8, and 10.
The only other instance of two artists owning three songs each in the top 10 simultaneously? On Aug. 30, 2014, thanks to Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea. That week, Grande held Nos. 4, 7 and 10 with, respectively, “Break Free,” featuring Zedd, “Problem,” featuring Azalea, and “Bang Bang,” with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. Azalea placed at Nos. 5, 7 and 8 with, respectively, “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX, “Problem” and “Black Widow,” featuring Rita Ora. (As Azalea and Grande shared “Problem,” however, this week marks the first time that two acts have each charted three simultaneous top 10s via six different songs.)
Grande, meanwhile, makes her own Hot 100 headlines this week as her new single “No Tears Left to Cry” launches at No. 3.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.