Drake, Toby Keith and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ have an enormous week on the charts : NPR

It is a sluggish week on the Billboard charts, because the July 4 vacation weekend introduced little in the way in which of latest releases. However a couple of albums and singles are nonetheless having a big impact, beginning with Drake‘s new single (“What Did I Miss?”) and the burgeoning phenomenon of the Netflix unique film KPop Demon Hunters, whose soundtrack is storming the charts. And the scarcity of latest albums created a gap for none apart from Toby Keith, whose 35 Greatest Hits surged again into the highest 10 on the energy of vacation streaming.

TOP ALBUMS

This week’s Billboard charts mirror a sluggish vacation weekend, as only a handful of main artists bothered to drop new music and plenty of listeners took a break from their ordinary streaming routines. Which means just one debut within the high half of the Billboard 200 albums chart — Kesha‘s . (Interval), which bows at No. 17 — and treasured little momentum for most up-to-date titles.

How unhealthy was the drop-off for final week’s debuts? Lorde‘s Virgin, KATSEYE‘s Stunning Chaos EP and Russ’s W!LD all drop out of the highest 10 seven days later — W!LD plummets out of the Billboard 200 completely — regardless of dealing with just about no competitors from newer titles. Virgin and Stunning Chaos stay within the high 25, however each are outperformed by classic albums akin to Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours.

Talking of classic titles filling a vacuum, the late nation star Toby Keith blows again into the highest 10 with 35 Greatest Hits, the best-of compilation that briefly topped the Billboard 200 after the singer’s demise in 2024. That assortment was one in every of a number of beneficiaries of Independence Day-themed streaming — Bruce Springsteen‘s Best Hits re-enters the chart at No. 107, presumably resulting from listeners streaming “Born in the united statesA.” — as Keith’s 9/11-themed single “Courtesy of the Purple, White and Blue (The Indignant American)” additionally re-enters the Sizzling 100 singles chart at No. 31.

Even in a down week for streaming, two albums stay recession-proof. Morgan Wallen‘s I am the Downside stays this summer season’s sturdiest juggernaut, because it holds at No. 1 for an eighth consecutive week due to blockbuster streaming numbers which have barely budged from week to week. And the soundtrack to the Netflix animated movie KPop Demon Hunters has graduated from “buzzy curiosity” to “bona fide sensation,” because it rises from No. 3 to No. 2.

As with I am the Downside, the chart success of KPop Demon Hunters‘ soundtrack is pushed largely by streaming: Even in a vacation week when most albums posted decrease numbers, streams for KPop Demon Hunters rose 24%. It is now one in every of simply 4 soundtracks to hit the highest two within the 2020s, following Depraved, Barbie and Encanto; in actual fact, this week marks the largest streaming week for a soundtrack since Encanto was posting its eighth week at No. 1 again in 2022. KPop Demon Hunters nonetheless has loads of room for progress, too, as its many earworms (lookin’ at you, “Golden”) get added to radio playlists and its bodily editions (a CD in August, vinyl in October) lastly drop.

Subsequent week, the chart supremacy of KPop Demon Hunters — and I am the Downside, for that matter — will possible be a minimum of momentarily threatened by the shock arrival of Justin Bieber‘s SWAG final Friday. However neither album goes wherever.

TOP SONGS

For a sixth nonconsecutive week, Alex Warren‘s “Abnormal” sits atop Billboard‘s Sizzling 100 singles chart, thanks largely to an awesome presence on business radio playlists. However, whilst the same old historical suspects preserve hanging across the high 10, two gate-crashing singles — one by a chart mainstay, one by a fictional newcomer — make their presence felt.

Drake’s “What Did I Miss?” — the primary single from ICEMAN, the rapper’s forthcoming album — dominated the hip-hop discourse over the vacation weekend, because it assesses among the fallout from Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar. The track debuts sturdy this week, getting into the Sizzling 100 at No. 2, and extends Drake’s file for many high 10 hits in Billboard chart historical past. He now has 81 high 10 songs, with Taylor Swift coming in at No. 2 with 59.

The highest 10’s different entry comes courtesy of HUNTR/X; that is one of many fictional Ok-pop teams in Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters. As with Drake’s latest hit, HUNTR/X’s “Golden” — carried out by real-life singers EJAE, REI AMI and Tiny Desk veteran Audrey Nuna — derives most of its chart warmth from streaming reasonably than airplay. This week, it climbs from No. 23 to No. 6. (HUNTR/X’s in-film rivals in Saja Boys are making a transfer of their very own, as their track “Your Idol” climbs from No. 31 to No. 16; in all, eight songs from the soundtrack flip up on this week’s Sizzling 100.)

Elsewhere within the high 10, the same old suspects simply carry on keepin’ on — together with Teddy Swims, whose “Lose Management” extends its all-time information for longest Sizzling 100 run (99 weeks!) and longest stretch within the high 10. With Justin Bieber’s new album slated to explode on subsequent week’s charts and KPop Demon Hunters‘ songs on the rise, will Swims’ run within the high 10 finish at 69 weeks? That’d be good.

WORTH NOTING

The highest 10 chart success of HUNTR/X’s “Golden” naturally raises a couple of questions concerning the historical past of fictional “bands” touchdown on the Billboard charts. Fortunately, Billboard itself has assembled a helpful information — within the course of noting that 4 fictional acts have landed songs at No. 1 on the Sizzling 100:

• The Chipmunks, “The Chipmunk Music” (No. 1 in 1958). The primary Christmas track to high the Sizzling 100, many years earlier than vacation requirements started to dominate the December charts. (The Sizzling 100 originated that yr, however nonetheless, it was a feat.)
• The Archies, “Sugar Sugar” (No. 1 in 1969). The Archies have been, after all, stand-ins for the Archie Comics characters.
• The Partridge Household, “I Assume I Love You” (No. 1 in 1970). The Partridge Household was a healthful ABC sitcom a couple of household band that bore the identical identify. Although a lot of the actors did not really sing on recordings attributed to The Partridge Household, David Cassidy and Shirley Jones do seem on “I Assume I Love You,” with Cassidy singing lead.
• The Heights, “How Do You Discuss to an Angel” (No. 1 in 1992). Led by singer Jamie Walters, The Heights have been the pretend band that gave a short-lived Fox drama its identify. The present obtained canceled whereas “How Do You Discuss to an Angel” was nonetheless on the charts.

The Billboard piece goes deeper than that, because it runs by way of many fictional faves — The Wonders! The Banana Splits! Spinal Faucet! Hannah Montana! 2gether! Sesame Road‘s Ernie! So many extra!

In the event you learn the article and end up questioning why Billboard by no means mentions MC Skat Kat — the cartoon cat who appeared in the video for Paula Abdul’s 1989 chart-topper “Opposites Entice” — it is as a result of MC Skat Kat is an actual man whose accomplishments in life ought to by no means be overshadowed by the lurid nature of his grisly demise. (Okay, superb, it is as a result of the precise “Opposites Entice” single is credited to Paula Abdul that includes The Wild Pair. The Wild Pair was a pair of real-life guys who have been, in keeping with reviews, wild.)

All of which is to say that, ought to HUNTR/X land atop the Sizzling 100 within the weeks and months to return, the group will be a part of some actually legendary firm.