Post Malone & Swae Lee’s ‘Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)’ Hits No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100
Plus, Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid's 'Eastside' ascends to the top 10.
Post Malone and Swae Lee‘s “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” rises to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is Post Malone’s third Hot 100 leader and Swae Lee’s first as a soloist; he’s also notched one No. 1 as half of duo Rae Sremmurd.
“Sunflower” dethrones Halsey‘s “Without Me” after a week atop the Hot 100, although Halsey adds a new top 10, as “Eastside,” with Benny Blanco and Khalid, climbs 11-9.
Let’s run down the top 10 of the newest, Jan. 19-dated Hot 100, which blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and digital sales data. All charts will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 15).
Up from No. 3, “Sunflower,” released on Republic Records, becomes the 1,082nd No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 60-year history, as it reigns in streaming and sales and hits the top 10 in airplay.
“Sunflower” ascends 2-1 on the Streaming Songs chart, up 17 percent to 47.6 million U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 10, according to Nielsen Music. It becomes Post Malone’s second No. 1 on the survey and Swae Lee’s first as a soloist. The track spends a second week at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales, up 19 percent to 48,000 downloads sold in the week ending Jan. 10.
On Radio Songs, “Sunflower” enters the top 10, bounding 14-10 (60.8 million audience impressions, up 17 percent, in the week ending Jan. 13). Post Malone scores his fourth Radio Songs top 10 and Swae Lee logs his second as a soloist, after reaching No. 6 as featured on French Montana’s “Unforgettable” in 2017.
Aiding its profile, a new video for “Sunflower” premiered Jan. 9. Plus, parent film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won for best animated feature film at the 76th annual Golden Globes, broadcast live on NBC Jan. 6. The film, featuring the voices of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali, among others, opened nationwide Dec. 14.
Post Malone’s 3rd No. 1, Swae Lee’s 1st solo: “Sunflower” follows Post Malone’s first two Hot 100 No. 1s: “Rockstar,” featuring 21 Savage, led for eight weeks beginning Oct. 28, 2017, and “Psycho,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign,” topped the June 16, 2018-dated chart. Dating to his first week at No. 1, Post Malone ties Drake for the most leaders in that span.
Swae Lee adds his first Hot 100 No. 1 as a soloist, to go along with a trip to the top as half of Rae Sremmurd (with brother Slim Jxmmi). The pair ruled for seven weeks beginning Nov. 26, 2016, with “Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane. Swae Lee is the first artist to lead the Hot 100 as a soloist after reigning with a duo or group since Justin Timberlake, whose “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” crowned the May 28, 2016-dated chart. With *NSYNC, he spent two weeks at No. 1 with “Bye Bye Bye” in 2000.
Speaking of Timberlake …
Spidey senses No. 1: Released from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, “Sunflower” is the first soundtrack No. 1 on the Hot 100 since Timberlake’s “Feeling,” which is from the Trolls soundtrack.
“Sunflower” also marks the first Hot 100 No. 1 from a Spider-Man franchise soundtrack. One other such song has reached the top 10: Chad Kroeger’s “Hero,” featuring Josey Scott, from Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man, hit No. 3 in July 2002.
Two co-billed solo males at No. 1: “Sunflower” is the first Hot 100 No. 1 by two co-billed male leads with no other accompanying acts in, amazingly, nearly 27 years. The last such leader also included the word “sun” in its title: George Michael and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” which topped the Feb. 1, 1992, chart. (Before that, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson teamed up for the last such No. 1: “Say Say Say,” for six weeks starting Dec. 10, 1983.)
Between “Sun” and “Sunflower,” multiple songs by co-billed male soloists hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, but with other artists in the mix. Most recently, Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin’s “I Like It” led last July 7. Prior to that collab, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, dominated for a record-tying 16 weeks in 2017.
Louis Bell rings up another leader: As noted by reader Pablo Nelson, Louis Bell is a credited writer and producer on the last two Hot 100 No. 1s. He co-wrote and co-produced “Sunflower” and co-wrote and solely produced Halsey’s “Without Me.”
Bell is the first talent to land consecutive Hot 100 No. 1s as both a writer and producer in five years, since Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald and Henry “Cirkut” Russell Walter dually claimed such credits on Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Kesha (three weeks at No. 1 beginning Jan. 18, 2014), and Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J (four weeks, Feb. 8).
R&B/hip-hop & rap ruler: “Sunflower” concurrently spends a second week at No. 1 on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
A week after becoming Halsey’s first Hot 100 No. 1 as a lead act, and second overall, following her featured turn on The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,” which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 in 2016, “Without Me” drops to No. 2. The latter track keeps at No. 2 on Digital Song Sales (39,000, essentially even week-over-week) and No. 3 on Radio Songs (102.5 million, up 7 percent) and rises 4-3 on Streaming Songs (38.3 million, up 18 percent). Halsey released a new vertical video for the song on Jan. 9.
Meanwhile, Swae Lee succeeds Halsey again: Reader Jake Rivera points out (in code) that, coincidentally, Swae Lee has now halted each of Halsey’s runs at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Before “Sunflower” took over for “Without Me” this week, Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” ended the reign of “Closer.”
Halsey concurrently climbs 11-9 on the Hot 100 with “Eastside,” with Benny Blanco and Khalid. The track keeps at No. 7 on Radio Songs (71.6 million, down 1 percent); dips 13-14 on Digital Song Sales (12,000, down 11 percent); and rises 24-19 on Streaming Songs (17.7 million, up 7 percent).
Halsey collects her fourth Hot 100 top 10, as “Eastside” follows her leaders “Without Me” and “Closer,” plus “Bad at Love” (No. 5, January 2018).
Khalid earns his third Hot 100 top 10, following his featured turn, with Alessia Cara, on Logic’s “1-800-273-8255” (No. 3, September 2017) and his duet with Normani, “Love Lies” (No. 9, September 2018).
Blanco achieves his first Hot 100 top 10 in his first visit to the chart billed as an artist. He adds his 27th top 10 as a writer, a sum that includes seven No. 1s, beginning with the chart’s first leader this decade: Kesha’s “TiK ToK,” in 2010. He most recently reigned as a writer in 2016 thanks to Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” also co-written by Ed Sheeran … who also co-wrote “Eastside”; Sheeran adds his ninth top 10 as a writer.
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Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Ariana Grande‘s “Thank U, Next” drops 2-3 after seven nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1; Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode,” which led the Dec. 8-dated list, is steady at No. 4; and, rounding out the top five, Panic! at the Disco‘s “High Hopes” remains at its No. 5 peak, as it leads Hot Rock Songs for an 11th week and Radio Songs for an eighth frame (131.7 million, up 1 percent).
Marshmello and Bastille‘s “Happier” keeps at No. 6 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3, as it tops Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for a 17th week.
Maroon 5‘s former seven-week No. 1 “Girls Like You,” featuring Cardi B, repeats at No. 7 on the Hot 100, as it logs a 29th week in the region, becoming just the seventh single in the chart’s history to reach that lofty total. Sheeran’s “Shape of You” holds the record with 33 weeks in the top 10 in 2017.
Lil Baby and Gunna‘s “Drip Too Hard” is stationary at No. 8 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 4, and Kodak Black‘s No. 2-peaking “ZEZE,” featuring Travis Scott and Offset, descends 9-10.
Find out more Hot 100 news on Billboard.com this week, and, for all chart news, you can listen (and subscribe) to Billboard‘s Chart Beat Podcast and Pop Shop Podcast and follow @billboard and @billboardcharts. And again, be sure to visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 15), when all charts, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh.
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