This week, Kendrick Lamar enjoys a resurgence: His very catchy Drake diss track, 鈥淣ot Like Us,鈥� has rebounded to the top spot on Billboard鈥檚 Hot 100 singles chart for the first time since its release week back in May. Taylor Swift has outdone her own record on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and a talented upstart named Bruce Springsteen has made a chart debut. (For real.)
TOP SONGS
It was probably the release of the clever on the Fourth of July that did it: 's sneering diss track "Not Like Us" is back at No. 1, nine weeks after it debuted in the top spot.
Since then, it's been meandering between the second and sixth position. By contrast, none of Drake's own diss tracks against K-Dot are currently anywhere in the Hot 100; his collaboration with rapper , "U My Everything," is currently at No. 76. As far as sheer popularity goes, Kendrick is the clear winner in this .
Meanwhile: 's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" has dipped back down to No. 2 after one week in the top spot, followed by 's "I Had Some Help," featuring , at No. 3, Tommy Richman's "Million Dollar Baby" at No. 4 and 's "Espresso" rounding out the Top 5 (her follow-up, 鈥淧lease Please Please,鈥� is at No. 6).
TOP ALBUMS
Well, folks, she did it: With The Tortured Poets Department at No. 1 for a 12th consecutive week, has set another chart milestone. Not only has Tortured Poets beat the 11-week record of two of Swift's other albums (1989 and Fearless), but it is now the only album by a female artist to debut in the top spot and remain there for so long. (The previous record was held by for her 1987 album, Whitney.)
As Billboard , only two other albums have remained at No. 1 for their first 12 weeks after being released: 's iconic Songs in the Key of Life, which was released in 1976 and spent 14 weeks in first place, and current country star Morgan Wallen's One Thing at a Time, which in total spent 19 weeks in the top spot.
In a big upward sweep, another contemporary prince of country, , moved from 17th place last week to No. 2 with his album The Great American Bar Scene. (Remember how we said this looked like it was going to be ?)
Seventeen of the album鈥檚 19 tracks have also made it into the Hot 100. Why the big jump this week? The reason why Bar Scene didn鈥檛 chart higher last week is that it was only commercially available for one day of the last chart-tracking period.
Rounding out the Top 5 on the Billboard 200: Wallen's One Thing at a Time has tripped down to No. 3, followed by 's Hit Me Hard and Soft and 's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
WORTH NOTING
Last week鈥檚 Billboard 200 chart position for The Great American Bar Scene doesn鈥檛 tell the full story of this album鈥檚 successes so far. Bryan鈥檚 album is currently atop a number of Billboard charts: Top Streaming Albums, Top Country Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Americana/Folk Albums. Bryan鈥檚 multi-genre dominance has also made some room to introduce another singer-songwriter to the country music chart: . (Bruce Springsteen! In 2024! Forty-nine years after his first Billboard chart appearance with 1975's "Born to Run"!)
Performing as a featured artist on Bryan's song "Sandpaper," The Boss has made his debut on the Hot Country Songs chart, at No. 26. 鈥淪andpaper鈥� also landed at No. 76 on the Hot 100 this week 鈥� Springsteen's on the overall singles chart since "Working on a Dream" in 2009. It just goes to show: With a lot of effort and a vision, a talented singer-songwriter can accomplish anything!
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