This week鈥檚 look at the pop charts brings another week at No. 1 for Taylor Swift鈥檚 indomitable The Tortured Poets Department, whose sales have surged thanks to a flurry of discount-priced digital variants. Those efforts just happened to hold Swift nemesis Ye (formerly Kanye West, formerly a chart-topper) out of No. 1 鈥� a coincidence, no doubt. Elsewhere, the Top 5 songs remain exactly the same, the race for song of the summer enters its final laps, and Chappell Roan keeps creeping up the chart nearly a year after the release of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
TOP ALBUMS
Nearly four months after the arrival of The Tortured Poets Department, is still setting personal records 鈥� and settling a few scores.
The album sits at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the 14th nonconsecutive week, and it鈥檚 experienced a sudden surge of sales growth 鈥� a 606% increase from the previous week, as it happens 鈥� thanks to an assortment of newly released, discount-priced digital versions containing bonus tracks. The flood of alternate TTPD editions, as well as discounted physical variants available via Swift鈥檚 web store, just happened to coincide with the release of a new album from the singer鈥檚 longtime nemesis, (aka Kanye West) and rapper . Aided by its own wave of variants and discounts, Vultures 2 enters this week鈥檚 chart, appropriately enough on several levels, at No. 2.
Swift鈥檚 move to goose her album鈥檚 chart performance isn鈥檛 especially novel, given that many artists deploy similar strategies to extend a hit album or song鈥檚 chart run. For major stars, such moves generally provide a significant, if fleeting, boost. And, given the heavyweight albums that are about to drop, The Tortured Poets Department鈥檚 run at the top of the Billboard 200 seems likely to end soon enough: 鈥檚 album of country duets, F-1 Trillion, drops Friday, while 鈥檚 Short n鈥� Sweet arrives a week later.
It鈥檚 a reasonably safe guess that Swift, ever the strategist, might not put together quite so much effort to block either of those records from Billboard鈥檚 top spot.
Elsewhere on the albums chart, 鈥檚 The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess climbs from No. 4 to No. 3 鈥� a new peak that roughly coincides with the singer鈥檚 Lollapalooza appearance earlier this month. 鈥檚 One Thing at a Time drops from No. 2 to No. 4, while 鈥檚 Hit Me Hard and Soft stays at No. 5.
Speaking of Eilish, her guest appearance on 鈥檚 new remix of 鈥淕uess鈥� has helped XCX鈥檚 Brat climb from No. 9 to No. 6. 鈥檚 The Great American Bar Scene tumbles from No. 3 to No. 7; Wallen鈥檚 Dangerous: The Double Album 鈥� from January 2021! 鈥� re-enters the Top 10 by zipping from No. 11 to No. 8; 鈥檚 Stick Season climbs from No. 10 to No. 9; and the Twisters soundtrack dips from No. 8 to No. 10.
TOP SONGS
For yet another week, the remains eerily static 鈥� an indication, in case you needed one, that this year鈥檚 鈥渟ong of the summer鈥� sweepstakes have pretty well boiled down to two songs. The first is this week鈥檚 Hot 100 champ: 鈥檚 鈥淎 Bar Song (Tipsy),鈥� which holds at No. 1 for a fourth straight week (and fifth overall). Heading into the final weeks of the season, it鈥檚 got every conceivable metric working in its favor: It鈥檚 the top-streaming song, the top-selling song and the song pulling the most radio airplay. In fact, it鈥檚 the first song to top all three of those Billboard charts simultaneously since 鈥檚 鈥淓asy On Me鈥� in 2021. In other words, it鈥檚 a big, big hit.
The runner-up to 鈥淎 Bar Song鈥� this week is its only competition for the seasonal crown: Post Malone鈥檚 鈥淚 Had Some Help,鈥� featuring the help of Morgan Wallen, holds at No. 2 this week. But that song dominated early summertime, with six weeks at No. 1 鈥� the most of any song in 2024, at least so far.
Then, elsewhere in the Top 5鈥� Well, the entire Top 5 remains the exact same as last week. 鈥檚 鈥淣ot Like Us鈥� holds steady at No. 3, followed by Carpenter鈥檚 鈥淓spresso鈥� and Tommy Richman鈥檚 鈥淢illion Dollar Baby.鈥� The chart鈥檚 first mover, hitting a new peak by rising from No. 8 to No. 6, is Roan鈥檚 鈥淕ood Luck, Babe!鈥� It鈥檚 followed by another rising song, Billie Eilish鈥檚 鈥淏irds of a Feather,鈥� which also hits a new peak, climbing from No. 10 to No. 7.
Familiar songs round out the Top 10, as they so often have in recent weeks: Sabrina Carpenter鈥檚 鈥淧lease Please Please鈥� creeps up from No. 9 to No. 6, 鈥� 鈥淟ose Control鈥� drops from No. 6 to No. 9 (nice), and 鈥檚 鈥淭oo Sweet鈥� takes a similar plunge from No. 7 to No. 10.
WORTH NOTING
Looking at the songs chart, you might be wondering鈥� Uh, where are all the new songs? Well, the remainder of the Hot 100 offers a few clues as to what might crack the Top 10 once a few of the old standbys start to fade. (Seriously, people have to get sick of 鈥淟ose Control鈥� and 鈥淭oo Sweet鈥� eventually.)
One answer, unsurprisingly, is country music. Post Malone is about to drop F-1 Trillion, which is bound to boost a bunch of its songs in the weeks and months to come, while his collaborator, Wallen, has tracks at No. 13 (鈥淐owgirls,鈥� featuring ERNEST) and No. 15 (鈥淟ies Lies Lies鈥�) this week. , whose Malone duet, 鈥淕uy For That,鈥� debuted in the Top 20 last week, sits at No. 14 with his Twisters jam, 鈥淎in鈥檛 No Love in Oklahoma,鈥� while Zach Bryan鈥檚 songs and albums continue to dot the Billboard charts.
Another answer lies with the aforementioned Chappell Roan, whose Lollapalooza-sparked surge has her hitting new milestones left and right. The singer now has a personal-best seven songs on this week鈥檚 Hot 100, and all of them are climbing 鈥� six of them to new chart peaks. At No. 6, 鈥淕ood Luck, Babe!鈥� is joined by 鈥淗ot To Go!鈥� (which leaps from No. 26 to No. 17), 鈥淧ink Pony Club鈥� (No. 42 to No. 29), 鈥淩ed Wine Supernova鈥� (No. 52 to No. 47), 鈥淐asual鈥� (No. 76 to No. 62), 鈥淔emininomenon鈥� (No. 86 to No. 70) and now 鈥淢y Kink is Karma,鈥� first released as a single in May 2022, which finally debuts on the chart at No. 91.
Oh, and there are two other Hot 100 song debuts worth noting: 1) Charli XCX鈥檚 鈥淕uess鈥� remix with Billie Eilish enters this week鈥檚 chart at No. 12; and 2) 鈥檚 鈥淏ye Bye Bye鈥� re-enters the Hot 100 at No. 45. Deadpool & Wolverine, it turns out, has long coattails.
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