Ariana Grande‘s “Positions” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, while Luke Combs‘ “Forever After All” bounds in at No. 2. Both releases make personally history for each respective artist.
Grande earns her fifth Hot 100 leader status and further extends her record for the most No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100 Billboard, as all of her No. 1s have elevated and blasted at the summit.
Here’s a deeper look at at the coronation of “Positions,” released Oct. 23 on Republic Records as the title track from Grande’s new album, released Oct. 30. The song is the 1,113th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 62-year history.
Streams, sales & airplay: “Positions” drew 35.3 million U.S. streams and sold 34,000 in the week ending Oct. 29, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also tallied 19.9 million radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending Nov. 1.
The track opens at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, where it’s Grande’s third leader, No. 2 on Digital Song Sales and No. 41 on Radio Songs. Breaking down the song’s first-week sales, it sold 31,000 digital downloads and 3,000 CD singles that were available in Grande’s webstore for $5 each.
Grande’s 5th No. 1 … & record 5th No. 1 debut: Here is a recap of Grande’s five Hot 100 No. 1s, all of which have debuted in the top spot.
Title, Weeks at No. 1, Date Debuted No. 1
“Thank U Next,” seven, Nov. 17, 2018
“7 Rings,” eight, Feb. 2, 2019
“Stuck With U,” with Justin Bieber, one, May 23, 2020
“Rain on Me,” with Lady Gaga, one (to date), June 6, 2020
“Positions,” one (to date), Nov. 7, 2020
Grande makes history as the first artist with five Hot 100 No. 1 debuts. She extends her lead over Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Drake and Travis Scott, each with three.
Grande also becomes the first artist with three No. 1 Hot 100 debuts in a single year, as “Positions” joins “Rain on Me” and “Stuck With U” as her three 2020 chart-topping entrants.
Earning the trio in a span of five months and two weeks, Grande bests Travis Scott (a week shy of a year in 2019-20) for the fastest accumulation of three No. 1 Hot 100 debuts.
Grande is the first artist to send three songs to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in a single year since Drake tripled up in 2018. She’s the first woman (and only act other than Drake) to achieve the feat since Rihanna ascended to No. 1 with four songs and Katy Perry did so with three, both in 2010.
So far to close out 2020, Ariana is having quite the ride to end off the year, and we’ll see if she can end it off strong.
Sonus Magazine 