The release of Lizzo‘s “Special” album finally gave her “about Damn Time” single the surge it needed to conquer the Billboard Hot 100, after the song had bided its time for weeks in the No. 2 spot on that chart, waiting to knock Harry Styles’ long-standing “As It Was” out of the top position.
The Lizzo album itself had to settle for a No. 2 entry on the Billboard 200, since Bad Bunny‘s “Un Verano Sin Ti” album — now in its sixth non-consecutive week on top — is proving even harder to push out of the way than Styles’ single was.
The second-place finish for “Special” did represent Lizzo’s high mark on the album chart to date. It landed in that spot on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 equivalent album units, versus the 103,000 that kept Bad Bunny on top.
On the Hot 100, “about Damn Time” lived up to its name by finally ascending to the top position after first debuting at No. 30 back in April. Radio airplay was up 3% for the week, but where Lizzo’s song really saw a surge was in streams, which increased 18.3% to 14.3 million, as attention being paid to the full album increased the single’s consumption. It’s her second No. 1 on the chart, after “Truth Hurts” commanded the top spot for seven weeks back in 2019.
Styles’ decline to No. 2 on the chart after an impressive 10-week run at No. 1 was hardly anything to cry about, especially now that he has two songs in the top 10. A new video for “Late Night Talking” pushed that track up two positions to No. 9 — not as high as the No. 4 the song rated upon its debut in June, but give it time.
Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” rises a position to No. 3, the high to date for the “Stranger Things”-boosted oldie. Streaming is starting to wane for the classic track (down 10% for the week), yet radio airplay is sharply up, by 26%. It is now in the top 10 on multiple Billboard airplay charts, including radio songs, pop airplay, adult pop airply, adult contemporary and alternative.
Billboard notes that no non-holiday song has taken longer to rise to the top three on the Hot 100 from its initial impact on the chart than Bush’s — 36 years, 10 months and three weeks, to be exact. (The only tunes that took longer are “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which took about 61 years and 59 years to get that high, respectively.)
Also ranking high on the Hot 100: Jack Harlow at No. 4, followed by Future featuring Drake and Tems at No. 5, Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone at No. 6, Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” at No. 7 (returning to its previous high), Glass Animals at No. 8 and Drake at No. 10.
On the album chart, two new entries besides Lizzo’s place in the top 10: Steve Lacy’s “Gemini Rights” and Itzy’s “Checkmate,” at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively.
Holdovers include Styles’ album at No. 3, Morgan Wallen at No. 4, Drake at No. 5, Future at No. 6, Brent Faiyaz at No. 9 (down seven spots from its No. 2 debut last week) and Lil Durk at No. 10.
Billboard has not yet reported the full top 200 albums, so no U.S. chart position has yet been revealed for J-Hope’s “Jack in the Box” — the first of a series of solo albums by BTS members — but it fell short of the top 10. Still, it was reported by Spotify to have reached 100 million streams on that service in eight days, faster than any other album by a Korean solo artist.
