Iggy Azalea Tops Hot 100 With ‘Fancy,’ Matches Beatles’ Historic Mark
It's a fab week for Iggy Azalea, who earns a chart honor not achieved since the Beatles swarmed the U.S. in early 1964. The Australian rapper crowns the Billboard Hot 100 with her debut hit "Fancy,"…
It’s a fab week for Iggy Azalea, who earns a chart honor not achieved since the Beatles swarmed the U.S. in early 1964. The Australian rapper crowns the Billboard Hot 100 with her debut hit “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX (2-1). As Azalea also rises 3-2 as the featured artist on Ariana Grande’s “Problem,” Azalea joins the Beatles as the only acts to rank at Nos. 1 and 2 simultaneously with their first two Hot 100 hits.
Action abounds on this week’s Hot 100, including climbs into the top 10 for Nico & Vinz and Jason Derulo, while “Fancy” additionally takes over atop the Digital Songs chart, so let’s dive into our weekly look at the numbers behind the Hot 100’s top 10 and more.
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Azalea adds a chapter to the Hot 100’s record book by achieving a feat that the Beatles last earned on the Feb. 22, 1964, chart. That week, the Fab Four’s debut pop culture-changing smash “I Want to Hold Your Hand” held at No. 1 and “She Loves You” lifted 3-2. The songs had debuted the weeks of Jan. 18 and 25, 1964, respectively, and soared to the chart’s top two spots after the band made its landmark appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964.
(Incredibly, “Hand” and “Loves” would hold the top two rungs for six weeks, with “Hand” on top for four frames before they swapped spots. On April 4, 1964, “Loves” fell 1-3 and “Hand,” 2-4, so, that week, the Beatles would have to settle for a consolation prize: the group locked up the April 4 list’s entire top five, the only time an act has monopolized the region in the Hot 100’s 55-year history.)
Flash-forward 50 years to March 22, 2014, when Azalea’s “Fancy” bowed at No. 88. On the May 17 tally, Azalea launched her second entry, as Grande’s “Problem” roared in at No. 3. (The same week, Azalea’s “Work” entered at No. 88; the cut climbs 77-63 this week.)
Expanding beyond only artists’ first two Hot 100 hits placing up at Nos. 1 and 2 in the same week, Azalea is the 15th act to double up at those ranks with any two titles. She’s the first since Pharrell Williams did so for five weeks last year as featured on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” (also featuring T.I.) and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” She’s just the third woman to rank at Nos. 1 and 2 concurrently, following Mariah Carey (Sept. 10, 2005) and Ashanti (five weeks, 2002).
Azalea additionally becomes only the fourth solo female rapper ever to top the Hot 100. Lauryn Hill was the first, having taken her debut solo hit “Doo Wop (That Thing)” to No. 1 for two weeks in November 1998. (She had first made her mark with the Fugees.) In 2001, Lil’ Kim led for five weeks with Christina Aguilera, Mya and P!nk on “Lady Marmalade,” while Shawnna assisted Ludacris on “Stand Up,” which topped the Dec. 6, 2003, chart.
Notably, a pair of other prominent female rappers have yet to reach the Hot 100’s summit. Among her nine top 10s, Missy Elliott climbed to No. 2 twice: for 10 weeks in 2002 with “Work It” and for seven frames in 2005 as a guest on Ciara’s “1, 2 Step.” Nicki Minaj has also tallied nine top 10s, reaching No. 3 twice, both in 2011: as featured on Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends” and with her own “Super Bass.” This week, Minaj debuts at No. 47 on the Hot 100 with her new single “Pills N Potions.”
(Honorable mention to Blondie, who, led by frontwoman Debbie Harry, is widely regarded as scoring the Hot 100’s first rap No. 1, “Rapture,” in 1981.)
Not to be lost in the celebration of Azalea’s new Hot 100 leader, Charli XCX likewise lands her first No. 1. In her sole prior visit, the U.K. pop singer/songwriter peaked at No. 7 a year ago this month as featured on Icona Pop’s “I Love It.”
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Until this week, the last time that at least two solo women had teamed for a Hot 100 No. 1? Rihanna and Britney Spears sent “S&M” to the top of the April 30, 2011, chart. That title marked the first all-solo female No. 1 collab since “Lady Marmalade” nearly 10 years earlier. (The last pairing of only two solo women at the summit prior to “Fancy” and “S&M”? Brandy and Monica, who fought their way to No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1998 with “The Boy Is Mine.”)
(One other fun fact regarding the coronation of “Fancy”: the new Hot 100 is dated June 7, 2014. That makes for a perfect birthday present for the soon-to-be 24-year-old Azalea, who was born on June 7, 1990.)
How did “Fancy” fly to the Hot 100’s top spot? The song surges by sweeping the chart’s top Digital, Streaming and Airplay Gainer awards (for the second time in four weeks). It rises 2-1 on Digital Songs with a 44 percent gain to 336,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Aiding the song’s advance? Azalea and Charli XCX performed it on the Billboard Music Awards on May 18, the day before the latest sales tracking week began on May 19. “Fancy” spends a second week at No. 1 on Streaming Songs (14 million U.S. streams, up 66 percent, according to Nielsen BDS) and reaches the Radio Songs top five (7-5; 104 million, up 23 percent).
“Problem,” meanwhile, pushes 3-2 on the Hot 100, also with gains in each of the chart’s three metrics. It dips 1-2 on Digital Songs after spending its first three weeks at No. 1, but grows by 15 percent to 284,000. Grande likewise sang the song on the Billboard Music Awards (after Azalea performed “Fancy”; Azalea returned to the stage to join Grande for “Problem”). It slips 2-3 on Streaming Songs (10.4 million, up 39 percent) and bounds 16-10 on Radio Songs top 10 (73 million, up 30 percent), where it’s her first top 10 hit; her debut single, “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, reached No. 12 on Radio Songs last year.
As she competes with herself (and Grande) at No. 2, Azalea handily lands the Hot 100’s top spot, as “Fancy” (up 46 percent) boasts 28 percent more overall chart points than “Problem” (up 25 percent).
“Fancy” additionally claims the No. 1 spot on the sales/airplay/streaming-based Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (2-1).
“Fancy” dethrones John Legend’s “All of Me” on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs after three weeks at No. 1 on each list; it falls 1-3 on the Hot 100. Still, “All” logs a fifth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs (162 million, down 8 percent). It drops 3-4 on Digital Songs (147,000, down 7 percent) and 4-5 on Streaming Songs (7.3 million, down 2 percent). Legend also performed “All” on the Billboard Music Awards.
The next four titles on the Hot 100 maintain their ranks from last week: Pharrell Williams’ former 10-week No. 1 “Happy” (No. 4); DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” (No. 5), which also crowns the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a ninth week; Katy Perry’s former four-week No. 1 “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J (No. 6); and Jason Derulo’s No. 3-peaking “Talk Dirty,” featuring 2 Chainz (No. 7). (Read on for details on Derulo’s new top 10.)
Norwegian pop duo Nico & Vinz blasts 17-8 with its first Hot 100 hit, “Am I Wrong.” The track soars 6-3 on Digital Songs (156,000, up 36 percent), debuts at No. 16 on Streaming Songs (3.1 million, up 83 percent) and roars 30-20 on Radio Songs (52 million, up 26 percent). (The pair is the second Norwegian duo to reach the Hot 100’s top 10 in recent months: comedic twosome Ylvis scampered to No. 6 in October with “The Fox.”)
Justin Timberlake’s “Not a Bad Thing” retreats to No. 9 on the Hot 100 from its No. 8 highpoint. Still, it advances 3-2 on Radio Songs with a 3 percent increase to 124 million. As previously reported, “Thing” climbs 2-1 on the Pop Songs radio airplay chart, pushing Timberlake past Bruno Mars for the most No. 1s by a solo male (seven) in the chart’s history.
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Derulo’s “Wiggle,” featuring Snoop Dogg, vaults 20-10. Derulo sang the song as part of a medley with “Talk Dirty” on the Billboard Music Awards (with Snoop Dogg and 2 Chainz). The track rises 8-7 on Digital Songs (124,000, up 14 percent) and 13-8 on Streaming Songs (5.4 million, up 60 percent), while nearing Radio Songs (19 million, up 82 percent). “Wiggle” marks Derulo’s fifth Hot 100 top 10 and, following “Dirty,” grants him consecutive top 10s for the first time since his first three chart hits all made the top 10 in 2009-10: “Whatcha Say” (No. 1, one week), “In My Head’ (No. 5) and “Ridin’ Solo” (No. 9). With “Dirty” and “Wiggle” at Nos. 7 and 10, respectively, Derulo posts concurrent top 10s for the first time.
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg scores his 11th Hot 100 top 10. He’d last reached the region with Wiz Khalifa on “Young, Wild & Free,” featuring Mars, in early 2012. He tallied his first top 10 more than 20 years ago with “What’s My Name?,” his first chart hit which climbed to No. 8 in January 1994.
With two new Hot 100 top 10s, two titles depart the top tier: Michael Jackson and Timberlake’s “Love Never Felt So Good” (9-16), a week after Jackson became the first artist to reach the top 10 in five different decades, and Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” (10-32).
Visit Billboard.com tomorrow (May 29), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 in its entirety and Digital Songs, Radio Songs, Streaming Songs and On-Demand Songs, will refresh, as they do each Thursday.
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