There hasn’t been much news to report about the top of the Billboard Hot 100, mainly because Rihanna has absolutely dominated, and the unwavering reign of “Work” has yet to be interrupted by anyone, even a resurgent Justin Bieber, who knows a little something about dominance on that particular chart. This week is no different, and Rih Rih’s Drake-featured dancehall-influenced lead single from ANTI once again remains the #1 song in the country while Rihanna continues her nationwide ANTI tour trek.
Rih’s newest challengers are country singer Lukas Graham‘s “7 Years,” which has peaked in the #2 slot this week, and Meghan Trainor‘s “No,” which will likely be the song that dethrones Rihanna–if Rihanna is dethroned at all–in the coming weeks. Trainor’s “No” made a late entry onto the Billboard Hot 100–it was released on March 4 and debuted at #11 the week of March 26–but has leaped into the Top 5, and currently sits at #3 just behind Graham and Rihanna. If this momentum continues, “Work” could see its demise at the hands of Trainor’s flippant new single, which is a noted departure from the more happy-go-lucky nature of her previous work.
Other notes from the Hot 100: Ty Dolla $ign notches his first-ever top 10 finish in the Hot 100 thanks to Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home” peaking at #10. Chicago rapper Dreezy gets her first-ever entry with her Jeremih-assisted “The Body,” and speaking of Jeremih, his under-the-radar single “Oui” achieved a new peak, finishing just outside the top 20 this week at #21. Future and The Weeknd‘s “Low Life” is also making a top 20 charge, placing at #28 this week, while Rihanna’s “Needed Me” hovers around the middle of the chart, coming in at #59 this week. DJ Mustard has been pretty quiet outside of the release of his own single, “Whole Lotta Lovin'” featuring Travi$ Scott, so “Needed Me” gives him his first chart entry of 2016, but likely not his last. The bottom quarter of the Hot 100 also sports some brand new entries, including two Young Thug songs “Digits” (#93) and “With Them” (#87), Fat Joe and Remy Ma‘s “All The Way Up” (#91), A$AP Ferg and Future’s “New Level” (#97) and Madeintyo‘s “Uber Everywhere” which broke in at #99.
As far as the Billboard 200, Zayn Malik pretty much blew everyone out of the water with his solo debut, Mind of Mine, moving about 157,000 units in its first week. Right behind him was K. Michelle, who makes an impressive debut at #2 with roughly 55,000 units of her latest album, More Issues Than Vogue. Young Thug makes his highest debut ever on the chart with Slime Season 3, which moved about 36,011 copies to notch a #7 debut.
