Chart Watch: The Chainsmokers Are Addicted to Hits

The Chainsmokers land their fourth top 10 hit as “Paris” debuts at No. 7. It follows “Roses” (featuring Rozes), “Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Daya), and “Closer” (featuring Halsey). “Paris” is the duo’s second song in a row to debut in the top 10. “Closer” debuted at No. 9, on its way to a 12-week run at No. 1.

The Chainsmokers have appeared in the top 10 for 38 consecutive weeks. If the duo can hold on for 10 more weeks, it will tie the record among duos and groups. Ace of Base remained in the top 10 for 48 consecutive weeks in 1993-94. Katy Perry holds the overall record. She had a single in the top 10 for 69 consecutive weeks in 2010-11.

This is the second song titled “Paris” to crack the Hot 100. Perez Prado & His Orchestra reached No. 95 with an instrumental with that title in 1958. Many other hits have had the word “Paris” in their titles, including Les Baxter & His Orchestra’s “I Love Paris” (No. 13 in 1953), Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris” (No. 22 in 1974), and Jay Z & Kanye West’s “N****s in Paris” (No. 5 in 2011). (And though it wasn’t a hit, I want to give a shout-out to the Oscar-winning “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” which Ann Sothern sang in the 1941 movie Lady Be Good.)

“Paris” is the Chainsmokers’ first noncollaboration to make the top 10… or is it? The song features an uncredited background vocal by singer–songwriter Emily Warren. She should have gotten a featured credit, but didn’t.

In an interview with Billboard‘s Taylor Weatherby, Warren was philosophical about the matter. “I think that their reasoning was that they wanted it to be a Chainsmokers thing and not featuring anyone. Drew [Taggart] did most of the singing and is doing a lot more singing now. And since it’s not a proper duet, the vocal is meant to be more of an effect than an actual part. And there’s other stuff I’m doing with them that I’m singing on, so I think in terms of what’s coming out, they didn’t want to do a lot of features.”

(Warren is being diplomatic. Actually, she is so skilled at diplomacy, if this singing thing doesn’t work out, she could always get a job in the State Department.)

The Chainsmokers’ previous hit, “Closer” (featuring Halsey), inches up from No. 5 to No. 4 in its 25th week. It’s the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 25 weeks in the top 10. It last week surpassed Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” which spent its first 23 weeks in the top 10.

Top Songs

Migos’s “Bad and Boujee” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) rebounds from No. 2 to No. 1 in its 10th week. It hit No. 1 two weeks ago and dipped to No. 2 last week. In addition, Migos debuts at No. 43 with “T-Shirt.” Both songs appear on the rap trio’s second full-length album, Culture, which will be released on Friday (Jan. 27).

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” dips from No. 1 to No. 2, though it tops the Official U.K. Singles Chart for the second straight week. “Shape of You” sold 120,000 copies in the U.S. in its second week, which allows it to rank No. 1 on Top Digital Songs for the second week. It’s the first song to spend its first two weeks atop that chart since Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” last May.

Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) holds at No. 3 in its 19th week. The song logged seven weeks at No. 1.

The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) dips from No. 4 to No. 5 in its 18th week. The song reached No. 1.

“Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello leaps from No. 10 to No. 6 in its 12th week. This is its highest ranking to date. This is the third straight week in which this song has appeared in the top 10 along with “Bad and Boujee.” Two songs with titles that start with the word “Bad” had never previously appeared in the top 10 at the same time.

“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” by Zayn and Taylor Swift rebounds from No. 12 to No. 8 in its sixth week. The song has climbed as high as No. 6. The first single from the first film in the steamy Fifty Shades franchise also had the movie title embedded in the song title. That was the Weeknd’s “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey).”

Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) dips from No. 8 to No. 9 in its 15th week. The song peaked at No. 7. The song is the most-played song at radio for the sixth week.

Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic” drops from No. 7 to No. 10 its 15th week. The song reached No. 4. The song tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week.

Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week: Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” (which falls to No. 28, despite holding at No. 2 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart) and Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” (featuring Nicki Minaj).

Big Sean’s “Bounce Back” jumps from No. 16 to No. 15 in its 11th week. It’s the second top 20 hit that starts with the word “Bounce.” The first was “Bounce With Me” by Lil Bow Wow (featuring Xscape, No. 20 in 2000). This is Big Sean’s fifth top 20 hit as a lead or co-lead artist.

Halsey’s “Not Afraid Anymore” debuts at No. 77. The song is from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. This is Halsey’s second Hot 100 hit as a lead artist. The first was “New Americana,” which reached No. 60 in 2015.

Top Albums

The Weeknd’s Starboy holds at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 for the fourth nonconsecutive week. This surpasses the Weeknd’s previous album, Beauty Behind the Madness, which logged three weeks at No. 1 in September 2015. Both albums were No. 1 in traditional album sales for just the first of those weeks. All subsequent weeks at No. 1, in both cases, were due to the Billboard 200 formula since late 2014 which blends traditional album sales, digital track sales and streaming data.

Starboy sold just 13,000 copies in traditional album sales. Only one other album has ever ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with such a paltry traditional album sales total. Drake’s Views posted traditional album sales of just 8,000 in the week it logged its 13th and final week at No. 1.

The xx’s third album, I See You, debuts at No. 2. It’s the second top five album for the English trio. The xx’s sophomore album, Coexist, reached No. 5 in 2012. I See You is No. 1 in terms of traditional album sales. I See You is the highest-charting album by an English group since the 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep… debuted at No. 1 in March 2016. I See You enters the Official U.K. Albums Chart at No. 1. It’s the trio’s second No. 1 album in a row in their home country.

Deep Trivia: The xx’s album surpasses Xzibit’s Man vs Machine to become the highest-charting album ever by an act whose name begins with an “X.” Xzibit’s album peaked at No. 3 in October 2002.

The La La Land soundtrack dips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its sixth week. The album features the Golden Globe-winning “City of Stars,” sung by stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. This is the 24th consecutive week in which at least one soundtrack has appeared in the top 10. La La Land is No. 1 on Top Soundtracks for the second week

Moana dips from No. 3 to No. 4 in its ninth week. The album peaked at No. 2. Moana includes Auli’i Cravalho’s rendition of “How Far I’ll Go” (co-written by Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda), which was a Golden Globe nominee.

Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic dips from No. 4 to No. 5 in its ninth week. The album has climbed as high as No. 2.

Hamilton: An American Musical holds at No. 6 in its 69th week. The Broadway cast album peaked at No. 3 in the wake of the Tony Awards in June. This is its 22nd week in the top 10.

J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only drops from No. 5 to No. 7 in its sixth week. It debuted at No. 1 five weeks ago.

Drake’s Views dips from No. 7 to No. 8 in its 38th week. It logged 13 weeks at No. 1.

Post Malone’s Stoney holds at No. 9 in its sixth week. The album peaked at No. 6.

The Trolls soundtrack rebounds from No. 14 to No. 10 in its 17th week. It has climbed as high as No. 3.

Two albums drop out of the top 10 this week — Dropkick Murphys’ 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller.

Traveller, which is Stapleton’s first solo album, logs its 27th week at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. This ties Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts, which spent 27 weeks at No. 1 from 2005 into 2007. Just three debut albums have logged more than 27 weeks at No. 1 since the chart originated 53 years ago. They are Billy Ray Cyrus’s Some Gave All (34 weeks at No. 1), Clint Black’s Killin’ Time (31 weeks), and LeAnn Rimes’ Blue (28 weeks).