Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey
Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey's "The Middle" rises to the top of Billboard's Pop Songs radio airplay chart, lifting 2-1 on the survey dated April 7.
Zedd notches his second Pop Songs No. 1, after "Stay," with Alessia Cara, which reigned for six weeks beginning last June. Morris and Grey each earn their first Pop Songs leader.
Notably, Morris has crowned the Country Airplay chart with two songs, as featured on Thomas Rhett's "Craving You" and with her own "I Could Use a Love Song." Thanks to "The Middle," she is the sixth artist to have topped both Country Airplay and Pop Songs, joining Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw, P!nk and Taylor Swift. (Honorable mention to Darius Rucker, who has led Pop Songs fronting Hootie & the Blowfish and Country Airplay with seven solo songs.)
Meanwhile, "The Middle" marks the first Pop Songs No. 1 by as many as three credited lead artists since October 2003, when Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee teamed up for the three-week topper "Shake Ya Tailfeather." Two other Pop Songs No. 1s have sported at least three lead acts: "All for Love," by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (1994), and "Lady Marmalade," by a record four artists: Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and P!nk (2001).
The Pop Songs chart, which began in 1992 (and in 2017 celebrated its 25th anniversary), measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 160 mainstream top 40 stations.
"The Middle" has hit a No. 6 high on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100. Highlights of the April 7-dated Hot 100's top 10 will be revealed later today and all charts will update tomorrow (April 3) on Billboard.com.