Ask Billboard: The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s ‘Stay’ Makes History on the Hot 100

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Let’s open the latest mailbag.

‘Stay’-ing Power

Dear Gary,

With “Stay” by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber at No. 2 the last two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, the song has now totaled more time at that rank – 13 weeks, nonconsecutively – than any other in the chart’s history. It has passed both Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” and Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” each of which spent 11 weeks at No. 2, in 2021 and 1995-96, respectively.

Even better, all three songs also spent time at No. 1 on the Hot 100: “Stay” for seven weeks and “Good 4 U” and “Exhale” for a week each.

Has “Stay” achieved any other honors on the Hot 100?

Thank you,

Jesper Tan
Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Hi Jesper,

It has! As of the latest, April 2-dated Hot 100, “Stay” makes history as the single to spend the most weeks – 20 – in the Hot 100’s top two spots, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception.

The collaboration passes Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus), which amassed a record 19 weeks at No. 1, and none at the runner-up position.

Most Weeks Ever at Nos. 1 and 2 Combined on the Hot 100

• 20, “Stay,” The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber (7 weeks at No. 1/13 weeks at No. 2), 2021-22 (through the April 2, 2022, chart)
• 19, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus (19/0), 2019
• 18, “Uptown Funk!,” Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars (14/4), 2015
• 17, “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber (16/1), 2017
• 16, “Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran (12/4), 2017
• 16, “I Gotta Feeling,” The Black Eyed Peas (14/2), 2009
• 16, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey (14/2), 2005
• 16, “One Sweet Day,” Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men (16/0), 1995-96
• 15, “Rockstar,” Post Malone feat. 21 Savage (8/7), 2017-18
• 15, “Closer,” The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey (12/3), 2016
• 15, “All About That Bass,” Meghan Trainor (8/7), 2014
• 15, “I’ll Make Love to You,” Boyz II Men (14/1), 1994
• 15, “I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston (14/1), 1992-93

(As all those songs reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, two titles share the mark for the most weeks at No. 2 without rising to the top spot: Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott’s “Work It” and Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” each of which spent 10 weeks peaking at No. 2, in 2002-03 and 1981-82, respectively.)

In addition to breaking the record for the most weeks in the Hot 100’s top two, “Stay” adds its unprecedented 22nd week in the top three. It surpasses The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!” (featuring Bruno Mars), each of which logged 21 weeks in the top three.

Helping “Stay” continue its run in the Hot 100’s upper reaches, it concurrently ranks at No. 2 on Radio Songs, with 60.4 million in airplay audience in the latest tracking week, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. It also rebounds 13-8 on Streaming Songs with 11.3 million official U.S. streams.

Key to the song’s continued appeal? “The short answer is immediacy,” says Brady Bedard, Columbia Records senior vp/pop promotion. (Columbia, to which The Kid LAROI is signed, and Def Jam Recordings, Bieber’s label home, share credit on the song.) “From the first spin, ‘Stay’ had an instant reaction from both the audience and the industry. Months later, ‘Stay’ is still spinning, still streaming, still researching and still sounding as fresh as it did on day one.

“That really sums it up: No one seems to be tired of this earworm,” Bedard says. “What a rarity in the modern age of records that can come and go so quickly.”

Notes Erik Bradley, assistant program director/music director at WBBM-FM Chicago, which reports to Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart and has played “Stay” over 4,200 times, “It’s still a full-time power record for B96. The audience still wants it. It’s one of the biggest songs we can play at the moment and it honestly doesn’t show much sign of slowing down anytime soon.”

“It never sounds tired – always sounds fresh, zero burn,” agrees Sue O’Neil, WKSE Buffalo, N.Y., pd. The fellow Pop Airplay panelist has given “Stay” over 3,600 plays.

“Pure pop bliss,” she praises.

Looking even (far) further forward, Bedard says of “Stay,” “It’s already an all-timer but seems poised to remain relevant for years to come.”

Echoes Bradley, “My hunch is that once it’s all said and done, it’ll be one of the contenders for Billboard‘s song of the decade when you compile that list at the end of 2029 …”