Cage the Elephant Completes Its Quickest Climb to No. 1 on Alternative Songs Chart With ‘Ready to Let Go’
The group ties for the fifth-most leaders in the list's history.
Cage the Elephant finishes its fastest flight to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs airplay chart, as “Ready to Let Go,” in its sixth week, shoots 3-1 on the March 16-dated list.
The band almost halves its prior quickest ascent. “Shake Me Down” needed 11 weeks in December 2010-February 2011.
“Ready to Let Go” wraps the fastest climb to No. 1 on Alternative Songs since twenty one pilots‘ “Jumpsuit” took just two weeks last July, which itself marked the swiftest surge since Mumford & Sons‘ “Believe” (four weeks, 2015).
More accolades for Cage the Elephant: the new leader is the group’s eighth on Alternative Songs, tying it for the fifth-most in the chart’s 30-year history.
Most No. 1s, Alternative Songs
13, Red Hot Chili Peppers
11, Green Day
11, Linkin Park
10, Foo Fighters
8, Cage the Elephant
8, U2
6, R.E.M.
Each of Cage the Elephant’s No. 1s have reigned this decade, giving the group the most in the 2010s. Imagine Dragons and Muse follow with five apiece.
“Ready to Let Go” also ascends to No. 1 on the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart, rising 2-1 with 10.7 million audience impressions, up 8 percent, according to Nielsen Music. The leader is Cage the Elephant’s fourth, slotting the band into a tie for the second-most in the tally’s 10-year archive.
Most No. 1s, Rock Airplay
6, Foo Fighters
4, Cage the Elephant
4, Green Day
4, Imagine Dragons
3, The Black Keys
3, Linkin Park
3, twenty one pilots
By also taking six weeks to reach No. 1 on Rock Airplay, “Ready to Let Go” boasts the quickest rise to the top since Imagine Dragons’ “Natural” led in its sixth frame last September.
The Rock Airplay rule for “Ready to Let Go” is boosted by the song’s performance at all three rock formats, not just alternative, as it ascends 4-2 on Adult Alternative Songs and 21-17 on Mainstream Rock Songs.
“Ready to Let Go” is the lead single from Social Cues, Cage the Elephant’s fifth studio album, due April 19 via RCA.