Camila Cabello Makes Rare Double Airplay Chart Debut With ‘Liar’ & ‘Shameless’
She joins an exclusive club of acts that have sent two singles onto a radio ranking in the same week.
Camila Cabello joins an exclusive club of artists that have debuted multiple songs on a single Billboard radio airplay chart in a week, as both of her new tracks enter the Pop Songs survey (dated Sept. 14): “Liar” launches at No. 36 and “Shameless” starts at No. 37.
The songs, released on SYCO/Epic Records, soar in with just three days of airplay, following their Sept. 6 release. In their first day of availability, the tracks received concentrated airplay on iHeartMedia-owned stations, which alternated them hourly, with Cumulus Media and Entercom Communications stations also rotating both titles.
The Pop Songs chart measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 166 stations.
Epic is planning to continue promoting both songs to radio and gauge further response, including whether one might clearly overtake the other. It’s similar to how Interscope Records earlier this year worked Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over” concurrent with “Bad Guy,” with the former reaching No. 17 on Pop Songs and the latter (which debuted on the chart a month later) subsequently leading for two weeks; in a streaming era, where labels can more accurately measure plays of all tracks than ever before, promotion executives are more open to shifting plans.
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In other such recent cases, two singles from Ed Sheeran’s album No. 6 Collaborations Project, “I Don’t Care” (with Justin Bieber) and “Cross Me” (featuring Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock), debuted on Pop Songs two weeks apart in May and June, while third single “Beautiful People” (featuring Khalid) bowed in mid-July. Plus, Taylor Swift debuted the first two singles from her new album Lover on Pop Songs in May and June, respectively, after Ariana Grande sent two from Thank U, Next onto the survey in January and February, respectively.
Historically, a select few artists, like Cabello this week, have debuted two singles simultaneously on airplay charts (all in lead roles). On the Rhythmic Songs chart dated Nov. 1, 2008, Beyoncé bowed with both “If I Were a Boy,” at No. 24, and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” at No. 38. Both tracks went on to hit the top 10, reaching Nos. 8 and 2, respectively.
Plus, back in 1992, anticipation was high for Bruce Springsteen’s return with not one but two LPs, Human Touch and Lucky Town, his first albums since 1987. On the March 21, 1992-dated Mainstream Rock Songs chart, the Human Touch title track blasted in at No. 1, beginning a three-week reign, while Lucky Town‘s “Better Days” debuted at No. 2.
For Cabello, she adds the honor of having the No. 1 title on Pop Songs the week that her two new tracks arrive: “Señorita,” with Shawn Mendes, spends a third week at the summit. As previously reported, since Cabello’s first frame at No. 1 on Pop Songs (on Feb. 18, 2017, with “Bad Things,” with Machine Gun Kelly), her four leaders tie her with Grande for the most among all acts.
“Liar” and “Shameless” are due to preview Cabello’s forthcoming second LP, Romance. They also mirror her double-single release in 2017: On the Billboard Hot 100 (which blends all-genre streaming, airplay and sales data) dated that Aug. 26, “OMG,” featuring Quavo, debuted at No. 81 and “Havana,” featuring Young Thug, entered at No. 99. “OMG” spent just that week on the chart, while “Havana” went on to rule as her first No. 1. (“Señorita” became her second leader on the Aug. 31-dated Hot 100.)
“I think it’s too much pressure when I haven’t released an album in a year and a half to just put out one song,” Cabello told the Zach Sang Show regarding her two new tracks. “That’s a bit much for me. I don’t like it…I’m not really like a drop-one-single kinda gal. I feel like I want to put out more music, more visuals, more stuff.”
“Honestly, even just putting out two kind of drives me crazy. I want to put the whole album out!” Cabello continued, adding that “Liar” and “Shameless” are “the same story. There [are] two different sides to it.”
Says Epic executive vp Rick Sackheim of Cabello, “She is truly giving her fans, and radio, what they expect: amazing music.”
Additional reporting by Keith Caulfield
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