Jazmine Sullivan ‘Picks Up’ Her First Adult R&B Airplay No. 1
Jazmine Sullivan captures the first No. 1 of her career on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart with “Pick up Your Feelings," which helps her record label, RCA, achieve a feat not seen since…
Jazmine Sullivan captures the first No. 1 of her career on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart as her single “Pick up Your Feelings” ascends from No. 3 on the list dated March 20. The song caps the chart as it climbed 20% in plays in the week ending March 14 to become the most played track at the radio format, according to MRC Data.
With “Feelings,” the R&B singer-songwriter nabs her first leader on her 11th chart career entry. The move also rewrites her best showing, previously logged by her debut hit, “Need You Bad,” which climbed to No. 2 in November 2008.
The new chart champ also heralds good news for Sullivan’s record label, RCA, as its grip on the top spot completes a feat unseen in nearly two decades. As “Feelings” dethrones another RCA release, Alicia Keys’ “So Done,” featuring Khalid, which itself ousted RCA’s own “Go Crazy” by Chris Brown and Young Thug after its seven-week nonconsecutive reign, the company links three straight No. 1 Adult R&B leaders. No label had completed such a triple play since 2004, when RCA Music Group posted four consecutive champs thanks to Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name,” Ruben Studdard’s “Sorry 2004,” Luther Vandross’ “Think About You” and Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.”
Beyond its reign on adult R&B airwaves, “Feelings” also continues to progress on mainstream-oriented R&B stations. The track lifts 35-30 in its second week on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart as it gained 30% in plays for the week ending March 14.
Combined strength from the adult and mainstream radio stations pushes Sullivan’s single 15-12 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which tracks audience numbers from both sectors. There, “Feelings” improved 18% to 10.5 million in audience, its first time above the eight-digit threshold. With the move, “Feelings” also secures Sullivan’s highest placement on the chart since “Holding You Down (Goin in Circles)” shot to No. 3 in 2010.
“Feelings” appears on Sullivan’s Heaux Tales, which was released in January to mark her first project since 2015. Tales debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart that month and spent its first eight weeks in the top 10.