The Weeknd’s ‘Face’ Back Atop Hot 100
The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face" rebounds 2-1 for a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Weeknd‘s “Can’t Feel My Face” rebounds 2-1 for a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It replaces OMI‘s “Cheerleader” (1-2) after six weeks in charge, but the latter claims a key consolation prize: it takes the lead in the running for Billboard‘s top song of the summer.
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Plus, R. City’s “Locked Away,” featuring Adam Levine, roars into the Hot 100’s top 10 and is the new top-selling song in the U.S.
As we do each Monday, let’s run down the top 10 and more on the Hot 100 (dated Sept. 12). Highlights of the airplay/sales/streaming-based Hot 100 post on Billboard.com each Monday, with all charts updated each Tuesday.
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As The Weeknd’s “Face,” released on XO/Republic, returns to the Hot 100’s pole position (after first topping the Aug. 22 chart), it remains the most-heard song on radio. It spends a fourth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs (150 million in audience, down 5 percent, according to Nielsen Music). It drops 1-4 after three weeks atop Digital Songs (77,000 downloads sold, down 30 percent, in the week ending Aug. 27) and 5-6 on Streaming Songs (13.6 million U.S. streams, up less than 1 percent). “Face” also leads Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the subscription services-based On-Demand Songs charts for a seventh week each.
That’s not all for The Weeknd, as he again boasts two simultaneous top five Hot 100 hits: “The Hills” hits a new peak, lifting 5-4. The track jumps 4-2 on Streaming Songs (15.7 million, up 16 percent) and 25-15 on Radio Songs (64 million, up 44 percent). On Digital Songs, it descends 6-10 (62,000, down 10 percent).
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Both “Face” and “The Hills” are from The Weeknd’s second studio album, Beauty Behind the Madness, released Friday (Aug. 28). The set, featuring collaborations with Lana Del Rey, Labrinth and Ed Sheeran, will challenge for No. 1 on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart; this week, as previously reported, hard rock band Disturbed debuts at No. 1 with Immortalized.
(Chart math lesson: “Face” and “Hills” drop on Digital Songs, but their slides are owed to iTunes customers who opted to “complete” their purchase of The Weeknd’s new album, by upgrading their earlier purchases of the songs to a full album. Effectively, consumers who completed the album were returning the songs, thus translating to its sales chart falls. For the purposes of the Hot 100, however, aggregate sales contribute to the songs’ overall point total.)
Looking ahead to next week, “Face” should benefit from a full tracking week after his buzzy performance of the track at the MTV Video Music Awards last night.
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“Cheerleader” drops to the Hot 100’s runner-up rank while maintaining its No. 2 spots on Radio Songs (131 million in audience, down 11 percent) and Digital Songs, which it led for four weeks (86,000 downloads sold, down 19 percent). On Streaming Songs, it dips 2-4 (14.1 million, down 6 percent).
But, cheers for “Cheerleader”: it pushes ahead in the lead for top summer song, displacing Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” featuring Charlie Puth, atop Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart. The song hits No. 1 on the list in the 14th week of the summer tracking period; with one week to go, it’s in prime position to take the title as Billboard’s top summer song of 2015. Check Billboard.com next week for the official unveiling of summer’s No. 1 song.
Above The Weeknd’s “The Hills” on the Hot 100, Silento’s “Watch Me” remains at its No. 3 peak, while leading Streaming Songs (22.3 million, up 33 percent) and Hot Rap Songs for a sixth week each. Capping the Hot 100’s top five, Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On,” featuring MO, descends from its No. 4 high to No. 5. Still, it leads Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a seventh week.
Outside the Hot 100’s top five, Selena Gomez’s “Good for You,” featuring A$AP Rocky, holds at its No. 6 peak (Gomez’s best career Hot 100 rank, previously reached by “Come & Get It” in 2013 and “The Heart Wants What It Wants” last year).
Fetty Wap’s “679,” featuring Remy Boyz, hits a new Hot 100 high, rising 8-7. With streaming accounting for the majority (68 percent) of the song’s Hot 100 points total, the cut climbs 6-5 on Streaming Songs (13.6 million, up 7 percent). “679” is one of Fetty Wap’s two top 10s this week: his No. 2-peaking debut hit “Trap Queen” keeps at No. 9.
In between Fetty Wap’s top 10s is this week’s new song in the region: After marking their mark as songwriters, brothers Theron and Timothy Thomas are scaling the Hot 100 as artists, as “Locked Away,” their new single as recording act R. City, bounds 16-8. The track, featuring Maroon 5 frontman Levine, rises 3-1 on Digital Songs (92,000, essentially even from last week). It also rushes 14-9 on Radio Songs (78 million, up 18 percent) and 35-20 on Streaming Songs (6.1 million, up 34 percent).
The siblings, from St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands, rose as high as No. 2 on the Hot 100 as co-writers of Iyaz’s “Replay” (2010) and Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” (2013). They’ve also penned top 10s for Sean Kingston (“Take You There”) and The Pussycat Dolls (“When I Grow Up”).
“‘Locked Away’ means the world to us because the story is based on our parents,” R. City recently told Billboard. “Our dad [was] locked up for five years and our mom [held things] down while he was gone, and still to this day. We’re just very happy that people are able to connect with it on different levels.”
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“Locked Away” was co-produced by Dr. Luke and, quirkily enough, features a writing credit for Toni Tennille, thanks to its closeness in melody to Captain & Tennille’s 1980 Hot 100 No. 1, “Do That to Me One More Time.” Its video premiered Aug. 17, ahead of R. City’s forthcoming debut RCA album.
Levine, meanwhile, lands his second Hot 100 top 10 apart from Maroon 5, with whom he’s notched 11. In 2011, he rose to No. 4 as featured on Gym Class Heroes’ “Stereo Hearts.”
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” drops 7-10 after reaching No. 6.
Just outside the Hot 100’s top 10, Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” snaps up a 15-12 lift (and crowns the Adult Pop Songs airplay chart); One Direction’s “Drag Me Down,” which debuted at No. 3 three weeks ago, blasts 31-14 following the Aug. 20 release of its official video; and Shawn Mendes’ “Stitches” leaps 32-20. Find out more noteworthy news beneath the top 10 in the weekly “Hot 100 Chart Moves” column to post later this week.
Visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 1), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh, as they do each Tuesday.