Ask Billboard: After ‘Honestly, Nevermind,’ Drake Has Now Peaked at This Many Positions on the Hot 100

Gary Trust

Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.

 Or, tweet @gthot20.

More from Billboard

 Let’s open the latest mailbag.

‘Honestly,’ That’s a Lot

Hi Gary,

When Drake announced that he was releasing a new album, Honestly, Nevermind, it was almost inevitable that several tracks from it would hit the Billboard Hot 100, and 13 did, on the chart dated July 2.

Once you scroll down the list of Drake’s latest debuts, one stands out to me: “Tie That Binds.” Why? It opened at No. 66, and Drake had not peaked at this position before. As the song has so far spent just that week on the chart, assuming it does not place higher (which seems likely unless it’s promoted as a proper single), it’s another to scratch off the list of the dwindling ranks at which Drake hasn’t peaked on the Hot 100.

Thanks,

Walter Brockmann
Southampton, N.Y.

Hi Walter,

With a new Drake album, it has also become customary to update this impressive list, as we did following the chart arrivals of Certified Lover Boy last September and Scorpion in 2018.

To recap, Drake’s first Hot 100 entry, “Best I Ever Had,” rose to No. 2 in May 2009. As of Scorpion in July 2018, he had peaked at a record 84 of the chart’s 100 positions. Thanks to adding Nos. 11 and 22 via Certified Lover Boy songs, Drake had by September 2021 peaked at 90 Hot 100 spots.

Honestly, Nevermind now ups Drake’s count to peaks at 91 rungs on the Hot 100. The only ranks at which he hasn’t peaked so far? Nos. 31, 43, 46, 59, 77, 93, 96, 98 and 99. He’s peaked at every position between Nos. 1 and 30, and every number in the top 40 except 31.

Plus, Drake has ranked at every position on the Hot 100, even if he hasn’t peaked at each spot.

Best of all, Drake’s most common peak on the Hot 100 is now solely No. 1, as he’s notched 11 leaders, having added “Jimmy Cooks,” featuring 21 Savage, from the new album. Thanks to that bow, No. 1 has taken the lead over Drake’s 10 No. 14-peaking hits.

Meanwhile, as of the latest, July 16-dated Hot 100, Drake has placed a record 276 total entries on the chart, 157 in the top 40 and 58 in the top 10.

 

Music Is Alive With the Sounds of ‘Hill’

Hi Gary,

With Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” having risen to No. 4 on the Hot 100, helped by its placement in Stranger Things, here’s something I thought of: It has passed “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran and “The Fool on the Hill” by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 as the second-highest-charting song with “hill” (or “hills”) in its title. “Castle” hit No. 6 in 2017 and “Fool” peaked at No. 6 in September 1968 (after The Beatles first recorded the song for their 1967 Magical Mystery Tour album).

The only higher-charting such hit? The Weeknd’s “The Hills,” which logged six weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2015.

Key honorable mention: Before the Hot 100 began in August 1958, a classic with “hill” in its title reached No. 2 on multiple predecessor charts: “Blueberry Hill,” first by Glenn Miller in 1940 and then for Fats Domino in 1957.

Meanwhile, artists with Hill in their names that have run up the Hot 100 include Lauryn Hill, who hit No. 1 with “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998, and Faith Hill, who topped the 2000 year-end chart with “Breathe” (even though the song peaked at No. 2 on the weekly list).

Another artist whose songs such as “Remember Me This Way” and “For the Love of You” that I really love is Jordan Hill. Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch,” which rose to No. 3 in 1978, “Can’t We Try,” with Vonda Shepard, and “Never Thought (That I Could Love)” are also evergreen songs for me.

Thanks,

Jesper Tan
Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Hi Jesper,

Peering over all the Hills that have hit the Hot 100’s top four in addition to Lauryn, Faith and Dan Hill, R&B group Dru Hill (of whom Sisqó is an original member) reached No. 1 for a week in 1999, as featured, with Kool Mo Dee, on Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West.” The act previously hit No. 3 in 1998 with “How Deep Is Your Love,” featuring Redman, and No. 4 in 1997 with “In My Bed.”

Cypress Hill and Sugarhill Gang also mark notable acts with “hill” in their names, with the former’s “Insane in the Brain” having hit No. 19 on the Hot 100 in 1993 and the latter’s “Rapper’s Delight” having risen to No. 36 in 1980, marking a commercial breakthrough for hip-hop.

Additional shout-outs to all the top-four Hot 100 hits from Beverly Hills Cop movies and Fox’s Beverly Hills, 90210:

Beverly Hills Cop:
No. 2, 1985, “The Heat Is On,” Glenn Frey
No. 3, 1985, “Axel F,” Harold Faltermeyer

Beverly Hills Cop II:
No. 1 (one week), 1987, “Shakedown,” Bob Seger
No. 2, 1987, “I Want Your Sex,” George Michael

Beverly Hills, 90210:
No. 3, 1993, “Love Is,” Vanessa Williams/Brian McKnight
No. 4, 1993, “Saving Forever for You,” Shanice

Back on topic!

Hills have made for a popular motif in music over the years, with their built-in inspirational imagery of aspiring to higher ground, of any kind. Per the email above, here are the highest-charting Hot 100 hits with “hill” (or “hills” or any other variation) in their titles.

No. 1 (six weeks), 2015, “The Hills,” The Weeknd
No. 4, 2022, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” Kate Bush
No. 6, 2017, “Castle on the Hill,” Ed Sheeran
No. 6, 1968, “The Fool on the Hill,” Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66
No. 7, 2022, “Silent Hill,” Kendrick Lamar & Kodak Black
No. 10, 2005, “Beverly Hills,” Weezer
No. 10, 1981, “The Theme From Hill Street Blues,” Mike Post feat. Larry Carlton (an instrumental, although not always)
No. 15, 1969, “Cherry Hill Park,” Billy Joe Royal
No. 19, 2001, “Purple Hills,” D12
No. 20, 1961, “I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven,” Tex Ritter
No. 23, 2022, “Churchill Downs,” Jack Harlow feat. Drake
No. 25, 1995, “Sugar Hill,” AZ
No. 28, 2021, “hunger.on.hillside,” J. Cole & Bas
No. 36, 1980, “King of the Hill,” Rick Pinette & Oak
No. 40, 2010, “Hillbilly Bone,” Blake Shelton feat. Trace Adkins
No. 40, 2008, “Violet Hill,” Coldplay

Dinos Soared

Perhaps not a question for “Ask Billboard” specifically, but in honor of the film, it’s a chance to commemorate such songs as “Walk the Dinosaur” by Was (Not Was), which stalked its way to No. 7 on the Hot 100 in 1989, and acts including … Paul Dino and Kenny Dino, each of whom reached the top 40 in the 1960s … Dean Martin, who charted as part of Dino, Desi & Billy, also that decade … T. Rex, which notched the No. 10-peaking “Bang a Gong (Get It On) in 1972, and … another Dino (born Dean Esposito), who tallied five top 40 hits from 1989’s “I Like It” through 1993’s “Ooh Child.”

Dino and the original Jurassic Park movie were suddenly thrown into the mix together in 1993, and the film’s iconic theme by John Williams eventually spent four weeks atop the Classical Digital Song Sales chart in 2015, after Jurassic World rebooted the franchise.

The new Jurassic World: Dominion is the first of the series’ six films since the original to star the trio of Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, the latter of whom hit No. 1 Billboard‘s Jazz Albums chart with The Capitol Studios Sessions in 2018 and No. 2 with I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This in 2019, both with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

In a 2018, Goldblum described the first album, released on Decca, to Billboard as a nod to “when jazz was fun, social, sexy music, instead of something a little more esoteric.”

Said then-Decca director of A&R, now co-president, Tom Lewis, “As far as I can tell, everyone loves Jeff Goldblum. He’s a fantastic jazz pianist, a great band leader and just about the loveliest man in the world. His love of jazz is infectious and whenever he plays, he makes you feel very happy. If we can take Jeff’s music into people’s homes, then we will be helping, in our own small way, to make the world a happier place.”

Click here to read the full article.

Advertisement