Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Remains at No. 1 for Another Week and Joins an Elite Club: NPR

The Billboard Hot 100 is caught in a sort of purgatory, as it is led by the same 10 songs as last week, albeit in a different order. One beneficiary of this stagnation is the song that is at No. 1 for the ninth consecutive week and No. 10 overall: Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” In doing so, it joins a notable club. On the album chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short and sweet holds the No. 1 spot for the third week in a row, the top six remain unchanged, and notable debuts include albums by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, country legend George Strait, and… Paris Hilton.

TOP ALBUMS

Normally you can sort the entries by any Billboard 200 albums fall into two types of records: 1) Evergreens that stay and stay, sometimes for years; and 2) one-, two-, or three-week wonders that hit high only to crash shortly thereafter. All but one entry in this week’s top 10 is firmly entrenched, leaving the top six titles exactly where they were last week: Sabrina Carpenter’s Short and sweet is at number 1 for the third week in a row, followed by Post Malone’s F-1 billionChappell Roans The rise and fall of a Midwestern princessMorgan Wallens One thing at a timeTaylor Swift’s The “Tortured Poets” section and Billie Eilish’s Hit me hard and softThe next titles are coming – these would be Zach Bryan’s The great American bar scene (No. 8 to No. 7), Noah Kahans Stock season (No. 9 to No. 8) and Morgan Wallens Dangerous: The double album (No. 11 to No. 9) – but it’s not really about a “rise” but rather about “filling the vacuum created by the crash of last week’s debuts.”

How steep is the fall, you ask? Well, K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM Crazy EP falls from number 7 to number 54, while Destroy Lonelys Love lasts forever plummets from No. 10 down to No. 118. A crueler observer might make a joke here about “lasting forever”; thank goodness you are in such tender, compassionate hands.

Given this dichotomy, it’s hard to get too attached to this week’s debuts, which begin at No. 10 with Happiness and Strangenessthe first solo album by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour since 2015. God knows, Pink Floyd albums have a history of staying in the charts, so maybe he’s in it for the long haul.

From there George Straits Cowboys and dreamers enters the charts at number 14; it is the 31st studio album by the country legend, who has earned dozens of platinum records in his illustrious career, so it would be foolish to write him off. (His greatest hits collection from 2004, 50 Number One – yes, he had that many chart-topping country singles and more – is still at number 121.)

Four more wild various albums are coming this week in Billboard 200 in the top 50. Tzuyu from the K-pop group Twice is at number 19 with abouTZU: The 1st mini albumJessie Murph, who played a prominent role at the VMAs last week, is ranked 24th with This is not a human, this is the devil. Paris Hilton (!!!) is at number 38 with her second album, Infinite symbol (released 18 years after her debut). Finally, LL Cool J, who also performed at the VMAs, is ranked 50th with The power.

TOP SONGS

This week, too, there is little movement in the Hot 100’s top 10; some entries move up or down, but the songs themselves remain the same. The headline is that Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has joined an exclusive club: It is one of 45 songs in the history of the Hot 100 – that is, since August 1958 – to spend at least 10 weeks at the top of the charts.

View over the complete list of songs In savoring this distinction, it’s hard not to notice that this kind of longevity used to be far rarer than it has been in recent years. In fact, before 1992, the list included just two songs — “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone in 1977 and “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John in 1982 — and those two songs each spent “just” 10 weeks at the top of the chart. (Oddly enough, the list doubled in 1992, when “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men and “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston stayed at No. 1 for 13 and 14 weeks, respectively.)

Over the past decade, however, a seemingly contradictory phenomenon has emerged: There’s more new music to choose from—and more ways to consume it—than ever before, and yet it’s become harder to dislodge dominant songs from the top of the charts. Just last year, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” stayed at No. 1 for 16 weeks; that’s the second-longest run ever, surpassed only by Lil Nas X’s 2019 run with “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. If you noticed that both songs are at least close to country music, consider that Wallen’s duet with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help,” would rival “Last Night” and “Old Town Road” without Shaboozey. Country music continues to be solid Business in the pop charts.

Speaking of which, “I Had Some Help” holds at No. 2 this week, followed by Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” at No. 3. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars climb from No. 6 to 4 with “Die With a Smile,” while Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” rises from No. 7 to 5. Carpenter still has three songs in the top 10, but “Taste” falls from No. 5 to 6 and “Please Please Please” falls from No. 4 to 8. Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” rises from No. 8 to 7, while two chart perennials round out the charts and hold steady: Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” is at No. 9, while Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is at No. 10.

IMPORTANT

Seven years after their band was hiatus due to the death of singer Chester Bennington, Linkin Park recently announced that they have reunited and recorded new music with two new members, including singer Emily Armstrong. A new album, From zerois released on November 15th and the first single (“The Emptiness Machine”) enters the Hot 100 at number 21 this week.

If you’re looking for more signs of public interest in Linkin Park, look no further: Billboard 200, where the band’s first two albums are on the rise – the 2003 Meteora climbs from 62nd to 47th place, while 2000’s Hybrid theory returns to the charts at number 51 – and his biggest hits of 2024 Paper cuts re-enters the charts at number 119.

It remains to be seen how much of the upswing is driven by excitement, curiosity or nostalgia, but it bodes well for From zeroThe release will be in a few months.