In the #3 spot on this week’s Hot 100 is a name that (spoiler alert) will show up another couple of times between this week and next. Rapper Travis Scott recently dropped his fourth studio album, Utopia, and fans sent all 19 of its tracks up this chart.
The winner among them, so far, is third single ‘Meltdown,’ a collaboration with Drake. This is the sixth collaboration between the two men, though the #1 hit ‘Sicko Mode’ doesn’t officially list Drake as a feature for Billboard’s purposes.
It’s been four months since my last installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ so I figured it was a good time for a summer check-in on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the #1 spot, where it has spent a record-tying 15 weeks, is Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night.’ The song now shares the record for longest time at #1 by a solo artist (no features) with Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was.’ One more week at #1 and it will own that title outright and join Mariah Carey’s ‘One Sweet Day’ and Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ as the songs with the second-longest tenure at #1. After that, Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ record of 19 weeks at #1 could be in its sights.
After a run of great Throwback Weekend songs from the 60s through the 80s, we hit the brick wall of the 90s. Fortunately, I’ve already posted the #1 song from the week of August 7, 1993, the awful but inexplicably popular cover of ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You‘ by UB40.
In the #2 spot is a song I was ready to dismiss as hot garbage, but my increasing nostalgic fondness for early 90s hip-hop keeps me from going too negative. ‘Whoomp! (There It Is),’ by hip-hop duo Tag Team, isn’t great art, but its verses have the playfulness and buoyancy that make much of this era’s rap music a delight.
Throwing back to the week of August 6, 1983, we find that it was great to be a music fan that summer. In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 is The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take,’ which ultimately spent eight weeks atop the chart (and gave the band its only #1 hit on the Hot 100).
I’ve featured that one before, so we move to #2, where the Eurythmics classic ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ spent one month before overtaking The Police for the #1 spot. I’ve written about that one, too.
Sinéad O’Connor’s 10th and final album was released in 2014 with the great title I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss. The title was a nod to the Ban Bossy campaign, which launched the same year and aimed to remove negative associations with women in positions of power.
This album picks up where its predecessor left off, serving up another batch of solid, confessional songs that make great use of O’Connor’s vocals. Musically, the tracks have a muscularity that at times hearkens back to her debut.
Meet Me In Montauk 