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Song of the Day #5,137: ‘Me Porto Bonito’ – Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone

Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny owns the sixth spot on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, with ‘Me Porto Bonito,’ a collaboration with vocalist Chencho Corleone from Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Plan B. That sentence probably induced heart attacks in any Republican readers of this blog.

To date, only three Spanish-language songs have reached #1 on the Hot 100. The first was ‘La Bamba’ in 1987 (the Los Lobos cover, not Ritchie Valens’ original), the second was ‘Macarena’ in 1995, and the most recent was ‘Despacito’ in 2017. Bad Bunny has yet to have a #1 hit in his native tongue, but this is his sixth Spanish-language track to reach the top ten, and three of those made it to the top five.

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Song of the Day #5,136: ‘ WAIT FOR U’ – Future feat. Drake, Tems

Kate Bush enters the Billboard Top Ten for the first time in her career, as Stranger Things has pushed ‘Running Up That Hill’ all the way to #4 (and counting?). I wrote about the phenomenon a couple of weeks ago. This song has now earned Bush close to $4 million in streaming royalties. Wowza.

At #5 is ‘WAIT FOR U,’ a track by rapper Future featuring a verse from Drake and a sample of Nigerian vocalist Tems. This song previously hit #1, giving Drake his 10th chart-topping hit. Additionally, it debuted in the top spot, giving Drake his sixth #1 debut, the most by any artist. Previously, he was tied at five with Ariana Grande and BTS.

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Song of the Day #5,135: ‘First Class’ – Jack Harlow

In the second spot of the Billboard Hot 100 this week is Lizzo’s ‘About Damn Time,’ which I featured a couple of weeks back. This is another song that can thank TikTok for its ascension.

Lizzo’s track has been on the chart for 13 weeks and (so far) peaked at #2. Perhaps she can nab her second #1 song (following ‘Truth Hurts’) if this one can climb one more spot in coming weeks.

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Song of the Day #5,134: ‘As It Was’ – Harry Styles

It’s time for another installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ wherein I feature the songs currently topping Billboard’s Hot 100. It’s been a few months since my last foray into the charts, so I hope to discover some new tracks.

In the #1 spot for the third straight week is ‘As It Was,’ the lead single from Harry Styles’ third album, Harry’s House. ‘As It Was’ has spent 10 weeks in total at #1, reclaiming the top spot three more times after debuting there in April. This is Styles’ second #1 hit, following ‘Watermelon Sugar.’

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Song of the Day #5,133: ‘(She Might Be A) Grenade’ – Elvis Costello and The Roots

Elvis Costello loves to keep his fans guessing. This is the man who released an album of country music covers in between two of his poppiest efforts in the 80s. And an album recorded with a string quartet a decade later.

He has released collaborative albums with vocalist Anne Sofie von Otter, New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, Netherlands ensemble the Metropole Orkest, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, symphonic composer Richard Harvey, and esteemed songwriter Burt Bacharach. None of those albums sound alike, nor do they sound like any of the “regular” albums Costello dropped in between them.

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