Drake rockets to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart (dated May 4) with “You Broke My Heart,” which flies from No. 8. The single reaches the chart’s summit after a 20% surge in weekly plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations in the tracking week of April 19 – 25, according to Luminate. The song, from the Scary Hours deluxe edition of his For All the Dogs album, reaches No. 1 in its 19th week on the chart – Drake’s longest climb to the top.
The new leader gives Drake a record-extending 46th No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. He remains far and away the all-time champ – Lil Wayne ranks a distant second, with 20 No. 1s. Here’s a recap of the acts with the most No. 1s on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay since the chart launched in 1993:
46, Drake
20, Lil Wayne
19, Chris Brown
17, Usher
13, Beyoncé
As “You Broke My Heart” vaults seven spots to reach the summit, it scores the biggest jump to No. 1 in more than seven years, since Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles,” featuring Gucci Mane, also sprang 8-1 on the chart dated Dec. 3, 2016. In total, “You Broke My Heart” is the sixth of 440 champs on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay to jump from No. 8 or lower directly to No. 1.
Position Change, Song Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
31-1, “Before You Walk Out of My Life,” Monica, Jan. 13, 1996
19-1, “Anniversary,” Tony Toni Tone, Oct. 9, 1993
9-1, “No Diggity,” BLACKstreet featuring Dr. Dre, Sept. 14, 1996
8-1, “Bills Bills Bills,” Destiny’s Child, July 10, 1999
8-1, “Black Beatles,” Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane, Dec. 3, 2016
8-1, “You Broke My Heart,” Drake, May 4, 2024
Despite Drake’s virtually automatic hitmaking status on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, where about one-third of the superstar’s 137 appearances have reached No. 1 and another 45 have finished in the top 10, “You Broke My Heart” endured the longest wait to No. 1 among his entire chart-topping collection. The single arrives at the top in its 19th week on the list, four weeks longer than his previous-slowest, “All Me,” featuring 2 Chainz and Big Sean, which wrapped a 15-week journey in January 2014. (Drake’s slow-but-steady climb to No. 1 with “You Broke My Heart” makes it the 13th song to take at least 19 weeks to reach No. 1. The longest trek? Tems’ “Free Mind,” which needed 33 weeks to enter the penthouse in 2022.)
The prolonged rise, however, partly traces to multiple Drake singles active at the format simultaneously. When “You Broke My Heart” debuted on the chart in December, it arrived amid two buzzing Drake singles: “Rich Baby Daddy,” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, a track that had just peaked at No. 2 a couple weeks earlier and was gliding in the top five, and “First Person Shooter,” his Billboard Hot 100-topping collaboration with J. Cole, which was climbing inside the top 20. While both songs would be on the decline by February, a new contender entered the mix: Drake joined 4batz for a remix of the latter’s viral “act II: date @ 8,” with new promo efforts lifting the rising star’s breakthrough single. On the newest Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, where “You Broke My Heart,” reaches No. 1, “act ii: date @ 8” advances 6-4 with an 8% weekly play increase.
Elsewhere, the gains in plays help “You Broke My Heart” push 13-9 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations. There, the track improved to 9.7 million in audience for the week of April 19 – 25, up 17% from the previous period.
