Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ hits another pop chart milestone

Shaboozey’s country-pop crossover hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has become the longest-running chart-topper of the decade so far, having now spent 17 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The song’s run, starting this summer, has put it just two weeks shy of the all-time record. Elsewhere in the Top 10, two songs by Tyler, The Creator drop out and are replaced by 1) an old song that’s not quite ready to die and 2) yet another Tyler, The Creator song. (Not surprisingly, the No. 1 album in the country is once again by … Tyler, The Creator.)

TOP ALBUMS

Last week, Tyler, The Creator‘s Chromakopia debuted at No. 1, even though the album had dropped on a Monday instead of the normal Friday release day — giving it three fewer days to rack up the sales and streaming numbers that feed the album chart. This week, not surprisingly, the album once again sits comfortably atop the Billboard 200, in spite of a modest decline in streaming and a larger drop in sales. (That’s to be expected, given that most fans who pay for music still only do so once.)

After Chromakopia, though, things get a little more chaotic. Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet ticks up a spot, from No. 3 to No. 2, and is followed by two wildly different chart debuts: Rapper Lil Uzi Vert bows at No. 3, with Eternal Atake 2, while veteran rock band The Cure posts its highest-charting album since 1992 (!) as Songs of a Lost World debuts at No. 4. The latter record seems especially vulnerable to a steep drop next week, however, with sales accounting for a whopping 92% of its chart performance.

If Songs of a Lost World does take a plunge in the weeks to come, it’ll follow a pattern that’s become typical — and, for a sense of what to expect, you needn’t look further than an album that made a lofty debut just last week. The Great Impersonator, by the pop singer-songwriter Halsey, debuted at No. 2 last week in a performance fueled largely by album sales, as well as the usual assortment of fan-focused online discounts and variant editions that often boost albums in their first week of release. This week, it plummets all the way to No. 179.

Elsewhere, Gracie Abrams‘ The Secret of Us continues to ride two simultaneous waves — the release of a deluxe edition a few weeks back and her ongoing placement as opening act on Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour — as the album climbs from No. 7 to No. 5. And Chappell Roan‘s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess gets a nice boost from the singer’s high-profile stop at Saturday Night Live on Nov. 2, as she surges from No. 12 to No. 6.

Rounding out the Top 10, Billie Eilish‘s Hit Me Hard and Soft climbs from No. 9 to No. 7, Rod Wave‘s Last Lap slips from No. 5 to No. 8, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department edges up two spots, to No. 9, and Morgan Wallen‘s One Thing at a Time rises from No. 10 to No. 8. And three other albums join Halsey’s The Great Impersonator in dropping out of the Top 10: Kelsea Ballerini‘s Patterns, which debuted at No. 4 last week and now sits at No. 54; Eminem‘s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which leapt from No. 44 to No. 6 last week on the strength of vinyl sales, but now skids to No. 57, and GloRilla‘s Glorious, which experiences a more modest decline as it dips from No. 10 to No. 11.

TOP SONGS

Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has now sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for an astounding 17 nonconsecutive weeks — and this week officially surpasses Wallen’s “Last Night” to stand alone as the longest-running chart-topper of the decade so far. That 17-week run is the best ever for a song with no featured guest stars; or, if you want to get more granular about it, it’s the longest run of all time for any song that is not 2019’s “Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus)” by Lil Nas X. Given that “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” rattled around in the Top 5 for months before hitting No. 1 — and that it sat at No. 2 during the two different one-week interruptions of its run at the top — it’s a remarkable feat.

As noted a few weeks ago, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” stands a decent chance of tying “Old Town Road” — which was No. 1 for 19 weeks — but it faces an insurmountable obstacle as the holidays draw closer. If last year’s charts are any indication, we’re two weeks out — give or take — from the return of the prevailing holiday standards (Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Brenda Lee‘s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and their ilk), and three weeks out from said standards locking down the top spots on the Billboard Hot 100. So, for 2024 at least, Shaboozey looks reasonably well-positioned for a tie, at least until January rolls around.

For those who love to see records broken, you won’t likely need too much patience, even if Shaboozey falls short: The advent of digital streaming — and, to be more specific, digital-streaming algorithms that keep feeding users music they’ve already heard — has made ever-longer chart runs commonplace. It’s not that “Old Town Road” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” are actually more popular than past chart dominators like, say, The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude” or Olivia Newton-John‘s “Physical.” It’s just that, as with so many systems, there’s even more machinery in place to keep songs at the top once they land there.

While we’re on the topic of logjams, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars‘ “Die With a Smile,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” hold still at Nos. 2-4, respectively. Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Control” actually appears to be gaining steam in its 43rd week in the Top 10: It climbs from No. 6 to No. 5, marking its first week in the Top 5 since late April. Post Malone‘s “I Had Some Help,” which features Wallen, drops from No. 5 to No. 6, while Carpenter’s “Taste” climbs from No. 9 to No. 7. Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” which has proven almost as difficult to dislodge from the charts as “Lose Control,” returns to the Top 10, climbing from No. 11 to No. 8. Wallen’s “Love Somebody,” which momentarily knocked “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” out of the top spot a few weeks back, slips from No. 8 to No. 9.

Finally, two songs from Tyler, The Creator’s Chromakopia drop out of the Top 10 after last week’s big surge: “St. Chroma (feat. Daniel Caesar)” and “Noid” slip from No. 7 and No. 10 to No. 14 and No. 37, respectively. Landing at No. 10 to take their place: “Sticky,” by none other than Tyler, The Creator. The track, which features GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne, climbs from No. 14 to No. 10 and looks poised for a decent run, given that the track replaces “St. Chroma” atop this week’s streaming charts.

WORTH NOTING

Last week’s Billboard charts contained a small holiday boomlet for Halloween titles, as songs like “Thriller,” “Ghostbusters” and “Monster Mash” all surged — however momentarily — into the Top 40. This week, they’ve all disappeared from the charts, as anticipated.

As noted above, though, a far greater holiday-music surge looms — and it’s already starting to make its presence felt on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Though radio stations haven’t yet tipped into holiday programming (and the Hot 100 singles chart therefore remains blessedly free of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”), listeners’ early-out-the-gate holiday streaming habits are beginning to make themselves seen on the charts.

This week, five holiday-specific albums enter (or, in most cases, re-enter) the Billboard 200: Michael Bublé‘s 2011 release Christmas, at No. 72 (c’mon, people, we’ve talked about this), Jimmy Fallon’s brand-new guest-packed Holiday Seasoning, at No. 84 (I’ll allow it), Mariah Carey’s 1994 classic Merry Christmas, at No. 93 (as inevitable as the tides), Bing Crosby‘s Ultimate Christmas (a new compilation, released this past June), at No. 150, (can’t argue with that), and a tradition since 1965, the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, at No. 170 (absolutely, great pick).

Consider those five albums the tip of an exceedingly cheerful iceberg as Thanksgiving approaches and a nation turns its lonely eyes to Burl Ives. The questions worth considering in this moment of relative calm are: 1) Will any holiday standard surpass Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” on the top of the charts, as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” did for several weeks last year? And 2) Will any of the contemporary artists vying to land a song in the Christmas canon — Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter — make headway against the Andy Williamses and Bobby Helmses of the world?