The chart tug-of-war between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj continues – even down to the last full week of the year.
Minaj – the first woman in music history to amass at 100 appearances on the tally – held the title for ‘most Hot 100 hits among women’ for two years before it was broken by the entries of tunes found aboard Swift’s surprise 2020 set, ‘Folklore’ (click here to read more).
While Nicki eventually snatched the honor back in November when her hit, ‘What that Speed About?,’ zoomed into the top 40 (click here to read more), her renewed ownership of the record only lasted a month before Taylor took it again.
Produced by Aaron Dessner, the ‘Evermore’ song has been a mainstay atop real-time sales tallies (i.e. Amazon, iTunes) since it was unveiled December 11.
Performance on that format, coupled with strong response at radio and on digital download outlets, proved just the right combo to plant ‘Willow’ atop the refreshed Hot 100 (just a day after it was reported its parent album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200).
Here are the official numbers first week numbers for ‘Willow’:
- Streaming: 30 million U.S. streams
- Digital Downloads: 59,000 downloads
- Radio Airplay: 12.3 million
Nabbing Swift her seventh reign atop the tally, ‘Willow’ – her third #1 debut – comes as the first time she saw her name printed in the rung since ‘Cardigan’ covered the spot in summer 2020.
What’s more, all 15 songs from ‘Evermore’ premiered on this week’s Hot 100 – meaning her overall career appearance total is now 128 while Minaj is at 114.
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Check back tomorrow (December 22) to see who joins Taylor on That Grape Juice‘s weekly chart recap, ‘Chart Check.’