A week ago it was Kanye West. This week, Drake hit the scene. The effect was a complete shifting of the pop music chart as more than half of the chart was new or had huge leaps or falls. As Friday closed, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber were left standing alone at the top, holding No. 1 with “Stay” for the third straight week. Practically every song on the chart took a hit in its streaming/download performance because so much of the air in the room was consumed by either Drake or Kanye. Even so, the Top 5 songs remained the same, but in a different order. Olivia Rodrigo held on to No. 2 with “good for u,” Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” rose two spots to No. 3, Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” held steady at No. 4 and Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow lost two spots and landed at No. 5.
Five songs from Kanye’s “Dear Donda” album remained on the chart and were joined by two others. At the same time, Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” album launched six songs onto the chart this week. The result was a seemingly premature exit from the chart for a number of songs, including Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” a former No. 1 single that 25 weeks in the Top 40.
This week’s other trends include:
Biggest movers:
- “Hurricane” by Kanye West (up 18 from No. 27 to No. 9, only two weeks on the chart)
- “Off the Grid” by Kanye West (up 16 from No. 30 to No. 14, only two weeks on the chart)
- “Jail” by Kanye West (up 14 from No. 29 to No. 15, only two weeks on the chart)
- “family ties” by Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar (up 14 from No. 31 to No. 17, only two weeks on the chart)
- “Moon” by Kanye West (up 13 from No. 33 to No. 20, only two weeks on the chart)
- “Sharing Locations” by Meek Mill (up 12 from No. 40 to No. 28)
Biggest drops:
- “Need to Know” by Doja Cat (down eight from No. 10 to No. 18)
- “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence (down five from No. 18 to No. 23)
- “Rumors” by Lizzo & Cardi B (down 11 from No. 13 to No. 24, down 16 in the last two weeks)
- “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish (down 11 from No. 14 to No. 25)
- “Essence” by Wizkid (down six from No. 20 to No. 26, down 11 in the last two weeks)
- “traitor” by Olivia Rodrigo (down four from No. 23 to No. 27)
- “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals (down four from No. 25 to No. 29)
- “Skate” by Silk Sonic (down 10 from No. 22 to No. 32)
- “Love Again” by Dua Lipa (down 10 from No. 28 to No. 38)
Debuts:
- “Ok Ok” by Kanye West (No. 30)
- “Way 2 Sexy” by Drake (feat. Future & Young Thug) (No. 33)
- “Girls Want Girls” by Drake (feat. Lil Baby) (No. 34)
- “Fair Trade” by Drake (feat. Travis Scott) (No. 35)
- “Champagne Poetry” by Drake (No. 36)
- “Junya” by Kanye West (No. 37)
- “Knife Talk” by Drake (No. 39)
- “In the Bible” by Drake (feat. Lil Durk & GIVEON) (No. 40)
Exits:
- “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic (25 weeks on the chart, two weeks at No. 1, last week No. 32)
- “Every Chance I Get” by DJ Khaled (17 weeks on the chart, peak of No. 17, last week No. 26)
- “You” by Regard x Troye Sivan x Tate McRae (13 weeks on the chart, peak of No. 31, last week No. 37)
- “Pepas” by Farruko (three weeks on the chart, peak of No. 23, last week No. 24)
- “Don’t Go Yet” by Camila Cabello (three weeks on the chart, peak of No. 35, last week No. 35)
- “Jonah” by Kanye West (one week on the chart, last week No. 36)
- “Believe What I Say” by Kanye West (one week on the chart, last week No. 38)
- “Waves” by Luke Bryan (one week on the chart, last week No. 39)
Here is the updated chart for the week of September 11, 2021. Each song is linked to its official video on YouTube, where possible. To listen to the full playlist of these songs, visit our page on Spotify.
| Pos | Song | Artist | LW | Chg | Wks | Peak |
| 1 | Stay | The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 2 | good 4 u | Olivia Rodrigo | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 3 | Bad Habits | Ed Sheeran | 5 | 2 | 11 | 3 |
| 4 | Kiss Me More | Doja Cat | 4 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| 5 | Industry Baby | Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow | 3 | -2 | 7 | 3 |
| 6 | Montero (Call Me By Your Name) | Lil Nas X | 6 | 0 | 23 | 3 |
| 7 | Levitating | Dua Lipa | 8 | 1 | 36 | 1 |
| 8 | Butter | BTS | 9 | 1 | 16 | 7 |
| 9 | Hurricane | Kanye West | 27 | 18 | 2 | 9 |
| 10 | déjà vu | Olivia Rodrigo | 7 | -3 | 22 | 2 |
| 11 | Save Your Tears | The Weeknd | 11 | 0 | 34 | 1 |
| 12 | Fancy Like | Walker Hayes | 15 | 3 | 10 | 12 |
| 13 | Take My Breath | The Weeknd | 12 | -1 | 5 | 9 |
| 14 | Off the Grid | Kanye West | 30 | 16 | 2 | 14 |
| 15 | Jail | Kanye West | 29 | 14 | 2 | 15 |
| 16 | You Right | Doja Cat & The Weeknd | 16 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 17 | family ties | Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar | 31 | 14 | 2 | 17 |
| 18 | Need to Know | Doja Cat | 10 | -8 | 10 | 10 |
| 19 | Beggin’ | Måneskin | 21 | 2 | 9 | 19 |
| 20 | Moon | Kanye West | 33 | 13 | 2 | 20 |
| 21 | Leave Before You Love Me | Marshmello & Jonas Brothers | 17 | -4 | 12 | 13 |
| 22 | Heartbreak Anniversary | Giveon | 19 | -3 | 25 | 15 |
| 23 | Arcade | Duncan Laurence | 18 | -5 | 11 | 18 |
| 24 | Rumors | Lizzo & Cardi B | 13 | -11 | 4 | 8 |
| 25 | Happier Than Ever | Billie Eilish | 14 | -11 | 6 | 12 |
| 26 | Essence | Wizkid | 20 | -6 | 4 | 15 |
| 27 | traitor | Olivia Rodrigo | 23 | -4 | 16 | 12 |
| 28 | Sharing Locations | Meek Mill | 40 | 12 | 2 | 28 |
| 29 | Heat Waves | Glass Animals | 25 | -4 | 22 | 13 |
| 30 | Ok Ok | Kanye West | New | New | 1 | 30 |
| 31 | Praise God | Kanye West | 34 | 3 | 2 | 31 |
| 32 | Skate | Silk Sonic | 22 | -10 | 6 | 19 |
| 33 | Way 2 Sexy | Drake (feat. Future & Young Thug) | New | New | 1 | 33 |
| 34 | Girls Want Girls | Drake (feat. Lil Baby) | New | New | 1 | 34 |
| 35 | Fair Trade | Drake (feat. Travis Scott) | New | New | 1 | 35 |
| 36 | Champagne Poetry | Drake | New | New | 1 | 36 |
| 37 | Junya | Kanye West | New | New | 1 | 37 |
| 38 | Love Again | Dua Lipa | 28 | -10 | 6 | 28 |
| 39 | Knife Talk | Drake | New | New | 1 | 39 |
| 40 | In the Bible | Drake (feat. Lil Durk & GIVEON) | New | New | 1 | 40 |
There are 25 songs that show signs of invading the chart in the coming weeks. Songs that appeared on this list previously are marked with an asterisk for each week they’ve been on the list. (You can listen to them in our “On the Side Burner” playlist on Spotify):
| On the Side Burner | |
| (Songs that haven’t appeared in our chart but were closest to making it this week) | |
| Song | Artist |
| TSU | Drake |
| Papi’s Home | Drake |
| Love All | Drake (feat. JAY-Z) |
| No Friends in the Industry | Drake |
| N 2 Deep | Drake (feat. Future) |
| Pipe Down | Drake |
| 7am On Bridle Path | Drake |
| Race My Mind | Drake |
| IMY2 | Drake |
| Yebba’s Heartache | Drake |
| You Only Live Twice | Drake |
| Jesus Lord* | Kanye West |
| Fountains | Drake |
| Summer of Love** | Shawn Mendes & Talny |
| Get Along Better | Drake |
| Memory****** | Kane Brown & Blackbear |
| F******g Fans | Drake |
| The Remorse | Drake |
| I Like That***** | Bazzi |
| God Breathed* | Kanye West |
| Saturday*** | Twenty One Pilots |
| I am not a woman, I’m a god* | Halsey |
| Psycho*** | Dixie |
| Hit It** | Black Eyed Peas |
| Remote Control* | Kanye West |
The American charts all have their whims. We look across the pop music landscape to put together a reliable snapshot of what is truly trending today. We are currently tracking 142 songs that have trended in various ways in the past week.
Copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt.
