Ari debuted to 174k, about 50% of Thank U Next. However, it should be noted that on October 9 billboard stopped counting merchandise bundles (also ticket bundles from the before times.) So we will probably see albums sales go down across the board until they find a new way to boost the numbers.

Mood back at #1. 34 + 35 debuted at #8 - not too bad. Higher than the Bad Bunny song.

It's not player, it's PLAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYAAAAAAAAA

This week:
1. 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior “Mood” (up)
2. Ariana Grande “Positions” (down)
3. Drake feat. Lil Durk “Laugh Now Cry Later” (up)
4. The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" (up)
5. Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth “I Hope” (up)
6. Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo “Savage Love (Laxed- Siren Beat)” (down)
7. Internet Money and Gunna feat. Don Toliver and NAV “Lemonade” (up)
8. Ariana Grande “34+35” (debut)
9. Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez “Dakiti” (up)
10. Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion “WAP” (down)

Good bye WAP thank goodness

Can you correct #2 song it seems there are 11 songs in Top 10 list. Are Ariana and Luke Combs tied at #2?

Gabby Barrett just took 45 weeks to reach the top 5. Is that a record?

Yes

I thought Positions will drop out of Top 5 and Luke Combs will continue at #2. How was it that frontloaded?

No radio, and country debuts seem to lack streaming longevity.

This week:
1. 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior “Mood” (flat)
2. Ariana Grande “Positions” (flat)
3. Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth “I Hope” (up)
4. Drake feat. Lil Durk “Laugh Now Cry Later” (down)
5. The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" (down)
6. Internet Money and Gunna feat. Don Toliver and NAV “Lemonade” (up)
7. Justin Bieber feat. Chance the Rapper “Holy” (up)
8. Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez “Dakiti” (up)
9. Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo “Savage Love (Laxed- Siren Beat)” (down)
10. Pop Smoke feat. Lil Baby and Dababy “For the Night” (up)

This week:
1. 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior “Mood” (flat)
2. Billie Eilish “Therefore I Am” (up)
3. Ariana Grande “Positions” (down)
4. Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth “I Hope” (down)
5. Drake feat. Lil Durk “Laugh Now Cry Later” (down)
6. Justin Bieber feat. Chance the Rapper “Holy” (up)
7. The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" (down)
8. Internet Money and Gunna feat. Don Toliver and NAV “Lemonade” (down)
9. Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez “Dakiti” (down)
10. Pop Smoke feat. Lil Baby and Dababy “For the Night” (flat)

New BTS track will be top 3.

It for sure will be, probably even #1, but I imagine it'll fall off more quickly than Dynamite did.

Agreed. It's not as catchy or good enough as Dynamite.

This week:
1. BTS “Life Goes On” (debut)
2. 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior “Mood” (flat)
3. BTS “Dynamite” (up)
4. Ariana Grande “Positions” (down)
5. Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth “I Hope” (down)
6. Justin Bieber feat. Chance the Rapper “Holy” (flat)
7. Drake feat. Lil Durk “Laugh Now Cry Later” (down)
8. Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber “Monster” (debut)
9. The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" (down)
10. Internet Money and Gunna feat. Don Toliver and NAV “Lemonade” (down)

2020 the year of fraudulent number ones continues

Surprised that Body did not debut in the top ten. It is #1 on streaming and I can only imagine how many TikTok videos are being made.

Is it fraudulent or just kind of sketchy? I believe the song was available cheaply, for 69 cents, but I think it would have gotten to the top regardless. BTS seems to be at a level of popularity, with a fanbase dedicated enough, that debuting on top (or at least high) is just going to be a thing for their lead singles anyway.

Sales are sketchy, BTS stans buy copies to rig the charts, not to listen to.

That's a fair point, and I definitely don't disagree, but a sale is a sale, and if it fits within Billboard's metrics then it should count. It's not much worse than when people just stream the same song over and over again without actually listening to it just to pad the numbers. It's still a reflection of popularity, just... popularity that's concentrated in a smaller group of more fanatical people.

I do think that they should take prices into account when it comes to compiling charts though. Selling a 100 songs for $0.69 is not the same as selling the same number for $1.29.

BTS stans are ruthless. I mean... a #1 is a #1 so good for them. Don't see any other fanbase doing this with no radio and not that strong streams. If every fanbase did what they did it'd be rather easy to get a #1.

It's not like they're the only ones, or that artists never pull out any tricks in order to manipulate their way onto the #1 position. The BTS stans are just on another level.

Well its also the reason that BTS' songs crash so soon at these charts.

It was weird that BTS had the top 8 songs on itunes for most of the week but didn’t even make top 100 streaming. Indicates that their fans not only bought the songs individually (as opposed to the entire album at once), but did so more than once. That’s some next level chart manipulation.

https://spotifycharts.com/regional/us/weekly/latest they're in the Spotify Top 100 7 times, and according to Billboard "Life Goes On" debuted at #14 on the Streaming chart, so while there is some discrepancy I don't think it's THAT bad.

Just waiting for Mariah Carey to return to #1 again this year.

I mean, it won't be Christmas if she doesn't.