“Hiss,” a single by Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion, is the number one song in the US and her debut as a solo artist.
As soon as “Hiss” arrived on January 26, it started an extremely strange sequence of events. A song line that went, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” sparked an online rap battle between Megan and Nicki Minaj. The line was widely taken to be a reference to Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty, a registered sex offender. With a diss tune of her own, “Big Foot,” Minaj responded, making explicit references to Megan’s dead mother and Tory Lanez’s 2020 shooting.
Even though Megan never spoke to Minaj personally, the dispute was enough to keep everyone talking about it for days, including Minaj. During that same time frame, Megan officially signed a deal with Warner Music Group and Roc Nation, which will allow her to continue being an independent artist while still receiving label services, and she appeared on Good Morning America to announce that she will be going on a summer tour.
According to Luminate, “Hiss” debuts at No. 1 with 29 million streams, almost 3 million radio airplay audience impressions, and 104,000 downloads sold. Additionally, the single debuted at the top of the Billboard Global 200 chart. With the release, she breaks through as the first female rapper to debut at the top of the chart in a lead place.
While “Lovin on Me,” a previous chart-topper by Jack Harlow, continues to have a strong hold on radio (75.9 million impressions), it falls to No. 2. Teddy Swims’s “Lose Control” is still peaking at No. 4, while Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is at No. 3. Tate McRae’s “Greedy” at No. 5, Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” with Kacey Musgraves, at No. 6, and Doja Cat’s “Agora Hills” at No. 7 make out the bottom half of the top 10 singles.
Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” which debuted in the Top 10 this week at No. 8 with 19 million streaming and an astounding 800,000 million airplay audience impressions, is new. In October 2021, Boone joined Warner Records, and since then, two of his songs—”Ghost Town” and “In the Stars”—have peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. However, nothing has come close to “Beautiful Things'” reach, which peaked at No. 15 in its first week of release in January’s list.
The parent album “American Dream,” by 21 Savage, sits at No. 2 this week on the Billboard 200, while the song “Redrum” rounds out the top of the chart at No. 9. The 66th Grammy Awards’ best R&B song, “Snooze,” by SZA, is ranked No. 10.
Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” leads the albums chart for the 18th nonconsecutive week, selling 66,000 equivalent album units. The album has remained at No. 6 for the whole 48 weeks it has been on the chart. Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” climbs to No. 5, positioning Drake’s “For All the Dogs” at No. 3 and Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” at No. 4. At number six and eight, respectively, are SZA’s “SOS” and Zach Bryan’s album of the same name.
Swift’s “Midnights,” which won album of the year, at No. 9, and Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” at No. 10, round out the Top 10.
