Olivia Rodrigo returns to the top of the charts with her new piano-centric ballad “Vampire” — which tells off a certain “bloodsucker” — occupying the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100. With “Vampire,” the 20-year-old becomes the youngest artist in the chart’s history to post three No. 1 singles and makes her the first artist to have ever to debuted lead singles from her first and second albums at No. 1.
“Vampire” is the lead single from the pop artist’s incoming sophomore album “Guts” (due out Sept. 8) and serves as the follow-up to her 2021 debut album “Sour,” which scored Rodrigo her first two No. 1 singles: “Drivers License,” which ruled for eight weeks, and “Good 4 u,” which led the list in its first week out.
Released on June 30 via Geffen/Interscope Records, “Vampire” drew nearly 36 million streams, 26 million radio airplay audience impressions and sold 26,000 in the first frame, according to data by Luminate. These numbers represent the biggest debut week of Rodrigo’s career across multiple platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and radio.
The new single was simultaneously released with a Petra Collins-directed visual during a live YouTube premiere in Los Angeles on June 29. The video amassed over 12.9 million views in its first 24 hours on the platform. “Sour” collaborator Dan Nigro worked on the track, which according to Rodrigo is about “feeling confused and hurt,” and is also producing “Guts,” a project that is set to tackle the “growing pains” the young star has experienced since launching into her career.
“I was upset about a certain situation and went to the studio alone and sat down at the grand piano, and the chords and melody and lyrics just poured out of me — almost like an out-of-body experience,” Rodrigo said in a statement about “Vampire.” “At first I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad. But when Dan and I started working on it, we juxtaposed the lyrics with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now it’s like a heartbreak song you can dance to.”
“Vampire” replaces Morgan Wallen’s country-pop single “Last Night,” which led the Hot 100 for 13 non-consecutive weeks following its mid-March debut. Rodrigo’s 36 million streams outpaced Wallen’s 30 million streams but “Last Night” still drew the larger crowd on radio, logging 74.5 million in radio reach in the last tracking week.
Rodrigo’s entrance shook up the top five, knocking most tracks off by one slot, with Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” being bumped from its No. 2 peak; Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” to No. 4; Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” now at No. 5 and Lil Durk’s “All My Life” featuring J. Cole at No. 6.
Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” enters the top 10 at No. 7 with 30.3 million airplay audience impressions and just shy of 15 million streams. Swift also owns the No. 9 slot with “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice.
Rap releases have been slow to impact both the albums and songs chart in 2023 but the genre has seen significant movement in the last few weeks. On this week’s Hot 100, Gunna’s “Fukumean” lifts to No. 8 with an impressive 20.2 million streams (an increase of 12% from last week), thanks to the release of its official video. Meanwhile, Toosii’s “Favorite Song” closes the top 10 of the list.
On the Billboard 200, Lil Uzi Vert’s “Pink Tape” enters at No. 1 with 167,000 units — the biggest week for the year for any R&B or hip-hop-leaning album. A rap record also closes out the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week: Rylo Rodriguez’s 19-song “Been One,” which earned 35,000 units.
Also making a big debut on the Billboard 200 is the K-pop group Aespa who notch a No. 9 entrance with “My World.” The set earned 40,000 units with sales comprising 39,000 of that total. Filling out the top of the list is Wallen’s monstrous “One Thing at a Time” which is now at No. 2 after spending 15 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. He’s followed by Mexican singer Peso Pluma, whose debut album “Genesis” holds at no. 3 for a second week.
