Cardi B Makes History on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart with “Up”

Cardi B is makin’ history on the Billboard charts…

The 28-year-old half-Dominican American rap superstar’s “Up” knocks down every current challenger on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as the single debuts at No. 1 on the list dated February 20.

Cardi B

With the start, Cardi B posts consecutive chart-topping debuts while she also claims a feat unseen on the Billboard Hot 100 in over 20 years.

With “Up,” Cardi B lands consecutive No. 1 debuts on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, after “WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion, likewise opened on top last August as it began a 10-week domination.

The combo makes Cardi B the first artist to post two straight No. 1 debuts on the chart as a lead artist, and second overall performer after Drake, whose consecutive starts came from a feature spot on Rihanna’s “Work” and his own single “Summer Sixteen” in 2016.

In all, “Up” is Cardi B’s sixth No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, notably with at least one in each of the last five years. Here’s the full collection:

Song Title, Artist (if other than Cardi B), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1
“Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” six, Sept. 16, 2017
“Finesse,” with Bruno Mars, one, Jan. 20, 2018
“I Like It,” with Bad Bunny & J Balvin, one, July 7, 2018
“Please Me,” with Bruno Mars, one, March 16, 2019
“WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion, 10, Aug. 22, 2020
“Up,” one (to date), Feb. 20, 2021

Elsewhere, “Up” begins at No. 2 on the all-genre Hot 100, behind Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.” Still, the song’s arrival makes for a Hot 100 achievement that hadn’t happened in more than two decades.

Until “Up,” no woman had debuted higher on the Hot 100 with a song with no other billed artists that also made Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs chart since Lauryn Hill‘s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998, the only other single in the club.

As implied in the prior stat, “Up” also debuts at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart.

“Up” arrives with, no surprise, a high streaming sum. The track, released February 5, registered 31.2 million U.S. streams in the week ending February 11, according to MRC Data. The total allows for a No. 1 start on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart, where it becomes Cardi B’s fifth leader of her career.

The No. 1 debuts keep coming as “Up” launches as Cardi B’s seventh song to reach the summit on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart thanks to 34,000 downloads sold in the week ending February 20.

For the final metric that contributes to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, radio airplay, “Up” is not No. 1 – no song is this early in its arc – but does establish some personal bests for Cardi B’s career. The track’s No. 24 debut last week (on the chart dated Feb. 13) marked her highest entrance among 20 singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, while its 24-18 increase on the current chart ties “Motorsport,” her collaboration with Migos and Nicki Minaj, as her best second-week rank of those entries. “Up” ascends as it registers 8.7 million in audience impressions in its first full tracking week on the radio format, which wrapped on February 14.

Elsewhere, “Up” rallies 17-9 on Rap Airplay in its second chart week and flies 31-17 on Rhythmic Airplay.

Cardi B Makes History as Her Latest Single “I Like It” Rises to No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100

Cardi B is making history…

The 25-year-old half-Dominican American rapper has become the first female rapper with two No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, after her hit single “I Like It,” featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin rises from No. 2 to No. 1 on chart.

Cardi B

Cardi B first reigned with her debut single, “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” for three weeks beginning October 7, 2017.

Meanwhile, Bad Bunny and Balvin earn their first Hot 100 No. 1 each.

Cardi B passes four female rappers who previously topped the tally with one No. 1 apiece: Lauryn Hill, with “Doo Wop (That Thing),” in 1998; Lil’ Kim, with “Lady Marmalade,” with Christina Aguilera, Mya and P!nk (2001); Shawnna, as featured on Ludacris‘ “Stand Up” (2003); and, Iggy Azalea, with “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX (2014).

Cardi B’s bilingual track reworks the venerable “I Like It Like That,” originally performed by Pete Rodriguez in 1967 and taken to No. 25 on the Hot 100 in 1997 (titled “I Like It”) by The Blackout Allstars; the latter act included Tito Nieves, who also recorded a notable solo version. (In between, the composition appeared in the 1994 film I Like It Like That and earned a synch in a 1996 Burger King commercial.)

“I Like It” is from Cardi B’s debut album, Invasion of Privacy, which launched atop the Billboard 200 chart dated on April 4 and includes “Bodak Yellow.”

Cardi B is the first artist to notch a pair of Hot 100 No. 1s from a debut album since Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, whose The Heist yielded “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz and “Can’t Hold Us,” featuring Ray Dalton in 2013.

Cardi B is the first soloist with a pair Hot 100 leaders from a debut LP since Bruno Mars, whose Doo-Wops & Hooligans produced “Just the Way You Are” (2010) and “Grenade” (2011).

And, Cardi B is the first female soloist with two Hot 100 No. 1s from a debut album this decade, and the first since Lady Gaga, whose The Fame generated “Just Dance,” featuring Colby O’Donis and “Poker Face,” both in 2009.

Prior to “I Like It,” Bad Bunny reached a No. 36 Hot 100 high with “Te Bote,” with Casper Magico, Nio Garcia, Darell, Nicky Jam and Ozuna.

J Balvin notched a prior No. 3 best with “Mi Gente,” with Willy William and featuring Beyoncé, last October.

“I Like It” concurrently takes over atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where Cardi B previously led with “Bodak Yellow,” for six weeks, and “Finesse” (one). It  becomes her second No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs, after “Bodak Yellow” (eight). Bad Bunny and J Balvin lead each list for the first time.

Cardi B Makes History as “Bodak Yellow” Reaches No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100

It’s an extra special (and historic) feat for Cardi B

The 24-year-old part-Dominican American rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, becomes the first female rapper in nearly 19 years to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart without the assistance of any other credited artists, as her debut hit “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” rises from No. 2 to No. 1 on the latest chart (dated Oct. 7). And she’s the first Dominican artist to reach the top of Billboard’s main singles chart.

Cardi B

“Bodak Yellow” makes Cardi B just the second female rapper to top the Hot 100 without any other billed artists, following Lauryn Hill‘s first solo Hot 100 entry (apart from the Fugees), “Doo Wop (That Thing),” for two weeks beginning with its November 14, 1998, debut at No. 1.

Cardi B is only the fifth female rapper ever to lead the Hot 100 at all. After Hill, Lil’ Kim ruled for five weeks in 2001 with Christina Aguilera, Mya and P!nk on “Lady Marmalade“; Shawnna reigned as featured on Ludacris‘ “Stand Up,” which topped the December 6, 2003, chart; and Iggy Azalea‘s introductory Hot 100 hit, “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX, led for seven weeks in 2014.

Cardi B is also the first female soloist to top the Hot 100 with a debut track unaccompanied by another artist since Meghan Trainor, whose “All About That Bass” led for eight weeks beginning September 20, 2014.

“Bodak Yellow” rises at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart with 46.4 million U.S. streams, up 14 percent, in the week ending September 21, according to Nielsen Music. It bounds 12-3 on Digital Song Sales chart, up 85 percent to 56,000 downloads sold in the week ending September 21, marking the Hot 100’s top gain in download sales (aided by a 69-cent discount price in the iTunes Store).

The track also lifts 16-13 on Radio Songs, with 62 million all-format audience impressions, up 8 percent, in the week ending September 24.

“Bodak Yellow” spends a fifth week at No. 1 on the Rap Airplay chart and a second week atop R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; crowns the Rhythmic Songs airplay chart, with a 3-1 rise; and debuts on Pop Songs on at No. 37.

Cardi B’s breakthrough hit also spends a sixth week at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and a fourth frame atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.