Janelle Monae’s ‘Lipstick Lover’ Leads Adult R&B Airplay Chart

Despite a nearly five-year gap between albums, Janelle Monae resumes her chart-topping ways as her song “Lipstick Lover” reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart (dated Aug. 19). The single advances from No. 3 to crown the list as the most-played song on U.S. monitored adult R&B stations in the week ending Aug. 10, according to Luminate, though it slid 1% in plays compared with the previous tracking week.

“Lipstick Lover” secures Monae’s second Adult R&B Airplay No. 1, following what was her most recent visit to the list, “I Like That” ruled for three weeks in 2018. The singer, songwriter and actress’ new radio champ appears on her fourth studio album, The Age of Pleasure, which was released on June 9 and debuted at No. 2 on the Top R&B Albums chart. The set was her first album since 2018’s Dirty Computer, which housed “I Like That.”

In all, Monae now claims two Adult R&B Airplay No. 1s in just four visits to the list. Besides the two champs, she appeared on the chart with “Primetime,” featuring Miguel (No. 29 in 2014) and “Make Me Feel” (No. 30, 2018).

Elsewhere, “Lipstick Lover” retreats from its No. 14 peak to No. 20 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which measures songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the track sheds 16% to 6.2 million audience impressions. Still, with its No. 14 result, “Lipstick Lover” logs Monae’s best showing on the chart, overtaking the No. 19 peak of “I Like That.”

As with her Adult R&B Airplay ledger, Monae has also sent four tracks on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: “Primetime” (No. 22 peak in 2014), “Yoga,” with Jidenna (No. 29, 2015), and “I Like That” (No. 19, 2018).