SZA Debuts 20 Songs From ‘SOS’ on Hot 100, Rules Artist 100 for First Time

20 December, 2022

SZA debuts a whopping 20 songs from her sophomore LP SOS, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Dec. 24), including two in the top 10. The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking her first leader and sparking her first week atop the Billboard Artist 100 ranking.

SOS arrives at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 318,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Luminate. That’s the seventh-largest one-week total of the year and the second-biggest among R&B albums, after only the first week of Beyonce’s Renaissance (332,000, Aug. 13).

SZA scores her third Billboard 200 entry, after her debut LP Ctrl reached No. 3 in 2017 and EP Z peaked at No. 39 in 2014.

Related

SZA

SZA Earns First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 With 'SOS'

Of the 23 tracks on SOS, 20 debut on the Hot 100, including two in the top 10: “Kill Bill” (No. 3) and “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10). Meanwhile “Shirt” jumps from No. 62 to No. 18 after reaching No. 11 in November. The two other songs on the album, “I Hate U” and “Good Days,” peaked at Nos. 7 and 9, respectively, in 2021.

Here’s a recap of SZA’s songs on the latest Hot 100 (all of which are debuts except where noted):

Hot 100 Rank, Title

  • No. 3, “Kill Bill”
  • No. 10, “Nobody Gets Me”
  • No. 12, “Blind”
  • No. 18, “Shirt” (up from No. 62; reached No. 11 in November)
  • No. 21, “Love Language”
  • No. 24, “Seek & Destroy”
  • No. 29, “Snooze”
  • No. 30, “Used,” feat. Don Toliver
  • No. 32, “SOS”
  • No. 37, “Special”
  • No. 40, “Ghost in the Machine,” feat. Phoebe Bridgers
  • No. 43, “Gone Girl”
  • No. 44, “Notice Me”
  • No. 52, “Smoking on My Ex Pack”
  • No. 54, “Open Arms,” feat. Travis Scott
  • No. 55, “F2F”
  • No. 58, “Conceited”
  • No. 61, “Far”
  • No. 62, “Too Late”
  • No. 76, “Forgiveless,” feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard

“Kill Bill” and “Nobody Gets Me” earn SZA her sixth and seventh Hot 100 top 10s. She also ups her career totals to 23 top 40 hits and 37 overall entries. She first charted in July 2017 with “Love Galore,” featuring Travis Scott (No. 32 peak).

Among the new album’s featured artists, Phoebe Bridgers notches her first top 40 Hot 100 hit, after reaching No. 43 in 2021 as featured on Taylor Swift’s “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” and No. 57 in 2020 with Maggie Rogers on their cover of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris.” Plus, Ol’ Dirty Bastard returns to the Hot 100 for the first time since 2004, adding his eighth solo entry in a history on the chart (he earned two additional chart hits as a member of Wu Tang Clan — “Method Man” in 1993 and “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” in 1994).

Meanwhile, SOS spurs SZA’s 42-1 vault on the Artist 100, as she rules as the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time. Also contributing to her reign is Ctrl, which rises 35-28 on the Billboard 200 (23,000 units, up 17%). With 288 weeks to-date, it’s the second-longest-charting R&B album by a woman in the list’s history, after Rihanna’s ANTI (346 weeks and counting).

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Xander Zellner

Billboard