The Weeknd is continuing his successful year with “Blinding Lights,” breaking the record for most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart.
As of August 15, Billboard reports the single has spent a 21 weeks at the top of the chart, passing Drake’s “One Dance” (2016), Bruno Mars‘ “That’s What I Like” (2017) and The Weeknd’s own song “Starboy” (2016), which all spent 20 weeks at No. 1.
The Hot R&B Songs chart isn’t the only chart the singer is dominating. “Blinding Lights” has also been No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart for 18 weeks, No. 1 on the R&B Streaming Songs chart for 19 weeks and No. 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart for 21 weeks.
“Blinding Lights” topped the main Hot 100 songs chart in March, knocking down Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” after spending 11 weeks at No. 1. The Weeknd’s track managed to spend four weeks at the top of the chart, despite Drake’s “Toosie Slide” going No. 1 for a week in the middle. Eventually, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi’s “The Scotts” dethroned “Blinding Lights” altogether.
“Blinding Lights” is featured on the singer’s fourth studio album After Hours, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in March with roughly 444,000 album-equivalent units.
The Weeknd’s Fans Think Drake Stole His Flow For DJ Khaled’s ‘Greece’ Single
On Friday (August 7), The Weeknd released a single titled “Smile” with the late Juice Wrld. The collaboration came about after Juice expressed his desire to work with The Weeknd just three months before his death.
He wrote on Twitter at the time, “Me and The Weeknd would make a diamond record.”
In July, rock band Yeasayer dropped a lawsuit against The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar. They determined “Pray for Me” from the Black Panther soundtrack didn’t infringe on their song “Sunrise,” after originally accusing them of stealing a “distinctive choral performance” and lifting “male voices singing in their highest registers with animated, pulsing vibrato.”