Kid Laroi hit #1 with “Stay”

Stay The Kid Laroi with Justin Bieber

Writer(s): Charlton Howard, Justin Bieber, Magnus Høiberg, Charlie Puth, Omer Fedi, Blake Slatkin, Michael Mule, Isaac De Boni, Subhaan Rahmaan (see lyrics here) Released: July 9, 2021 First Charted: July 24, 2021 Peak: 17 US, 110 BA, 16 ST, 2 AC, 16 A40, 2 UK, 112 CN, 117 AU, 16 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.8 UK, 17.66 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1219.92 video, 3296.98 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Australian singer/songwriter and rapper Kid Laroi was born Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard in 2003. His first album, the mixtape Fuck Love, was released in 2020 when he was just 16 years old. A deluxe edition, known as Fuck Love (Savage) was released later that year and added seven more songs. One of the songs was “Without You,” his ninth chart entry in Australia and first #1. It also reached the top 10 in the United States. In 2021, yet another version (Fuck Love 3: Lover You) was released and added seven more songs. The blockbuster, career-making song from that release was “Stay,” a collaboration with Justin Bieber, with whom he’d previously worked on the song “Unstable” from Beiber’s Justice album. “Stay” reached #1 in more than 20 countries, including Australia and the United States. Its 17 weeks at #1 in Australia made for the second-longest run in the chart’s history. It was Bieber’s eighth chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100 and Kid Laroi’s first. He was only the second Australian solo male artist (after Rick Springfield) top top the chart. Upon its release, Billboard appropriately said the song “sounds like it should push [Laroi] to a new level” of stardom. WK In addition to seven weeks at #1, the song spent a record non-consecutive 14 weeks at #2 and 23 weeks in the top three. It also became the first song in Billboard Hot 100 history to spend its first 40 weeks consecutively in the top 10. WK It was the most listened to song on Apple Music in 2022. SF Stereogum’s Chris DeVille described the fast-paced, snyth-pop song as “maniacally catchy.” WK It grew out of time with producers Charlie Puth and others about a year before its release. Puth came up with the song’s keyboard riff SF that “serves as the song’s spine and eventually becomes the chorus melody.” WK The lyrics explore a troubled relationship where the singer is at fault and begs his partner to stay with him, despite his broken promises. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Kid Laroi SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/11/2023; last updated 10/12/2024.

The Weeknd “Save Your Tears” hit #1 more than a year after it first charted

Save Your Tears The Weeknd with Ariana Grande

Writer(s): Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Quenneville, Max Martin, Oscar Holter (see lyrics here) Released: August 9, 2020 First Charted: April 4, 2020 Peak: 12 US, 11 DG, 2 AC, 15 A40, 11 UK, 11 CN, 6 AU, 6 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 17.63 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2569.88 video, 3786.89 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, was born in 1990 in Canada. He released a trio of mixtapes in 2011 and his first studio album, Kiss Land, in 2013. He experienced his first top-40 success on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014 with “Love Me Harder,” a top-10 hit with Ariana Grande. That year also some him hit the top 10 with “Earned It” from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. His next two studio albums, 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness and 2016’s Starboy, both topped the album charts, fueled by the #1 songs “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” and “Starboy.” This set up high expectations for his 2020 album After Hours and The Weeknd didn’t disappoint. “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights” both reached #1; the latter set the record for most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and a full six months atop the Billboard airplay chart. Third single “In Your Eyes” peaked at #13. “Save Your Tears” became the album’s official fourth single in August 2020, although it originally charted in April when the album was first released. The song originally peaked at #4 before a remix with Ariana Grande propelled the song to #1 more than a year after it first charted. It was the sixth chart-topper for each of them. “Save Your Tears” “addresses a past relationship” with the Weeknd expressing “regret for running away from the romance and breaking her heart.” SF It was speculated that he was referencing his relationship with Bella Hadid. SF Billboard magazine called “Save Your Tears” the best song on the album. WK Joyce Ng from Complex magazine said “its production billows into an array of bright synths and ominous melodies. Lyrically, the Weeknd appears self reflective as he atones for his past. Ultimately, 'Save Your Tears' feels like the narrative arc of what the Weeknd envisioned for his reclusive protagonist all along, now emerging from the darkness but failing to resist temptation.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/12/2023; last updated 10/13/2024.