Sam Smith “Unholy” hit #1

Unholy Sam Smith with Kim Petras

Writer(s): Sam Smith, Kim Petras, James Napier, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Henry Walter, Blake Slatkin, Omer Fedi (see lyrics here) Released: September 22, 2022 First Charted: October 5, 2022 Peak: 11 BB, 14 BA, 14 DG, 14 ST, 16 RR, 29 AC, 11 A40, 14 UK, 14 CN, 16 AU, 30 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.2 UK, 5.70 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 525.85 video, 1646.94 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Sam Smith was born in 1992 in London, England. He first made a name for himself as the guest singer on Disclosure’s “Latch” (#11 UK, 2012) and Naughty Boy’s “La La La” (#1 UK, 2013). He released his first solo album, In the Lonely Hour, in 2014. The album sold 12 million copies worldwide, propelled by three #1 singles in the UK, including “Stay with Me.” 2017 saw the release of The Thrill of It All and Love Goes followed in 2020. Both reached the top 5 in the UK and U.S.. Fourth album, Gloria, came out in 2023. The album’s single, “Unholy,” gave him his sixth top-ten hit and first chart-topper in the United States. Variety’s Jem Aswad called it “one of the most musically innovative and unusual songs in years” WK top top the Billboard Hot 100. Petras was born male in 1992 in Germany. She started hormone therapy at 12, completing her gender transition four years later. At the time, she was the youngest person in the world to undergo sex affirmation surgery. SF From 2011 to 2020, she released multiple singles and EPs, but none reached any of the major U.S. or UK charts. “Unholy” was not only a breakthrough for Petras, but a triumph for the LGBQT+ community as it marked the first time an openly non-binary artist (Smith) and an openly transgender artist (Kim Petras) topped the Billboard Hot 100. It is a “sexually charged electropop, dance-pop, and synth-pop song…which marked a shift away from ballads for Smith.” WK Lyrically, it focuses on a man who cheats on his wife at a strip club, specifically The Body Shop, an infamous LA Sunset Strip club. SF Smith sings from the perspective of one of the man’s acquaintances. SF Petras sings from the perspective of the woman with whom the man cheats. SF Critics praised the song as “catchy yet unusual.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sam Smith SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 1/7/2024; last updated 10/15/2024.

Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” debuted a #1

Montero (Call Me by Your Name) Lil Nas X

Writer(s): Montero Hill, Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi (see lyrics here) Released: March 26, 2021 First Charted: April 10, 2021 Peak: 11 BB, 11 DG, 12 ST, 12 RR, 17 A40, 15 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.2 UK, 10.65 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1035.72 video, 1966.46 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Montero Lamar Hill, professionally known as Lil Nas X, was born in Georgia in 1999. He rose to fame in 2019 when his song “Old Town Road” spent 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the longest-running #1 in the history of the chart. His double-platinum, #2 EP 7 followed, giving him another top-ten hit with “Panini.” He released his first album, Montero, in 2021. It reached #2 and went platinum. The first single, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” was one of two #1 songs from the album (the other was “Industry Baby”) and one of three top-tens (“That’s What I Want,” #8). The title of the song was inspired by the 2017 movie Call Me by Your Name, which Lil Nas X said was one of the first gay films he watched, explain, “I thought the theme was so dope, like calling somebody by your own name is love, keeping the love between you two.” BI The artist came out as gay in 2019 while “Old Town Road” was launching him to stardom. He said “Montero” was about a man who he fell in love with who was, as Lil Nas X saw it, still unhappy because he was living in the closet. BI The song also dealt with the pressures Lil Nas X faced “as a member of the LGBTQ+ community” and with fame. BI He said it was “the most real and the most vulnerable he’d ever been on a song.” BI The song and video received praise from some liberal commentators but backlash from conservative figures. The “sexually charged music video…depicts Lil Nas X in a number of biblically-inspired scenes, including the artist riding a stripper pole to Hell, and giving a lap dance to Satan.” WK Resources: BI Business Insider (3/31/2021). “Lil Nas X revealed the meaning behind ‘Montero (Call Me by Your Name)’ in a new YouTube video” by Moises Mendez II WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/16/2024; last updated 10/13/2024.

24K Goldn “Mood” hit #1

Mood 24K Goldn with Iann Dior

Writer(s): Golden Von Jones, Michael Olmo, Keegan Bach, Omer Fedi, Blake Slatkin (see lyrics here) Released: July 24, 2020 First Charted: September 5, 2020 Peak: 18 BB, 111 BA, 12 ST, 18 RR, 14 A40, 8 MR, 14 UK, 111 CN, 111 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.2 UK, 11.61 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 748.39 video, 1947.41 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rapper 24K Goldn was born Golden Landis Von Jones in 2000 in San Francisco, California. He released his first music video in 2017 and his first single, “Valentino,” in 2019. The song reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified double platinum. That same year he released his debut EP and signed a record deal with Columbia Records. In 2020, the “genre-bending” “uptempo pop rap and rap rock song” WK “Mood” was released as the lead single from 24K Goldn’s debut studio album, El Dorado. The song featured rapper Iann Dior, who was born Michael Ian Olmo in 1999 in Puerto Rico. In 2019 and 2020, he released three singles which would reach platinum status. The two first worked together on Dior’s 2019 single “Gone Girl,” which 24K Golden co-wrote. SF The pair of rappers “sing-rap about their toxic relationships in which their lovers are always in a ‘mood.’” WK The song developed while they played the video game Call of Duty. At the same time, producers Omer Omer Fedi and KBeaZy were working on a beat and 24K Goldn idly started signing along with a guitar riff Fedi was playing. WK The producers saw the potential of the ad-lib and pleaded with the rapper to set the game aside and record the hook. SF Alexander Cole of Hot New Hip Hop’s called the song “perfect for summer” and said its title “fits the vibe as we get a very summer-inspired beat.” WK Billboard’s Andrew Unterberger called it an “impossibly fresh” “visceral banger.” WK Slate’s Chris Molanphy went so far as to say the song had “one of the most instantly infectious rap-rock refrains ever.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for 24K Goldn SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 2/18/2024; last updated 10/13/2024.