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Taylor Swift’s run as a true action figure on the charts continues as her “Toy Story 5” song “I Knew It, I Knew You” was announced Monday as debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It’s only the third time a theme
song from an animated Disney film has reached the summit, following “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin” in 1993 and, of course, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto” in 2022.
With this becoming her 15th No. 1, Swift now has the third-highest amount of Hot 100 toppers in the chart’s history, Billboard reports. She follows only the Beatles, who have 20, and Mariah Carey, with 19. Reaching this new milestone moves her out of the tie she was previously in for third place with Rihanna and Drake, each of whom stood at 14 No. 1s going into this week.
The movie tune bowed with 27.2 million on-demand streams. On the airwaves, it picked up 46.7 million audience impressions. Sales-wise, the first-week figure was 87,000 (all in digital downloads, since CD and vinyl copies Swift put up as limited editions on her webstore didn’t ship until after the debut week was over).
The song was heavily promoted to country radio, something that hasn’t happened with a non-“Taylor’s Version” Vault track since she officially proclaimed herself a pop artist prior to putting out “1989” in 2015. The format was highly receptive, to say the least. It debuted at No. 8 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, where new songs rarely premiere in the top 10. The song also bowed at No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary Airplay chart. It made it into the top 20 on pop and adult pop airplay charts.
On the overall Country Songs chart, which mixes streaming with radio results, “I Knew It, I Knew You” debuts at No. 1, becoming her 10th topper there.
There are four country songs in the top 10 of the Hot 100 this week, with Swift’s No. 1 entry being followed by three Ella Langley songs: “Choosin’ Texas” at No. 2, “Be Her” at No. 4 and “I Can’t Love You Anymore” (a duet with Morgan Wallen) at No. 9.
Other songs in the top 10 include Drake’s “Janice STFU” at No. 3, Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me” at No. 5, Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might” at No. 6, two from Olivia Dean — “Man I Need” and “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” — at Nos. 6 and 7, and Tame Impala and Jennie’s “Dracula” at No. 10.
There was less action to speak on the Billboard 200 album chart. Drake’s “Iceman” repeated at No. 1 for a fourth consecutive week, with 133,000 equivalent album units, a mild 22% drop from the prior week.
The top album debut was Malcolm Todd’s “Do That Again” at No. 5 with 67,000 units. The only other album making the top 10 in its first week was Niall Horan’s “Dinner Party” at No. 7 with 55,000 units.
The Billboard 200’s top 10 was rounded out by Ella Langley’s “Dandelion” at No. 2 (with 87,000 more units, representing a very modest 7% drop), Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” at No. 3, Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide” at No. 4, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at No. 6 and “Number Ones” back to back at Nos. 6-7, Wallen again with “One Thing at a Time” at No. 9 and Olivia Dean’s “The Art of Loving” reentering the top 10 at No. 10.
