Toppermost of the Poppermost Edition Part 2

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 How much do you know about the scandal that got Bill Clinton impeached?

spk_0 Monica Lewinsky is under the microscope.

spk_0 Bill Clinton is under siege and the White House is trying to contain the damage.

spk_0 Maybe you know the basics.

spk_0 The Clinton's presidency came to a screeching halt.

spk_0 Amid a storm of accusations involving sex, power, partisan warfare.

spk_0 If it turns out to be true, it could be the end of Clinton's presidency.

spk_0 Congress is rushing to overthrow the commander in chief.

spk_0 What determines who we believe and whose side we take in a political fight?

spk_0 Trip the secret me, take Monica Lewinsky.

spk_0 Put out the radio shack and buy a tape recorder and plug it in the phone.

spk_0 What does it mean to abuse one's power?

spk_0 I did not have sexual relations with that one.

spk_0 It is absolutely staggering that the fate of the most powerful man on the planet

spk_0 is in the hands of a completely unknown 23 year old intern.

spk_0 Subscribe to Slow Burn and Apple Podcasts.

spk_0 In late August 1992, Randy Weaver and his family were refusing to come down

spk_0 from the remote Idaho mountain top where they lived.

spk_0 Weaver, a fugitive on a federal firearms charge, has been holed up in a cabin near

spk_0 Naples for more than a year.

spk_0 The government thought Randy Weaver was a dangerous, possibly violent extremist.

spk_0 Randy and his wife, Vicki, thought the government was an agent of Satan on Earth.

spk_0 When it was all over, three people were dead

spk_0 and the government had spent millions of dollars to catch one man.

spk_0 We'll find out why the siege at Ruby Ridge unfolded the way it did

spk_0 and think about some of the questions it raises.

spk_0 What should we do about white supremacists?

spk_0 Why has the story of Ruby Ridge become an enduring myth for the far right?

spk_0 And whose fault was it anyway?

spk_0 Subscribe to Standoff, what happened at Ruby Ridge in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

spk_0 Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate magazine, about the hits

spk_0 from Coast to Coast. I'm Chris Mulanfee, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slates Why is

spk_0 the song number one series on our last episode? We talked about the history of songs that debut

spk_0 on the Hot 100 at number one. For most of the 20th century, this explosive chart feat was

spk_0 considered impossible, but in the 21st century era of digital music, it became not only possible,

spk_0 but more commonplace. However, many of the songs that opened on top of the chart were

spk_0 flukes from American Idol Coronation songs to forgotten superstar follow-ups to better remembered hits.

spk_0 So, which of these insta hits have actually endured? We are now going to walk through some

spk_0 categories of number one debuts, examining their modern radio spins and online streams to see

spk_0 which ones have stood the test of time. Earlier this summer, radio consultant Sean Ross,

spk_0 a friend of our podcast who's been a guest on Hit Parade the Bridge, wrote a piece for radio

spk_0 insight investigating the history of number one debuts on the Hot 100. And echoing what we covered

spk_0 in part one of this episode, Sean affirmed that these hits have always been fluky. Quote,

spk_0 the number one debut which should indicate an undeniable hit has instead included songs that come

spk_0 with an asterisk since the very beginning. To support his point, Sean went a step further.

spk_0 He checked the weekly radio spins for the dozens of number one debuts across chart history to see

spk_0 which ones are still receiving airplay in 2025. As you might guess, the results were all over the

spk_0 songs that debuted at number one as little as two years ago are now receiving few to no spins.

spk_0 For example, Slime You Out, a Drake song featuring R&B superstar Sizzah that opened

spk_0 a top the Hot 100 in the fall of 2023 was played just once on terrestrial radio during the week

spk_0 in early June 2025 that Sean investigated. And on the other hand, Miley Cyrus' self-empowerment

spk_0 anthem Flowers, which also debuted at number one earlier that same year, 2023, was still getting

spk_0 played on the radio in 2025 more than 4200 times a week. Now that's a legacy hit.

spk_0 So I will use Sean Ross's radio data plus historical Spotify play counts plus my own critical lens

spk_0 to categorize hits that have debuted at number one over the last 30 years. To recap, 85

spk_0 songs in total have opened at the top of the Hot 100 since Michael Jackson first achieved the

spk_0 feat in 1995. We've already addressed many of them in part one of our show and ranking them all

spk_0 would take too long. But also, some of the number one debuers are just not exceptional or remarkable

spk_0 songs. For example, Polo G's hit Rapstar, which debuted at number one in the spring of 2021,

spk_0 is a perfectly fine piece of melodic hip hop. It's the rapper's only solo top 10 hit,

spk_0 and as of 2025, it gets spun on the radio a little over 50 times a week. Not great, but not nothing.

spk_0 So I won't be going into detail on all of these unremarkable insta hits. Still, some of these old

spk_0 hits are notable because they have faded into the background. For our first category,

spk_0 let's cover what I call Superstar Momentum number one debuers. These are songs that opened on

spk_0 top mainly because the artist was on a roll. For example, in the first part of our show, I mentioned

spk_0 that Mariah Carey scored an early pair of back-to-back number one debuts in 1995 and 1996. But a year later,

spk_0 Carey actually scored a third number one debut.

spk_0 Honey was the first single from Carey's 1997 album, Butterfly. Produced and co-written by Sean

spk_0 Puff Daddy Combs, Honey is best remembered today for its high-budget music video, which presented

spk_0 Mariah being held hostage in a mansion, which satirized her own real-life failing marriage

spk_0 to Sony Music Executive Tommy Metola. As for the song, Honey receives only modest airplay today.

spk_0 About 40 terrestrial radio plays a week, less than either fantasy or one sweet day,

spk_0 and its lifetime Spotify streams of 100 million are lower than any of Carey's other late 90s

spk_0 number one hits. Or, if I told you Katy Perry had just one number one debut, one song that opened

spk_0 atop the hot 100, what would you guess? California girls, fireworks, roar? Well, no, actually it was this.

spk_0 Part of me was a bonus track on the 2012 special edition of Perry's Blockbuster Teenage Dream

spk_0 album. The original version of that album had generated a record five number one hits in 2010 and 2011.

spk_0 California girls, teenage dream, fireworks, ET, and last Friday night. All five climbed into the

spk_0 top spot the regular way. So, by 2012, Perry was at her imperial peak, and part of me instantly

spk_0 entered the hot 100 at number one. Today, part of me receives only 23 spins a week at US radio,

spk_0 and its lifetime Spotify plays are lower than any of Perry's other number one hits.

spk_0 Or, how about this superstar momentum chart topper?

spk_0 Hold it against me. Was the first single from Britney Spears 2011 album, Theme Fatal.

spk_0 Britney fans were eagerly anticipating the album after a three year gap following 2008's circus.

spk_0 So, when hold it against me arrived, it sold a staggering 411,000 downloads in its first week,

spk_0 the highest singles sales total of Britney's career. And it racked up a great opening radio

spk_0 audience too. But the burnout on the song was remarkably quick, and Spears fans and critics

spk_0 generally agreed that the follow-up single, Till the World Ends, was the real Britney classic.

spk_0 Till the World Ends peaked at number three in a longer chart run. But, hold it against me was the

spk_0 one that debuted on top, mostly due to timing, anticipation, and momentum. Today, hold it against me

spk_0 is only played on the radio eight times a week, according to Sean Ross's data. And its Spotify

spk_0 plays are less than half that of Till the World Ends. Again, it's not where you start, it's where you

spk_0 finish. Before we leave the superstar momentum category, I would be remiss if I didn't mention

spk_0 Taylor Swift. She's debuted atop the hot 100 a remarkable seven times. I've already highlighted

spk_0 a couple of them, including the unimpeachably popular Shake It Off and the Moody Cartigan,

spk_0 which benefited from Swift's surprise 2020 pandemic album Folkloo.

spk_0 But, arguably, the number one debut Swift scored less than five months later. The lead single from

spk_0 her other pandemic album evermore was even more momentum-driven, the ghostly ballad Willow.

spk_0 If Willow were by any artist other than Taylor Swift, it would not have gone near number one,

spk_0 because it was by Swift and the lead single from an LP that was itself a conceptual follow-up to

spk_0 Folkloo. This captivating track opened to 30 million streams, nearly 60,000 downloads,

spk_0 and a radio audience of over 12 million. Five years later, Willow falls short to Cartigan

spk_0 in Lifetime's Spotify streams. But, according to Sean Ross, Willow now receives more 2025

spk_0 radio spins than Cartigan. Sometimes a shadow can haunt the airwaves the longest.

spk_0 Life was a willow and it bent right to your window. They count me out time and time again.

spk_0 Another category of number one debut I've identified is what I call the history-making hit.

spk_0 These songs opened on top thanks to a meta-narrative, bigger than the song itself.

spk_0 In the first part of this episode, I mentioned Puff Daddy's 1997 tribute to the deceased Biggie

spk_0 Smalls I'll be missing you. But the biggest history-making number one debut of that year was

spk_0 Elton John's tribute to an even more world-renowned figure who died too soon.

spk_0 The

spk_0 Sunset

spk_0 When the rain

spk_0 City

spk_0 Candle in the wind 1997 Elton John's tribute to the late Diana Princess of Wales was a cultural phenomenon.

spk_0 The best-selling single in Hot 100 History with 11 million sold in America alone. Second only in

spk_0 the record books to Bing Crosby's White Christmas which predates the Hot 100. This rerecording of

spk_0 Elton's 1970s tribute ballad to Marilyn Monroe not only debuted atop the Hot 100 in September

spk_0 of 97, it spent 14 weeks there. The song was so massive it even turned its B-side, the

spk_0 stately something about the way you look tonight into a hit in its own right. In America,

spk_0 something actually wound up the bigger radio hit over Candle.

spk_0 And I can't explain

spk_0 But there's something about the way you look tonight.

spk_0 Sean Ross reports that Candle in the wind 1997 is scarcely ever played in 2025.

spk_0 The week he surveyed it was on the radio only four times.

spk_0 Frankly, I'm surprised it was even that many. The song is wedded in the public's mind with a tragedy.

spk_0 Meanwhile, another historic song that debuted at number one more recently but is now played

spk_0 even less than Elton's rerecorded candle is this 2020 hit by K-pop boy band BTS.

spk_0 I don't know if I can see it.

spk_0 Life goes on could be categorized more than one way. It's a momentum-driven number one debut

spk_0 because it came just a couple of months after BTS's first number one debut. The better remembered

spk_0 hit Dynamite. But the reason I call Life Goes On Historymaking is its language. The song is

spk_0 sung mostly in Korean only a few lines of the chorus are in English.

spk_0 That makes Life Goes On the first and to date the only hot 100 number one song largely in Korean.

spk_0 The reason it debuted at number one was due mostly to the loyal fandom of the BTS army.

spk_0 And today the song has no modern airplay footprint. Zero spins on terrestrial radio in 2025.

spk_0 But its cultural status was momentous. And at a time when Korean pop is back atop the charts

spk_0 this year thanks to the recent Netflix musical K-pop demon hunters. And by the way those songs are

spk_0 also partially sung in Korean.

spk_0 BTS's Life Goes On deserves recognition for helping to pave the way for this globalism on the

spk_0 American pop charts. Some other historic number one debut include the 2021 chart topper by Taylor

spk_0 Swift. Yes, her again. With her re-recording of her classic power ballad all too well.

spk_0 Why historic? It's the longest number one song in hot 100 history. Longest as in running time.

spk_0 The re-recording lasts over 10 minutes. Indeed Swift even titled her re-recording a hem. All too

spk_0 well, parentheses 10 minute version, parentheses, Taylor's version, parentheses from the vault.

spk_0 When this single debuted at number one in November 2021 it beat two prior long playing number one

spk_0 hits. The Beatles 7 Minute Plus, Hey Jude, and Don McLean's 8 Minute Plus American Pie.

spk_0 McLean held the record for running time for nearly 50 years. But Swift beat him by two minutes.

spk_0 The length of the song and fans curiosity about the story embedded in its lyrics about Taylor's

spk_0 breakup with a famous Hollywood actor fueled the number one debut even more than the songs acclaimed.

spk_0 All too well.

spk_0 The last wave of history making number one debut came just last year in 2024 when a series of hip hop

spk_0 diss tracks topped the hot 100 for the first time. As I argued in our July episode of Hit Parade

spk_0 on the history of diss or beef records and early 2024 number one debut by Megan Thee Stallion.

spk_0 A sharp-tongued track called Hiss was arguably the first rap beef record to top the big pop chart.

spk_0 Megan's short-lived but history making hit never received much airplay. Sean Ross counted three

spk_0 radio spins in a week this summer and its Spotify streams are also modest. But Hiss opened the

spk_0 cultural floodgates for an even bigger 2024 rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

spk_0 That beef was kicked off by Kendrick's smash like that with future and Metro Boomin and his solo

spk_0 joint not like us. All of these songs not only commanded the zeitgeist they all debuted at number one.

spk_0 In rap lore beef records make history and less we forget sometimes history has an edge.

spk_0 We'll be back momentarily.

spk_0 I'm Dalia Lysway. I'm Mark Joseph Stern. We host Amicus Slates podcast about courts, the law,

spk_0 and the Supreme Court. Trump's second term is speedrunning the collapse of America's constitutional

spk_0 guardrails. And as we lurch into a new term at the high court the people of the United States are

spk_0 asking can he do that? The Roberts Court is so far answering hell yeah. We're tracking the law

spk_0 and the lawlessness of this constitutionally precarious moment. We truly believe that legal knowledge

spk_0 is power and it's not just for lawyers. So join us as we speak to the experts, the thinkers,

spk_0 the court watchers, and the litigators who can break it all down. Follow Amicus wherever you get

spk_0 your podcasts. That's AMI-C-U-S. New episodes every Saturday. We'll see you there.

spk_0 Hey it's Anna Sale host of Death Sex and Money. The podcast from Slate about the things we think

spk_0 about a lot and need to talk about more. And recently we asked you to tell us stories about your

spk_0 beauty interventions. What you've decided to invest time and money in to improve your appearance.

spk_0 So I looked at my dad and I looked at him carefully and said no no no no no no no we are we are going

spk_0 to sail in a different direction than this. We heard from people who spent thousands on plastic

spk_0 surgery, fillers, and skincare routines and from others who decided to reject pressure

spk_0 like covering grades. It's kind of like why do I need to do that? I mean for you is it for you?

spk_0 Because you're embarrassed to have a friend or a spouse with gray hair. I mean what is the

spk_0 encouragement from? And you told us about feeling caught between viewing appearance improvements as

spk_0 vanity and recognizing how much looking a certain way affects your relationships, career,

spk_0 and self-worth. I'd like to think of myself as a person with depth, a person who values intelligence

spk_0 and kindness and yet sometimes I worry that my appearance in the doors that my appearance have opened,

spk_0 those are going to close if I don't continue to look this particular way.

spk_0 Listen to this episode and more Death Sex and Money episodes wherever you get podcasts.

spk_0 A third category of number one debut is what I call the spin-off. These are seemingly new soloists

spk_0 who enter at number one because they are spinning off from an already established group. One of the

spk_0 most challenging things in the world is the first category because even though it was Hills' first-ever

spk_0 single, her prior success with the Fuji's gave her on trade to the penthouse right away. You might say

spk_0 he'll was a debutante but also a veteran. One of the most popular sources of spin-off acts is

spk_0 the boy band. In the mid-2010s, the first member of British boy band, one direction to go solo,

spk_0 was Zane Malik and his first single was a smash right out of the box. Ironically, with that single,

spk_0 Malik achieved something that had eluded the boy band. He scored an American number one hit.

spk_0 In its five years together, one D only got as high on the hot 100 as number two.

spk_0 Recorded under the mononym Zane, 2016's pillow talk entered on top.

spk_0 By the way, curiously, the one direction member who went on to the most successful solo career

spk_0 by far, Harry Styles did not score a number one hit for several years after one D's hiatus,

spk_0 and he didn't score his first number one debut until 2022 with the blockbuster as it was. By then,

spk_0 Harry was a long-established superstar with his boy band days well behind him. This debut was not

spk_0 really a spin-off. Because Harry Styles is now the bigger star, as it was, has a much larger

spk_0 radio profile than Zane's hit does. Pillow Talk was only played 44 times on US Radio in a week

spk_0 this year, as it was, which was also 2022's song of the summer, is still played over 2700 times

spk_0 a week. Still, in the chart history books, both Zane and Harry have number one debut to their names.

spk_0 Another boy band that has spun off multiple soloists with number one debut is the aforementioned

spk_0 BTS, which went on a multi-year hiatus in the mid-2020s while its members served out their mandated

spk_0 South Korean military service. During the hiatus, two members of BTS scored American number one's,

spk_0 and both debuted on top in 2023. Jimman, who took his techno-bop like crazy to number one in the

spk_0 spring of 23, and Jong-Kook, who teamed with American rapper Lotto for his summer 23-banger 7.

spk_0 Between the two BTS soloists, Jong-Kook's hit has proven more enduring, with more than 70 US

spk_0 radio spins a week. Jimmans had none, and 7 also has nearly twice as many lifetime Spotify streams

spk_0 like Crazy Does. Before we leave BTS, I should note that they also kind of sort of spun off

spk_0 another number one debut a few years ago, by teaming with a veteran rock band. Their duet with

spk_0 Coldplay, 2021's My Universe, gave the Chris Martin fronted British band their only number one debut.

spk_0 Is it really fair to regard Coldplay as a side effect of the popularity of BTS? For this one song,

spk_0 yes. It was Coldplay's first number one hit of any kind since Viva La Vida in 2008, more than

spk_0 13 years earlier. As of 2025, though My Universe only garners 17 radio spins a week on Spotify,

spk_0 its 1.5 billion streams ranks the song among Coldplay's most streamed hits, higher even than older

spk_0 hits like clocks or speed of sound. Talk about the BTS bump.

spk_0 Sure, it was weird for a British rock band to team up with a South Korean boy band,

spk_0 but that's hardly the oddest insta hit ever. Let's talk about another category,

spk_0 Weird Number One Debuts.

spk_0 We've talked about Harlem Shake, the fluke hit by Philadelphia DJ Bauer in several prior hit

spk_0 parade episodes. It qualifies as both a novelty song and a quasi-instrumental hit,

spk_0 and its debut at number one was fueled by a Billboard policy change in 2013,

spk_0 when the magazine began counting YouTube views for the Hot 100 for the first time.

spk_0 The meme ability of Harlem Shake helped it rack up over 100 million video views in its first week

spk_0 on the chart, giving Bauer, who never touched the Hot 100 before, a freak number one debut.

spk_0 According to Sean Ross, it now receives no radio spins, but then radio was never a major part

spk_0 of the whole Harlem Shake phenomenon. And speaking of YouTube sensations,

spk_0 when's the last time you heard this is America by Childish Gambino, the

spk_0 Nome der App of actor, writer, singer, Donald Glover? Probably not in a long time.

spk_0 Sean Ross clocked it at just 11 radio spins a week, and on Spotify,

spk_0 its lifetime plays are lower than five other Childish Gambino hits. But back in 2018,

spk_0 Glover's indictment of American culture was a sensation. Coming in at number one on the Hot

spk_0 100, a week after its disturbing inflammatory and much-meamed video premiered the same night

spk_0 Glover debuted the song on Saturday Night Live. That video did more to fuel this is America's

spk_0 number one debut than the song itself did, but it would go on to win the Grammy for song and record

spk_0 of the year in 2019. With its blend of Afrobeats, hip hop, and withering satire, there's never been

spk_0 a Hot 100 chart topper quite like this is America. I would also classify many of rapper

spk_0 Travis Scott's chart toppers in the weird category, especially his 2020 number one debut, The Scott's,

spk_0 whose artist credit was officially listed as The Scots.

spk_0 The Scots was a one-time only name for the duo of Travis Scott with veteran rapper Scott

spk_0 Miscudi, better known as Kid Cutty. Travis Scott dreamed up the song as the soundtrack to a special

spk_0 appearance in the world-building online video game Fortnite Battle Royale. Scott premiered The Scots.

spk_0 Again, that's the name of both the group and the song within Fortnite before releasing it as a

spk_0 single. With that massive gamer audience who were all stuck at home at the height of the 2020

spk_0 pandemic, The Scots exploded onto the Hot 100 at number one, fueled by 42 million streams and

spk_0 67,000 downloads. And now, The Scots was played only 10 times on the radio in a week in 2025,

spk_0 according to Sean Ross. StereoGum number one's columnist, Tom Bryan aptly calls this meandering song

spk_0 quote, a chart-topping pop hit that does not exist. Unquote. These weird hits by childish

spk_0 Gambino and The Scots were by artists who had at least scored hits before. Maybe the weirdest

spk_0 number one debut of all was by a performer who'd never touched a chart before. He'd barely even

spk_0 recorded before. And yet, in the summer of 2023, the first-ever chart hit by a man with a beard

spk_0 and a couple of sleeping dogs entered the Hot 100 at number one.

spk_0 Oliver Anthony, born Christopher Anthony Lunsford, he released his songs under the pseudonym

spk_0 Oliver Anthony Music. Recorded an acoustic folk-screeed called Rich Men North of Richmond,

spk_0 on video with a scraggly beard and a couple of snoozing pooches. An incoate rant that was hard

spk_0 to summarize politically. In the lyrics, Anthony complains about both billionaires and welfare

spk_0 recipients. The unadorned recording caught fire as the 2024 presidential race was just starting

spk_0 to heat up. Tens of millions of Americans bought and streamed the song, pushing it onto both the

spk_0 pop and country charts, where it instantly materialized on top. As you can imagine,

spk_0 this happenstance of a hit did not have long coattails. Anthony scored only one more Hot 100 hit,

spk_0 a twangy B-side called Ain't Got a Dollar, which peaked at number 82.

spk_0 And then Oliver Anthony Music never touched the Hot 100 again. Rich Men North of Richmond

spk_0 lasted 20 weeks on the Hot 100 before falling off. Two years later, Sean Ross clocked the song

spk_0 receiving one spin on US Radio in early June 2025. I'd love to know what station played at this year

spk_0 and why. And its lifetime Spotify total of 321 million streams is higher than some Mariah Carey hits.

spk_0 So let's say this for Oliver Anthony. He left his mark. And in 2023, he may have foreshadowed

spk_0 the results of the 2024 election. Wish I could just wake up and it not be true, but it is. Oh, it is.

spk_0 We'll be right back.

spk_0 Hey, it's Mary Harris. Hostar Slade's Daily News podcast, what next?

spk_0 I'm talking with Amicus co-host Mark Joseph Stern about the Supreme Court's new term,

spk_0 which technically starts this week. The thing about this year, though, is that Mark feels like he

spk_0 already knows who's going to win in court, Donald Trump, which leaves him with a whole other question.

spk_0 Can he call these justices judges? The law is changing every day, it seems. And the Supreme

spk_0 Court is often changing the law without explaining itself. So it's again hard to conceptualize that

spk_0 his law hard to describe it accurately or fairly as judging. It looks a lot more like a super

spk_0 legislature, just passing a bunch of statutes that it thinks are best for the country and doing so

spk_0 without ever receiving a single vote from the American people. Check out what next, wherever you listen.

spk_0 How much do you know about the scandal that got Bill Clinton impeached?

spk_0 Monica Lewinsky is under the microscope. Bill Clinton is under siege and the White House is

spk_0 trying to contain the damage. Maybe you know the basics. The Clinton's presidency came to a

spk_0 screeching halt amid a storm of accusations involving sex, power, partisan warfare.

spk_0 If it turns out to be true, it could be the end of Clinton's presidency.

spk_0 Congress is rushing to overthrow the commander in chief. What determines who we believe,

spk_0 and whose side we take in a political fight?

spk_0 Trip the secret me, tape Monica Lewinsky.

spk_0 Put out the radio shack and buy a tape recorder and plug it in the phone.

spk_0 What does it mean to abuse one's power?

spk_0 I did not have sexual relations with that one.

spk_0 It is absolutely staggering that the fate of the most powerful man on the planet is in the hands of

spk_0 a completely unknown 23 year old intern. Subscribe to Slow Burn and Apple podcasts.

spk_0 In late August 1992, Randy Weaver and his family were refusing to come down from the remote

spk_0 Idaho mountain top where they lived. Weaver, a fugitive on a federal firearms charge,

spk_0 has been holed up in a cabin near Naples for more than a year.

spk_0 The government thought Randy Weaver was a dangerous, possibly violent extremist.

spk_0 Randy and his wife Vicki thought the government was an agent of Satan on Earth.

spk_0 When it was all over, three people were dead,

spk_0 and the government had spent millions of dollars to catch one man.

spk_0 We'll find out why the siege at Ruby Ridge unfolded the way it did,

spk_0 and think about some of the questions it raises.

spk_0 What should we do about white supremacists?

spk_0 Why has the story of Ruby Ridge become an enduring myth for the far right?

spk_0 And whose fault was it anyway?

spk_0 Subscribe to Standoff, what happened at Ruby Ridge in Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

spk_0 For my last couple of categories, let's cover the most dubious and the most glorious number one

spk_0 debuts, and with apologies to Spike Lee, let's go lowest to highest.

spk_0 On the low end, my bucket of lamest number one debuts includes most of the American idol

spk_0 coronation songs I already mentioned. None of them is great.

spk_0 Among the more modern number one debuts in the lame category, we have to talk about Drake.

spk_0 Not to beat up on the guy after Kendrick Lamar took him to the cleaners last year, but here's the thing.

spk_0 Drake currently holds the record for most number one debuts in Hot 100 History.

spk_0 This, by the way, is mostly a reflection of how prolific Drake is besides his enduring popularity.

spk_0 An amazing nine of Drake's 13 career number one hits started in the penthouse,

spk_0 and at least half of those number one debuts are terminally lame.

spk_0 These number one debuts are not even representative of Drake's best work.

spk_0 You might suppose his chart toppers would include consensus faves like take care,

spk_0 started from the bottom, or hotline bling, and nope, none of those Drake standouts even reached

spk_0 number one, let alone debuted there. If I told you the titles of some Drake songs that have

spk_0 debuted on top, you'd have to be a pretty big Drake fan to even recall them. They're a

spk_0 mishmash of, huh? Jimmy Cooks? What's next? The aforementioned slime you out, and my vote for

spk_0 Drizzy's lamest overall number one debut, the instructional dance record, yes, you heard me,

spk_0 Drizzy's slide. It's Drake's version of the Hoki Pokey.

spk_0 Drake named Drizzy's slide after an Atlanta-based influencer and dance performer who calls himself

spk_0 Tussy. Drake asked Tussy to help him come up with a dance he could describe in a song.

spk_0 The dance they came up with, left foot up, right foot slide, is childlike in its simplicity,

spk_0 and it's paired with some of the least exciting, least danceable music imaginable.

spk_0 The fact that Drake released it at the start of the 2020 pandemic and shot its video wearing a mask

spk_0 by himself in an empty Toronto mansion may have contributed to the song's dour mood.

spk_0 Stereo Gums Tom Bryan calls Tussy's slide, quote, a lockdown throwaway.

spk_0 Unquote. According to Sean Ross's data, Tussy's slide does garner a little over 50 spins a week,

spk_0 which isn't nothing. But Drake has had much better hits. Even better number one

spk_0 debuts will come back to him. Just a few weeks after Tussy's slide debuted at number one in the

spk_0 spring of 2020, another hip hop track opened on top that might be even worse. Trolls spelled with

spk_0 a Z and performed by the aggressively provocative rapper 6'9 with help from female rap legend Nikki

spk_0 Manage.

spk_0 Professional troll Daniel Hernandez, aka Tikashi 6'9, recorded this song specifically to score a

spk_0 number one debut and prove a point about the corrupt ability of the Billboard charts. He and Nikki

spk_0 made it as lewd and learing as possible and they were rewarded on the chart. Five years later,

spk_0 Trolls generates only three radio plays a week. I kind of wish it were none. Like Drake, Nikki is a

spk_0 vitally influential rapper whose highest charting hits do not represent her well. Two years after

spk_0 the 6'9 joint, she scored a number one debut of her own, the Rick James sampling Super Freaky girl.

spk_0 It's well at least better than Trolls, but that's mostly because Super Freaky Girl is built out

spk_0 of a big chunk of James' classic Super Freak. Three years after it opened on top, Super Freaky Girl

spk_0 scores about 150 radio spins a week, according to Sean Ross. So those are my votes for the

spk_0 lamest number one debut. What about the enduring ones? You can subdivide the cream of the crop

spk_0 between the number one debut that have proven eternally popular and those I actually love.

spk_0 The former category are the earworms you've got to give it up for. Love them or hate them,

spk_0 they were phenomena. I'm thinking of, for example, Justin Timberlake's aggressively cheerful

spk_0 can't stop the feeling, which opened at number one in 2016.

spk_0 Timberlake's catchy smash still gets spun on the radio more than 600 times a week,

spk_0 or the following year Ed Sheeran's brain fungus Shape of You, which not only debuted on top,

spk_0 Sheeran's first ever chart-topper, it stayed at number one a dozen weeks. I have both poked at

spk_0 and praised this song in prior hit parade episodes. It's both annoying and irresistible,

spk_0 and it still gets spun nearly 1500 times a week on US radio.

spk_0 By the way, Sheeran's Shape of You has something in common with the following year's Drake Smash

spk_0 Gods Plan, one of his more respectable number one debuts.

spk_0 Shape of You and Gods Plan are the only two number one debuts in Hot 100 History to be named

spk_0 Billboard's number one hit of the whole year, 2017 and 2018, respectively.

spk_0 It's harder for a number one debut to wind up as the year's top hit. As we discussed in our hits

spk_0 of the year episode, generally slower growing songs tend to take the title. Explosive number one

spk_0 debuts tend to have fewer weeks on the chart overall, but The Sheeran and Drake hits outlasted

spk_0 the competition, and Gods Plan still gets played around 225 times a week in 2025.

spk_0 Gods Plan, Gods Plan, I can't do this on my own.

spk_0 As for my personal favorites, I've already discussed several of them,

spk_0 songs that are both musically exceptional and still generate hundreds of radio spins and

spk_0 thousands of Spotify streams to this day. They include Mariah Carey's fantasy.

spk_0 Lauren Hills do op that thing. Adele's Hello and Lady Gaga's Culture Shifting pro-LGBTQ Anthem

spk_0 born this way. Believe it or not, Drake has one of my favorites. 2018's Nice for What,

spk_0 his follow up to Gods Plan. Both songs debuted atop the hot 100 back to back. Nice for What is,

spk_0 I'd argue, the better song and one of Drake's most infectious bangers. Apparently, radio listeners

spk_0 agree. Nice for What generates higher radio spins in 2025, nearly 300 a week, about 30% higher

spk_0 than Gods Plan.

spk_0 Among Ariana Grande's seven number one debuts, I still enjoy 2018's Thank You Next, her sweet

spk_0 and salty kiss off to her famous former lovers. It still generates over 100 radio plays a week

spk_0 in 2025. Though it doesn't receive quite as much airplay for, perhaps, obvious reasons,

spk_0 I'm also a fan of Cardi B and Megan The Stallions gleefully ribbled WAP, a number one debut in 2020.

spk_0 In 2025, it's played fewer than 80 times a week at US radio, but considering the song, that's a

spk_0 pretty impressive number. I'd call WAP a bold statement of women's sexual freedom, but that would

spk_0 sell short just how fun it is. Among Boyband BTS's five number one debuts on the hot 100,

spk_0 their best is still their first 2020's Dynamite, a disco style bop with silly lyrics and irresistible

spk_0 energy. It's still played around 60 times a week on US radio, but I think it should be more.

spk_0 As K-pop becomes more entrenched among American DJs, post K-pop demon hunters, Dynamite may come

spk_0 to be regarded as a radio classic. Finally, I am a pretty big fan of the eclectic rock adjacent

spk_0 pop star Olivia Rodrigo, whose track record so far is unique. She has three number one songs on the

spk_0 hot 100 total. She's the sole performer on all of them, no featured artists or duets, and all three

spk_0 of them debuted at number one. Rodrigo is the only artist with that exceptional chart record,

spk_0 a career sweep of number one debuts, and by the way, all three songs are 2020's pop classics,

spk_0 including her 2021 torch ballad driver's license. Which spent eight weeks at number one,

spk_0 and still gets spun on the radio more than 300 times a week. Then there's Rodrigo's pop punk

spk_0 banger, Good for you. It debuted on top a bit later in 2021. Stayed there for only one week,

spk_0 but is to this day an even bigger airplay jam. More than 1200 radio spins a week in 2025.

spk_0 And finally, there's Rodrigo's most unique chart topper, the hybrid torch ballad and

spk_0 operatic rocker vampire. I affectionately refer to it as Olivia's Bohemian rhapsody.

spk_0 In 2023, vampire debuted on top of the hot 100, fell out of the number one spot for a while,

spk_0 then came back to number one nine weeks later. Talk about an enduring hit. Two years later,

spk_0 according to Sean Ross's data, vampire is still heard on the radio nearly a thousand times a week.

spk_0 I was reflecting on the uniqueness of vampire recently, while watching footage of Rodrigo's

spk_0 blockbuster tour in support of her acclaimed 2023 album, Gutz. The tour took Rodrigo all over the

spk_0 world, and wherever she went, fans sang along lustily to vampire and all of her hits.

spk_0 Those cars are good to be good, don't care about what you want.

spk_0 These are the fans who made Olivia's songs number one debuts in the first place.

spk_0 When each song dropped, these fans couldn't wait to hear them and play them over and over again.

spk_0 There were enough of these rabid fans that the songs exploded onto the charts,

spk_0 but in all cases, Rodrigo's songs gradually became favorites of more passive audiences too.

spk_0 Ideally, this is how the charts are supposed to work. The loyal fan gets the fire started,

spk_0 and if the song is great, the larger public keeps it burning for weeks, months, and years to come.

spk_0 I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited, and narrated by

spk_0 Chris Malanfee. That's me. My producers this month were Olivia Briley and Kevin Bendis.

spk_0 Kevin also produced the latest installment of our monthly Hit Parade The Bridge shows,

spk_0 which are available exclusively to Slate Plus members. In our latest bridge episode,

spk_0 I welcome author and chart scholar Chris Dalariva to talk about the ex-factors that

spk_0 characterize number one hits, including number one debuts. To sign up for Slate Plus and hear

spk_0 not only the bridge, but all our shows the day they drop, visit Slate.com slash Hit Parade Plus.

spk_0 Our supervising producer is Joel Meyer, and the executive producer of Slate Podcasts is Mia Lowbell.

spk_0 Check out their roster of shows at Slate.com slash podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever

spk_0 you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate culture feed. If you're subscribing

spk_0 on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find

spk_0 the show. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then,

spk_0 keep on marching on. How much do you know about the scandal that got Bill Clinton impeached?

spk_0 Monica Lewinsky is under the microscope. Bill Clinton is under siege and the White House is

spk_0 trying to contain the damage. Maybe you know the basics. The Clinton's presidency came to a

spk_0 screeching halt amid a storm of accusations involving sex, power, partisan warfare. If it turns out

spk_0 to be true, it could be the end of Clinton's presidency. Congress is rushing to overthrow the

spk_0 commander in chief. What determines who we believe and whose side we take in a political fight?

spk_0 Trip the secret me, take Monica Lewinsky. Put out the radio shack and buy a taker cord and plug it

spk_0 in the phone. What does it mean to abuse one's power? I did not have sexual relations with that one.

spk_0 It is absolutely staggering that the fate of the most powerful man on the planet is in the hands of

spk_0 the completely unknown twenty-three. Subscribe to Slow Burn and Apple Podcasts.

spk_0 In late August 1992, Randy Weaver and his family were refusing to come down from the remote

spk_0 Idaho mountain top where they lived. Weaver, a fugitive on a federal firearms charge,

spk_0 has been holed up in a cabin near Naples for more than a year. The government thought Randy Weaver

spk_0 was a dangerous, possibly violent extremist. Randy and his wife Vicki thought the government was

spk_0 an agent of Satan on Earth. When it was all over, three people were dead, and the government had

spk_0 spent millions of dollars to catch one man. We'll find out why the siege at Ruby Ridge unfolded the

spk_0 way it did, and think about some of the questions it raises. What should we do about white supremacists?

spk_0 Why has the story of Ruby Ridge become an enduring myth for the far right? And whose fault was it anyway?

spk_0 Subscribe to Standoff, what happened at Ruby Ridge, in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

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