The best song in the country is now the No. 1 song in the country. Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" now rests atop the Billboard Hot 100, dethroning Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do."
Cardi's performance of the track, which has been steadily climbing the charts since its release in June, was a highlight during last month's MTV Video Music Awards broadcast. For some fucking reason, MTV chose to tuck the performance into its pre-show coverage instead of the main event.
Cardi gave a shout-out to Colin Kaepernick during the ceremony, praising him for his national anthem protest. "Let me just tell you this, baby," Cardi said when presenting. "Colin Kaepernick, as long as you kneel with us, we're gonna be standing for you, baby."
"Bodak Yellow" marks Cardi's debut single under Atlantic Records. Last month, Cardi gifted fans with a Latin trap remix of the track featuring Messiah. "I did [this version] to make my dad side of the family proud," Cardi said when announcing the remix.
Cardi's team predicted a No. 1 victory for "Bodak Yellow" in a recent New York Times profile. As Joanna Nikas reported, after Cardi asked her publicist how they would celebrate "if" the song hit the top of the charts, Cardi was corrected. "Don't say 'if,'" publicist Patientce Foster said. "When."
The Bronx rapper celebrated the achievement by bigging up her friends and family who have supported her and the chart-topping single:
"Bodak Yellow" now marks the first solo woman-fronted rap single to hit No. 1 since "Doo Wop (That Thing)" back in 1998. Ahead of Monday's Hot 100 reveal, J. Cole gave Cardi a shout-out amid his tweeted comments in support of Kaepernick. "Don't put all that pressure on your album," he advised. "You already won."
During her Made in America Festival performance at the top of the month, Cardi announced that a new album would be out in October, though in her Breakfast Club interview she intimated it would be pushed back.
The latest Billboard Hot 100 also includes the massive No. 2 debut of Post Malone and 21 Savage's "Rockstar."