Imagine Dragons have been defeated.
Billboardreported on Monday that The Weeknd’s widely adored 2019 single “Blinding Lights” has now bagged its 88th week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, thus surpassing Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” with which it was previously tied at 87 weeks, to become the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 song ever. On the most recent chart, dated Aug. 21, “Blinding Lights” sits at No. 18.
The After Hours era hit, which remarkably persisted throughout 2020 and remains fairly ubiquitous to this day, debuted in the No. 11 spot in December of 2019 and later spent four weeks in the top spot. Previous records broken by the track include the most time spent in the top five of the Hot 100, the most time spent in the top 10, and the most time spent in the top 40.
Meanwhile, the latest entry from Abel—the new era-launching “Take My Breath”—has debuted at the No. 6 spot on the Hot 100. This gives Abel his 13th Hot 100 top 10 entry, a haul he’s managed to pull off in roughly seven years. In the top spot on the latest chart is the Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi collab “Stay,” which lands its second week at No. 1.
Soon, fans will be able to hear the final (near-final?) version of The Weeknd’s guest spot on the long-awaited Kanye West track “Hurricane.” The rumored DONDA single also features Lil Baby and was most recently teased at the second of ‘Ye’s listening events in Atlanta. While no official release date has been given for the track, or for the album itself, recent developments point to the track’s formal release possibly being imminent.
