Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” narrowly beat out Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” to maintain the Number One position on the Rolling Stone Top 100. “Truth Hurts” was streamed more by a small margin (17.9 million to 17.7. million), but “Old Town Road” earned more downloads (35,000 to 27,400). Lil Nas X’s breakout hit has been Number One on the RS 100 for five of the last six weeks.
The Rolling Stone Top 100 chart tracks the most popular songs of the week in the United States. Songs are ranked by song units, a number that combines audio streams and song sales using a custom weighting system. The chart does not include passive listening like terrestrial radio or digital radio. The Rolling Stone Top 100 chart is updated daily, and each week Rolling Stone finalizes and publishes an official version of the chart, covering the seven-day period ending with the previous Thursday.
While Lil Nas X maintained his hold on Number One, it was a busy week elsewhere on the RS 100. Rick Ross’ “Gold Roses,” a gloomy single evoking early 2000s chipmunk soul, debuted at Number Nine with 11.8 million streams. The track features Drake, who is now on three separate duets in the Top Ten — “Gold Roses” joins “Money in the Grave,” also with Ross, and “No Guidance,” which features Chris Brown.
The other victors on this week’s RS 100 are Chance the Rapper and NF. Nine tracks from Chance the Rapper’s The Big Day debuted on the chart, including four in the Top 40: “Hot Shower” (Number 13, 11.7 million streams), “All Day Long” (Number 28, 7.6 million streams), “Do You Remember” (Number 30, 7.5 million streams), and “Handsome” (Number 38, 6.6 million streams). NF also launched a pair of tracks onto the Top 100; “Time” arrived at Number 34 with 7.2 million streams.
Looking towards next week, Lil Nas X may face a serious challenge at Number One: Ariana Grande released a new single “Boyfriend,” on Friday. On Monday, the song was Number Two on Spotify’s U.S. Top 50 chart, while “Old Town Road” had fallen to Number 15. With only two days of consumption data available, “Boyfriend” currently holds a small lead over “Old Town Road” in song units.