Kanye West has landed his first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 in 13 years thanks to the Vultures 1 track “Carnival.”
As reported by Billboard, Ye, and Ty Dolla Sign's “Carnival,” which features Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti, has risen to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after sitting at No. 2 in the previous week.
The achievement is West's fifth No. 1 overall and Ty Dolla Sign's second, while it also scores both Rich the Kid and Carti their first-ever No. 1 song. As a result of the placement, Ye, 46, is now the oldest rapper to top the chart. He's the only rapper to earn a No. 1 hit in three different decades, first doing so with the Twista and Jamie Foxx collaboration “Slow Jamz” in 2004.
Ye becomes the first rapper ever to earn #1 hits on the Hot 100 in three different decades…
✔️ 2000s
✔️ 2010s
✔️ 2020s pic.twitter.com/UCd8Zh0s4g— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) March 11, 2024
While Kanye did score a No. 1 thanks to his feature on Katy Perry's “E.T.” in 2011, “Carnival” is his first as a lead artist since 2007's “Stronger.” He's often fared well on the Hot 100, but he's typically done better on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with 11 total No. 1 albums.
“Carnival” is the longest break between Hot 100 No. 1s for an artist since Brenda Lee's “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” hit No. 1 a record 63 years after her song “I Want to Be Wanted” achieved the same feat in 1960.
On Monday night, just hours after news of the track's latest feat was announced, a riot-centric “Carnival” visual that's somewhere in between a music video and lyric video dropped. It was created by Jon Rafman with CGI by Dario Alva and Garrett McGale.
Watch it below.
YouTube: YouTube: Kanye West
It'll be interesting to see if Ye—who has battled controversy only to climb back to chart success—can once again top the Billboard 200 albums chart with the arrival of his second collaborative album with Ty Dolla Sign, Vultures 2. He recently revealed that the project, which doesn't have a firm release date yet, won't be available on streaming services because he thinks Spotify and Apple Music devalue music. It'll only be attainable via his website for $20. This marks a similar pattern to 2021's Donda, which was widely released, and 2022's Donda 2, which was only on Ye's Stem Player.
This article was originally published on Complex.com.
