AC/DC brothers Angus and Malcolm Young tie at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Songwriters chart (dated Jan. 30), each leading for the first time thanks to a pair of songwriting credits on the latest Hot Hard Rock Songs chart.
“Shot in the Dark” ranks at No. 3 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, after spending six weeks at No. 1, followed by “Realize,” which re-enters at No. 12 (after reaching No. 4 in November). Both tracks are from AC/DC’s LP Power Up, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 in November.
Angus and Malcolm Young are the two original founding members of the classic hard rock group. Malcolm retired from the band in 2014 due to early-onset dementia, and died in 2017. He and Angus are, however, credited as co-writers on all 12 tracks on Power Up.
On the Hard Rock Producers chart, Brendan O’Brien returns to No. 1 for an eighth total week on top, thanks to his production credits on AC/DC’s “Shot in the Dark” and “Realize.”
O’Brien boasts a decades-long career on Billboard’s charts, with over 40 production credits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the top 10s “Drops of Jupiter” by Train (No. 5, 2001) and “I Got ID”/Long Road” by Pearl Jam (No. 7, 1995), as well as Augustana’s “Boston,” Counting Crows’ “Accidentally in Love” and Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising.”
The weekly Hard Rock Songwriters and Hard Rock Producers charts (which began in June 2019) are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Hard Rock Songs chart; As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
Check out this week’s full Hard Rock Songwriters and Hard Rock Producers charts, in addition to the other full genre rankings, at Billboard.com/biz.
