Twenty One Pilots’ new single “Shy Away” hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart (dated May 1) in just its third week on the survey. The song completes the fastest climb to the top since the duo’s own “Jumpsuit” took just two weeks to reign in July 2018.
In the last 10 years, no other song has hit No. 1 on Alternative Airplay so quickly. Going back a bit further, to the start of the 2010s, only two other titles led in three weeks or fewer: Linkin Park’s “The Catalyst” (September 2010) and Foo Fighters’ “Rope” (March 2011), each of which ruled in their third frame.
In the Alternative Airplay chart’s entire 32-year history, Twenty One Pilots are now among a select club of acts with multiple songs to rise to No. 1 in three weeks or less, thanks to “Shy Away” and “Jumpsuit.” They join U2 (five such coronations); R.E.M. (four); The Cure, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers (three each); and Foo Fighters (two).
“Shy Away” earns the duo its eighth No. 1 on Alternative Airplay, tying U2 for the sixth-most. Red Hot Chili Peppers lead with 13. Twenty One Pilots first hit led with “Stressed Out” in November 2015.
The new single concurrently hits No. 1 on the all-rock format Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, with 6.3 million audience impressions, up 13%, according to MRC Data, earning the act its sixth leader.
“Shy Away” is the lead single from Twenty One Pilots’ sixth studio album, Scaled and Icy, due May 21.
