Social media star and singer-songwriter Bella Poarch earns her first Billboard chart entry (on surveys dated May 29), as her debut single “Build a Bitch” arrives at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song, released May 14, opens with 13.1 million U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads sold in the week ending May 20 and 260,000 radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending May 23, according to MRC Data.
The track concurrently enters Streaming Songs at No. 36 and Digital Song Sales at No. 40.
The single by the Filipino-American Poarch (real name Bella Taylor) also makes a strong start internationally, debuting at No. 14 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and No. 24 on the Billboard Global 200. It was the most streamed video in the world in the week ending May 20, with 48.4 million global video streams (more than double that of its closest competitor, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” which drew 23.8 million).
The song’s strong start helps Poarch additionally enter the Emerging Artists chart at No. 6.
The song skewers “boys playing dolls/ looking for thеir Barbie … they don’t look like Kеn at all,” while its title bears a reference to a certain staple of many malls.
Meanwhile, the track’s official video features several celebrity cameos, including Rakhim, Bretman Rock, Larray, Mia Khalifa, ZHC, Valkyrae and Sub Urban, who co-produced the song with Elie Rizk; Poarch, Rizk and Sub Urban are also among the song’s six writers.
Poarch is the third most followed user on TikTok with nearly 70 million followers, after Charli D’Amelio (116 million) and Addison Rae (81 million). She also boasts the most liked video in the platform’s history, as her video lip-syncing Millie B’s “Soph Aspin Send” has raked in over 49 million likes to date.
Poarch inked a deal with Warner Records earlier this month and celebrated the news with the release of “Build a Bitch.” “I feel like I found my family and part of that family is the label,” she said in a statement to Billboard. “When I looked up some of the artists that meant the most to me musically like Prince, Dua Lipa and Madonna, I realized Warner has helped all of those people along the way, too. So, I’m very honored to have a family that gave me a chance and believes in me.”
Additional reporting by Eric Frankenberg.
