4*TOWN, the fictional boy band from Pixar and Disney’s new film Turning Red, debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated April 2) at No. 50 with “Nobody Like U.”
The song’s debut is driven largely by its 10 million official U.S. streams (up 129%) in the March 18-24 tracking week, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. It also opens at No. 19 on the Streaming Songs chart.
The group’s vocals are performed by Finneas, Jordan Fisher, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo and Grayson Villanueva. Finneas produced the song solo and co-wrote it with Billie Eilish.
4*TOWN (billed fully as 4*TOWN [From Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red]) is the latest fictional act credited with a Hot 100 hit. Dating to the chart’s 1958 launch, others include The Archies, The Banana Splits, The Chipmunks, both Ernie and Kermit from Sesame Street, The Heights, The Partridge Family, 2gether and The Wonders.
Four of the aforementioned acts hold the distinction of having hit No. 1: The Chipmunks topped the Hot 100 with David Seville (real name Ross Bagdasarian) in 1958-59 with their holiday classic “The Chipmunk Song”; The Archies, the fictional band from Archie Comics’ pages, ruled in 1969 with “Sugar, Sugar”; The Partridge Family, from the ’70s musically themed sitcom, led in 1970 with “I Think I Love You”; and The Heights hit No. 1 with “How Do You Talk to an Angel” in 1992 (just before Fox series The Heights aired its last of 12 episodes).
Meanwhile, “Nobody Like U” continues an impressive year for Walt Disney Records on Billboard‘s charts. The label sent all eight (non-score) songs from the Encanto soundtrack onto the Hot 100, with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (credited to Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast) having amassed five weeks at No. 1, the longest reign ever for song from a Disney film, as well as the first leader for Walt Disney Records. (“Bruno” also began at No. 50.)
“Nobody Like U” is the first song from a Pixar film to hit the Hot 100.
Turning Red tells the story of 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student Meilin “Mei” Lee, who transforms into a giant red panda when she expresses strong emotion due to a family curse.
