Drake’s historic dominance on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart adds another chapter to the story this week as his latest song, “Search & Rescue,” extends his record for the most No. 1s in the chart’s history. The track opens atop the list dated April 22 and secures the superstar his unprecedented 27th champ.
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart blends streaming, airplay and sales data to rank the 50 most popular R&B/hip-hop songs of the week in the U.S.
“Search & Rescue,” released April 7, storms in as the genre’s most-streamed song of the week, with 33.8 million official U.S. streams in the week ending April 13, according to Luminate. That translates into Drake’s record-extending 19th leader on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart, which reaches its 10th anniversary this week. (He nearly bookends the first decade of the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart, having ranked at No. 2 with “Started from the Bottom” on the first published edition, dated April 20, 2013.)
The new track, likewise, is the genre’s top-selling tune for the week, with 4,000 downloads sold in the same period. As “Search & Rescue” begins atop the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart, Drake acquires a – yes, record-extending – 24th No. 1.
Drake teased “Search & Rescue” in the days before its release, with an audio snippet making the rounds on social media, while it was also previewed on Sirius XM Canada’s The Fry Yiy Show. The song drew most attention for including audio from an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians of Kim Kardashian discussing her reasons for divorcing Kanye “Ye” West. The song’s cover art, too, generated chatter for featuring a Kim lookalike.
In addition to its strong streaming and sales starts, “Search & Rescue” also finds some activity in the third metric – radio airplay – that factors into the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In the radio realm, the song registered 70,000 audience impressions across all formats. (All airplay, regardless of radio genre format, contributes to a song’s rank on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs). The rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop formats have adopted the new cut most readily: “Search & Rescue” enters at No. 31 on Rhythmic Airplay and at the anchor slot, No. 40, on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
As Drake rewrites the leaderboard again, here’s an updated look at the artists with the most No. 1 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart since it became an all-encompassing genre recap in October 1958:
27, Drake
20, Aretha Franklin
20, Stevie Wonder
17, James Brown
16, Janet Jackson
15, The Temptations
13, Marvin Gaye
13, Michael Jackson
13, Usher
Notably, “Search & Rescue” marks Drake’s ninth No. 1 without any unaccompanied acts, and his first in two years and one month, since “What’s Next” launched at the summit on the chart dated March 20, 2021. Additionally, the new No. 1 marks Drake’s 11th of his 27 chart-toppers to premiere directly in the top slot. It joins this crew of his other instant champs:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Drake), Date Debuted at No. 1
“Work,” Rihanna featuring Drake, Feb. 13, 2016
“Summer Sixteen,” Feb. 20, 2016
“God’s Plan,” Feb. 3, 2018
“Nice for What,” April 21, 2018
“Toosie Slide,” April 18, 2020
“What’s Next,” March 20, 2021
“Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future & Young Thug, Sept. 18, 2021
“Wait for U,” Future featuring Drake & Tems, May 14, 2022
“Jimmy Cooks,” featuring 21 Savage, July 2, 2022
“Rich Flex,” with 21 Savage, Nov. 19, 2022
“Search & Rescue,” April 22, 2023
