In their first appearance on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, Bad Omens have a No. 1 song as “Just Pretend” ascends to the top of the Sept. 9-dated tally.
Leading in the song’s 32nd week on the chart, Bad Omens ties for the fourth-longest rise to No. 1 in the Alternative Airplay chart’s 35-year history, alongside Foals’ “Mountain at My Gates” and Neon Trees’ “Animal.” The record belongs to Meg Myers, whose cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” took 42 weeks.
Longest Rise to No. 1, Alternative Airplay
- 42 weeks, “Running Up That Hill,” Meg Myers (reached No. 1 Feb. 1, 2020)
- 33, “Novocaine,” The Unlikely Candidates (March 14, 2020)
- 33, “Out of My League,” Fitz and the Tantrums (Oct. 12, 2013)
- 32, “Just Pretend,” Bad Omens (Sept. 9, 2023)
- 32, “Mountain at My Gates,” Foals (March 19, 2016)
- 32, “Animal,” Neon Trees (Oct. 2, 201)
- 31, “Toxic,” BoyWithUke (July 2, 2022)
- 31, “1901,” Phoenix (Feb. 20, 2010)
- 30, “Dissolve,” Absofacto (Jan. 18, 2020)
Bad Omens is the third act in a row to snag a first No. 1 on Alternative Airplay, following Dirty Heads with “Rescue Me” and Pierce the Veil with “Emergency Contact.” That’s after no acts had led for the first time over the first seven months of 2023. Not that any of those groups are brand new; Bad Omens formed in 2015, Pierce the Veil in the mid-2000s and Dirty Heads in the mid-1990s.
Bad Omens marks the first act to lead Alternative Airplay in a first chart appearance since Beach Weather, whose “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” spent a week at No. 1 in October 2022.
“Just Pretend” previously topped Mainstream Rock Airplay for a week this March. That was also Bad Omens’ first ruler on that survey, although the band charted three entries there prior to “Just Pretend.” Follow-up single “The Death of Peace of Mind” lifts 5-4 on Mainstream Rock Airplay.
The Death of Peace of Mind, which houses “Just Pretend,” debuted at its No. 11 peak on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart in March 2022 and has earned 317,000 equivalent album units to date, according to Luminate.
All charts dated Sept. 9 will update on Billboard.com Wednesday, Sept. 6 (a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. Monday, Sept. 4).
