Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” breaks a pair of records on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
The single adds a 25th week at No. 1 on the ranking (dated Sept. 30), solely claiming the longest command for a song by a woman, surpassing Adele’s “Easy on Me” in 2021-22.
Meanwhile, with both hits on Columbia Records, “Flowers” passes “Easy on Me” for the longest Adult Contemporary reign for a song released by the label over the chart’s history.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Adult Contemporary Chart:
- 36, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5, beginning Nov. 10, 2018
- 35, “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd, Nov. 7, 2020
- 28, “Drift Away,” Uncle Kracker feat. Dobie Gray, June 7, 2003
- 25, “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus, April 15, 2023
- 24, “Easy on Me,” Adele, Nov. 13, 2021
- 24, “Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran, May 6, 2017
- 22, “Perfect,” Ed Sheeran, Feb. 24, 2018
- 22, “Hey, Soul Sister,” Train, July 3, 2010
- 21, “Hello,” Adele, Nov. 28, 2015
- 21, “Breakaway,” Kelly Clarkson, March 12, 2005
- 21, “A New Day Has Come,” Celine Dion, March 30, 2002
- 20, “Memories,” Maroon 5, March 21, 2020
- 20, “Just the Way You Are,” Bruno Mars, Feb. 5, 2011
The Adult Contemporary chart ranks titles by weekly plays on a panel of 85 adult contemporary radio stations. The tally began in Billboard‘s pages (as the “Easy Listening” chart) on July 17, 1961; once Luminate data began powering the chart exactly 32 years later (July 17, 1993; airplay is now provided to Luminate by Mediabase), lengthy reigns became much more common than before.
“Flowers” previously topped the mainstream top 40-based Pop Airplay chart (which began in 1992) for 10 weeks and the adult top 40-focused Adult Pop Airplay ranking (which dates to 1996) for 17 frames – the most atop the latter list among songs by women.
Notably, the single’s combined 52 weeks, or a full year, atop Adult Contemporary (25), Adult Pop Airplay (17) and Pop Airplay (10) mark the most for a song by a woman. Overall, only two hits have logged longer cumulative reigns on the three charts: The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (61 weeks) and Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” (55); 51 songs have led all three lists.
“Flowers” launched at No. 1 on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in January and ruled for eight weeks. It’s from Cyrus’ album Endless Summer Vacation, which debuted at its No. 3 best on the Billboard 200 albums chart in March, marking her 14th top 10.
All charts dated Sept. 30 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Sept. 26.
