Roddy Ricch’s breakout single “The Box” topped Justin Bieber’s “Yummy” on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart and the weekly Spotify chart.
As of now, “The Box” holds the number one spot on both charts, whereas “Yummy” is number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list and number 3 on the weekly Spotify chart, following “Roxanne” by Arizona Zervas.
Roddy Ricch’s studio album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial is also number one on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the first debut rap album to top this chart since 2005, according to XXL Magazine.
According to Billboard, Roddy Ricch is the first artist in 2020 to simultaneously top the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts.
This comes after Roddy Ricch recently tweeted that his U.S. Anti Social Tour completely sold out.
The Compton native is signed to Atlantic Records and his rampant success comes months after making the 2019 XXL Freshman List, an annual list that highlights rising stars in hip-hop, alongside other rappers who struck gold in 2019 like Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby.
“Yummy” is a single that marked the start of Bieber’s comeback after not releasing an album in five years. He is expected to release a new album this year, as well as begin a U.S. tour in May.
This is not the first week that “The Box” has one-upped “Yummy.” Last week, Bieber made multiple attempts to win the fight for number one, including posting instructions on how to boost streams for the song and even creating a Pac-Man-style game based on “Yummy.”
Bieber’s attempts to promote “Yummy” were met by a sea of Roddy Ricch fans dedicated to maintaining “The Box’s” number one ranking. Many of Bieber’s tweets promoting “Yummy” were flooded with replies from Roddy Ricch fans urging everyone to stream “The Box” using various memes.
The fans’ efforts paid off. Monday on Twitter, Bieber conceded, congratulating Roddy Ricch on his number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while encouraging his fans to stream “The Box.”
This comes after Roddy Ricch tweeted “stream yummy by justin bieber” on Saturday. It’s unclear if this tweet was a genuine endorsement of Bieber’s song or shade thrown at the song’s stagnant number two standing. However, fans, including beauty YouTuber Jackie Aina, responded to the tweet with memes promoting streaming “The Box” over “Yummy.”
Following Bieber’s efforts, Selena Gomez is also eyeing the top spot on the charts. About a week after the release of her newest album Rare, she took to her Instagram story on Thursday to express to fans how she wants to chart at number one. She said that numbers aren’t everything to her, but it would mean a lot if fans streamed the album. She referenced Roddy Ricch, calling him “another incredible artist” who she is “neck-to-neck” with for the number one standing on next week’s Billboard 200 chart. Like Bieber, Gomez’s promotion attempt was met by memes from Roddy Ricch fans.
Roddy Ricch reacted to Gomez similar to how he responded to Bieber, tweeting “stream rare by selena gomez” on Thursday.
In the midst of these artists heavily promoting their albums and asking fans for support, Roddy Ricch has rarely promoted his song through social media, instead letting the music speak for itself, according to XXL Magazine.
“The Box” is the first viral rap song of the new decade. From the song’s compelling opening that sounds like it should play during the reveal of a dramatic plot twist of a movie to the catchy “eee-urrr” sample that plays throughout the song, audiences are loving “The Box” and it is expected to top the Billboard and Spotify charts for weeks.
Hopefully Bieber and Gomez have better luck in the charts with future projects, but for now Roddy Ricch shows no signs of pullin’ out the number one spot.