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BTS, Taylor Swift And Nicki Minaj: The Biggest Falls From No. 1 On The Hot 100 All Took Place This Year

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Taylor Swift made Hot 100 history last week when she debuted her new single “Willow” atop the all-genre ranking of the most popular songs in America. The cut was her seventh champion and her third to open as high as a cut can climb, but now, just one frame later, the tune hasn’t fared very well...and that isn’t strange to see in 2020.

“Willow” drops from No. 1 on the Hot 100 all the way to No. 38, a massive fall never before seen on the tally, though several other titles released in the past year that performed very well upon their arrival nearly mimicked that tumble. In fact, the four largest falls from No. 1 in Hot 100 have all taken place in 2020 (quick note—Swift’s feat took place in 2020, but the Billboard chart is dated as the first in 2021), with a quartet of instant rulers all failing to hold on and live close to the top of the ranking in their second frames on the list. 

Right underneath Swift’s 37-spot decline on the list of the greatest slips from the Hot 100’s penthouse comes 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj’s “Trollz.” That cut, which gave the former his first leader and the latter her second, dipped from No. 1 to No. 34 in one frame this past July. That broke a record established in late 2019 and it held until now.

The third-largest collapse from the uppermost spot on the Hot 100 belongs to BTS, who saw their Korean-language chart-topper “Life Goes On” sink from No. 1 to No. 28 earlier this month. The song went on to spend less than a full month on the chart, an incredible and unfortunate fact for a one-time leader.

MORE FROM FORBESTaylor Swift's 'Willow' Suffers The Biggest Fall From No. 1 Of All Time

Travis Scott, Young Thug and M.I.A. own spot No. 4 on the ranking of the greatest descents from the Hot 100’s throne in the chart’s decades-long history. Their tune “Franchise” opened in first place in October, giving Scott his third immediate dominator and Thug and M.I.A. their first (though Thug had reached No. 1 with a non-debut before), but it didn’t last long. In its second turn on the tally, “Franchise” tumbled to No. 25, and it never really recovered.

Before 2020, the record for the biggest fall from No. 1 on the Hot 100 belonged to The Weeknd, whose single “Heartless” vaulted to the peak and then quickly slumped to No. 17. That took place in December of 2019, and while the R&B/pop icon surely wasn’t thrilled to collect that spot in the history books, he didn’t have to hold on to it for very long.

More and more, songs released by some of the biggest names in the music industry debut at No. 1 thanks to impressive stream and sales counts, but if they don’t quickly pick up radio support or reach new audiences that don’t already identify as super fans of those figures, they disappear from the highest reaches of the Hot 100. This trend is likely to continue, and 2021 could see quite a few singles open in first place and then vanish in no time, perhaps upsetting the list described above.

MORE FROM FORBESBTS's 'Life Goes On' Suffers The Second-Largest Fall From No. 1 In History