This week's Billboard charts bring a new No. 1 album and a new No. 1 single — and they're both debuts. Zach Bryan's new super-sized record, With Heaven on Top, lands atop the Billboard 200, while Bruno Mars' "I Just Might" becomes his first song ever to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
TOP STORY
For the past few months, the top spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Hot 100 singles chart have been reserved for just a few endlessly recurring names. On the Billboard 200, that usually means Taylor Swift (or, last week, Morgan Wallen), while the Hot 100 has been topped by either Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" or Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" for the last 14 weeks. It's been pretty grim, even if you're a fan of both of those songs.
This week, we've finally received an infusion of fresh blood in the form of a brand-new album and a brand-new song — by two different artists, no less! — debuting at No. 1.
On the albums chart, the top spot belongs to folk- and Americana-leaning country maverick Zach Bryan — who bears no relation or resemblance to country non-maverick Luke Bryan — and his new album With Heaven on Top. It's Zach Bryan's fifth top 10 album and second to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, after a self-titled album from 2023.
With Heaven on Top appears primed for a long run on the charts. For starters, its first-week numbers are derived almost entirely from streaming, which generally bodes well; heavy first-week streaming trains the algorithms to keep coming back for more. Then there's the issue of sheer quantity: The album's got 25 tracks, then picked up 24 more when Bryan released an acoustic version a few days after With Heaven on Top's release.
But when it comes to Bryan's hopes of sending With Heaven on Top back to No. 1 many weeks from now, he's got another not-so-secret weapon at his disposal: For now, the album is only available digitally. When CD and vinyl copies drop in March, as expected, he's going to pick up a major boost. (He'll also have picked up greater competition — new albums by Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, BTS and Luke Combs are all due out in February or March — but Bryan will still be in the mix regardless.)
Over on the Hot 100, another chart juggernaut debuts at No. 1 — in this case Bruno Mars, who last topped the singles chart about a year ago with his Lady Gaga duet "Die With a Smile." (His duet with BLACKPINK's Rosé, "APT.," hit No. 3 around the same time.) "I Just Might," the first single from Mars' forthcoming The Romantic, is the singer's first-ever song to debut atop the Hot 100 — and his 10th No. 1 song overall.
As with Bryan's album, "I Just Might" draws much of its chart strength from huge streaming numbers. But it's already a radio hit, too: It debuts at No. 12 on the Radio Songs chart. Given how slowly commercial radio tends to adjust its playlists, that portends a long Billboard run.
TOP ALBUMS
With Zach Bryan's With Heaven on Top debuting at No. 1, many old reliables slide down the Billboard 200, if only for a slot or two. Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem, which dislodged Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl from the top spot last week, lands at No. 2, giving country or country-adjacent albums the top two spots for the first time in almost two years. Elsewhere, The Life of a Showgirl loses a bit more ground at No. 4, as it's surpassed by Olivia Dean's sturdy breakthrough smash The Art of Loving.
The chart's other big debut belongs to Australian pop star The Kid LAROI, whose new album Before I Get debuts at No. 6. That lags behind his 2020 breakthrough F*** Love, which hit No. 1, but greatly improves on 2023's The First Time, which peaked at No. 24. Before I Get's staying power will likely depend on the success of its singles; this week, "Rather Be (feat. Lithe)" debuts at No. 77.
Elsewhere, the streaming success of Bruno Mars' "I Just Might" is doing wonders for the singer's back catalog. Not only does Doo-Wops & Hooligans zoom from No. 116 to No. 22, but 24K Magic and Unorthodox Jukebox re-enter the chart in the top 50, while An Evening With Silk Sonic — the album he made with Anderson .Paak a few years ago — also finds its way back onto the Billboard 200.
One other chart phenomenon worth noting: The rapper Fetty Wap has been getting good news left and right in 2026, as his release from prison on Jan. 8 helped drive a major boost in streaming for his chart-topping 2015 debut. This week, Fetty Wap re-enters the albums chart at No. 44.
TOP SONGS
The explosive success of Bruno Mars' "I Just Might" is by far the biggest news on the Hot 100 singles chart. Elsewhere, the moves are comparatively incremental, though a few of them remain noteworthy:
- After "I Just Might," the chart's highest debut belongs to Zach Bryan's "Plastic Cigarette" at No. 13. It's just one of 18 songs from With Heaven on Top to debut in this week's Hot 100.
- Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" slips to No. 2 after a nonconsecutive 10-week run in the top spot. It's one of two songs from The Life of a Showgirl in the top 10; the other, "Opalite," slides to No. 10. But look for the latter track to make a run at the chart's top spot in the coming weeks: She's just made CD copies of "Opalite" (and its acoustic counterpart) available for limited-time purchase on her website.
- Alex Warren's "Ordinary" slides from No. 2 to No. 5, but have no fear: It sits atop the Radio Songs chart for a soul-deadening 26th week. That's half a year of being the most-played song in America! Given that the song depicts a love so blindingly unusual — so out! of the oooordinaaaary! — that even the angels are jealous, you'd think listeners would struggle to relate to it. But here we are.
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