The Week in Number Ones: Miley Cyrus, Shakira, and Men At Work hit the charts
Welcome back to The Week in Number Ones, where all the biggest chart movers from the US and UK charts get condensed into one article. Last week, we went in on Lewis Capaldi’s jump to number one with ‘Pointless’ and investigated the all-star festivities that surround Metro Boomin’s ‘Creepin’. Then, we took a quick history lesson on British punk and its after-effects with The Pretenders’ number one hit, ‘Brass in Pocket’.
Do you know who doesn’t understand TikTok? Me. As a man who writes about music charts for a living, I get that TikTok plays a major role (probably the biggest role) in determining what songs get thrown up the charts. Do I know how it works and why the songs that blow up go up the charts? Absolutely not, and I don’t believe anybody else does, either. Just keep your eyes forward, and don’t question the algorithm.
Do you know who else doesn’t understand TikTok? Mac DeMarco. The indie rock guru, who just released an album of all-instrumental material, told NME this week that he finds the effect of TikTok on music to be “very depressing”. What a time, then, for DeMarco to have his first hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Heart to Heart’ might be sitting at number 98 this week, but it’s still the highest that DeMarco has ever placed on a song on the US pop charts. Is some of that thanks to TikTok? Undoubtedly. Is it hilarious that DeMarco’s response is a half-hearted “get that bag”? Absolutely.
This week, we celebrate Miley Cyrus and her second number one hit, ‘Flowers’. We’ll also take some time to talk about Bizarrap and Shakira teaming up before taking a trip ‘Down Under’ with Men at Work. All that and more as we round up the best chart news of the modern-day and recent past.
Current UK Number One: ‘Flowers’ – Miley Cyrus
I believe a true sign of virtue is admitting when you’ve made a mistake. With that in mind, everyone, feel free to admire how correct I was last week. During the introductory spiel for this very column, I threw out the opinion that perhaps Miley Cyrus could score another number-one hit this year. While acknowledging your mistakes is all well and good, it’s a lot more fun to celebrate when you get something right.
To be fair, I wasn’t necessarily thinking of ‘Flowers’ when I wrote that statement. While Cyrus’ new single had all the hallmarks of a good number one, I was of the personal opinion that it would probably take another release or two for audiences to land another Miley song at the top. That’s where I was wrong: people love ‘Flowers’, and now it’s the number one song in both the UK and the US.
Don’t look now, but Miley Cyrus is one of the most versatile pop stars on the planet at the moment. She’s the kind of artist who can put out teen pop, buzzy electro-pop, country music, hard rock songs, and a full-length album of experimental noise with The Flaming Lips. But she’s always been a quintessential pop star, someone who teeters on the edge of being more famous for being herself than for her music.
‘Flowers’ is helping to change that perception. With two number-one singles to her name (and seven top-ten hits in the US), Cyrus is officially more than her notoriety – she’s a massively popular musician. I mean, she always was, but now nobody can try and say otherwise.
UK Singles Top Ten (Week of January 25th, 2023):
- ‘Flowers’ – Miley Cyrus
- ‘Escapism’ – Raye ft. 070 Shake
- ‘Kill Bill’ – SZA
- ‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift
- ‘Messy in Heaven’ – Venbee & Goddard
- ‘Let Go’ – Central Cee
- ‘Creepin’ – Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, and 21 Savage
- ‘Made You Look’ – Meghan Trainor
- ‘Calm Down’ – Rema
- ‘Miss You’ – Oliver Tree & Robin Schultz
- ‘Made You Look’ – Meghan Trainor
Current US Number One: ‘Flowers’ – Miley Cyrus
If you looked at the Hot 100 and thought that there was a mistake in the top ten, you’re not alone. While scanning the first ten entries, my eye caught something that I thought was wrong: it looked like an album had made it into the number nine spot. Had Billboard changed its rules without telling me? Or did someone actually call one of their songs ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53’?
It turns out that the latter is what’s going on here. As a filthy American, I have so far overlooked the Argentinian record producer known as Bizarrap and his collection of music sessions. To be fair, this hasn’t been much of an international concern until recently when Bizarrap’s collaboration with Quevedo hit number one in most Spanish-speaking countries. That track, ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52’, also made it up to number 79 on the Hot 100.
For his follow-up, Bizarrap pulled out the big guns: a collaboration with Shakira that doubles as a diss track to her ex-husband, footballer Gerard Piqué. Hilariously, the song (which is completely in Spanish) targets Piqué’s decision to move his mother into their house and for being the red flag that caused Spanish authorities to target her for tax fraud.
That’s a lot of heat to unleash in one song, and it’s probably why ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53’ has exploded the way it has. If Shakira goes to jail, maybe she can record a follow-up in prison as some artists do. Maybe put that on your 2023 Bingo Sheet, just in case.
Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten (Week of January 28th, 2023):
- ‘Flowers’ – Miley Cyrus
- ‘Anti-Hero’ – Taylor Swift
- ‘Kill Bill’ – SZA
- ‘Creepin’ – Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, and 21 Savage
- ‘Unholy’ – Sam Smith & Kim Petras
- ‘I’m Good (Blue)’ – David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
- ‘Die For You’ – The Weeknd
- ‘Rich Flex’ – Drake & 21 Savage
- ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53’ – Bizarrap & Shakira
- ‘As It Was’ – Harry Styles
This Week in Number Ones: ‘Down Under’ – Men at Work (#1 on the Billboard Hot 100, January 29th, 1983)
Americans didn’t really know all that much about Australia in 1983. AC/DC had invaded American shores by the early 1980s, as had the Bee Gees and Olivia Newton-John. In fact, John was the owner of 1982’s biggest hit single, ‘Physical’. But Australian pop culture pillars like Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin had yet to appear on the American radar.
What Australia did have was a whole host of fascinating and varied alternative rockers. All around the late 1970s and early 1980s, bands as diverse as The Church, the Birthday Party, INXS, and Midnight Oil were starting to make leaps over to college rock radio stations in America. These acts were completely different in terms of sound and themes, but they all represented a strong wave of underground music that was beginning to bubble up outside of their home country.
Men at Work were not part of this underground wave. They represented some of the last vestiges of pub rock, the Euro-centred subgenre that helped give birth to punk in England. Australia had pubs too, and Men at Work were a drinking man’s band. Then they started to see how the rest of the world was taking a shine to new wave. Soon, Men at Work changed their approach, combining new wave with pop rock and Greg Ham’s various woodwind instruments.
Originally working as an independent band, Men at Work were signed to CBS Records’ Australian division in 1981 and began recording their debut, Business as Usual. One of the songs brought up for consideration was a song that singer Colin Hay and guitarist Ron Strykert wrote about an Australian man who travels around the world, only to long for the comforts of his home country.
‘Down Under’ was originally the B-side to the band’s first independent single, ‘Keypunch Operator’. For Business as Usual, the band increased the original tempo of the languid original. In addition, Ham took the original song’s guitar riff and played it as a flute solo, giving the song a unique opening hook. The updated version of ‘Down Under’ was well-received, but the band opted to release ‘Who Can It Be Now’ as their first major-label single instead.
It took six months of convincing from the band’s management to get their American parent label, Columbia Records, to release Business as Usual in the US. Throughout 1982, Men at Work toured with Fleetwood Mac and continued to build their name across North America. ‘Down Under’ began to pick up steam on pop stations, and before they knew it, Men at Work were one of the most popular rock bands in America.
Nearly a full year after ‘Down Under’ hit number one in Australia, the goofy and celebratory track did the same in America. Men at Work were rubbing elbows with Michael Jackson and David Bowie, but it wasn’t meant to last. After receiving the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1983, the group released their follow-up Cargo before beginning to falter. Hay, Stykert, and Ham asked the group’s rhythm section to leave in 1984, and by the end of the tour supporting their third album, 1985’s Two Hearts, Hay was the only remaining member. Instead of continuing on his own, Hay opted to go solo, officially ending Men at Work in 1986.
Although Men at Work were only briefly an international sensation, they remain revered as symbols of Australian culture. ‘Down Under’ does a lot of heavy lifting in that regard, acting as an unofficial national anthem for the country. ‘Down Under’ continues to endure, although there were some troubles around the song at the start of the 2010s.
After the Australian quiz show Spicks and Specks made a connection between Ham’s signature flute riff and the melody for the Australian nursery rhyme ‘Kookaburra’, publisher Larrikin Music took legal action against Men at Work. The case was drawn out and dramatic, with Larrikin Music eventually receiving five per cent of all future earnings from ‘Down Under’. Ham died from a heart attack in 2012, and Hay considered the stress from the case to be a major contributing factor in Ham’s death.
Today, Men at Work tour with Hay as the sole consistent member. Last year, Australian produce Luude scored a major hit with a remixed version of ‘Down Under’ that was a top ten single in the UK (it peaked at number 10 in Australia). I even wrote about it in this very column. ‘Down Under’ still gets around, and it still might be Australia’s most potent export.
Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten (Week of January 29th, 1983):
- ‘Down Under’ – Men at Work
- ‘Africa’ – Toto
- ‘Sexual Healing’ – Marvin Gaye
- ‘Dirty Laundry’ – Don Henley
- ‘The Girl is Mine’ – Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
- ‘Maneater’ – Daryl Hall and John Oates
- ‘Baby, Come to Me’ – Patti Austin and James Ingram
- ‘Rock the Casbah’ – The Clash
- ‘Shame on the Moon’ – Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
- ‘You and I’ – Eddie Rabbit with Crystal Gale
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