Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want,” featuring Tate McRae, blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The collaboration between the country and pop stars – from Wallen’s new album, I’m the Problem, which soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 2025’s biggest week by equivalent album units – is Wallen’s fourth Hot 100 leader and McRae’s first. She surpasses her prior No. 3 best set by “Greedy” in January 2024. In March, McRae notched her first Billboard 200 No. 1 with So Close to What; she’s the first artist this year to lead both lists for the first time.
Wallen previously topped the Hot 100 with “Love Somebody,” also on I’m the Problem, for a week upon its debut in November; as featured on Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” which bowed at No. 1 in May 2024 and led for six weeks; and with “Last Night,” for 16 weeks beginning in March 2023, before wrapping as the chart’s top hit that year.
Wallen boasts six songs in all in the latest Hot 100’s top 10, with “I Got Better” also debuting, at No. 7, and “Superman” flying 16-8 in its second week on the chart. He has now charted nine top 10s from I’m the Problem; only Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Midnights (10 top 10s each) have yielded more, with Drake’s Certified Lover Boy also having generated nine.
Meanwhile, Wallen claims the top three spots on the Hot 100, with “What I Want” followed by “Just in Case” at No. 2 and “I’m the Problem” at No. 3 – as he becomes the first artist that primarily records country music to have monopolized the top three in a single week over the chart’s 66-year history.
Browse the full rundown of this week’s top 10 below.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated May 31, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, May 28 (a day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday May 26). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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‘What I Want’ Airplay, Streams & Sales
“What I Want,” on Mercury/Big Loud/Republic (with Wallen and McRae two of its six writers), becomes the 1,180th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s archives, and the 83rd to debut on top. It tallied 31.2 million official streams, 3.9 million radio airplay audience impressions and 2,000 sold in the United States in its first week of release (May 16-22).
The track also launches at No. 1 on Streaming Songs, where it’s Wallen’s fifth leader and McRae’s first. Being promoted to pop and adult radio, it enters Adult Pop Airplay at No. 32 and Pop Airplay at No. 38, as well as Country Airplay at No. 55.
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No. 1 on Hot 100 & Hot Country Songs
Image Credit: Spidey Smith “What I Want” concurrently debuts as Wallen’s 11th No. 1, and record-extending eighth to open at the summit, on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart. McRae leads in her first visit to the genre ranking.
The single is the 30th to have topped both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs, dating to 1958, when the former originated and the latter became the country genre’s singular Billboard songs chart. It’s the first such hit of 2025, following four each in 2024 and 2023, the most in a year since 1975; it’s the 10th this decade, after only two led over the previous 36 years.
Wallen adds his record-extending fourth shared Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs No. 1. Glen Campbell, John Denver, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Taylor Swift follow with two each.
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Canadians at No. 1 on Hot 100
Image Credit: Charlie Denis While Wallen is from Sneedville, Tenn., McRae is from Calgary, Alberta (a mere 2,136 miles away). Billboard’s Paul Grein recently chronicled every Hot 100 No. 1 by a Canadian artist, with McRae becoming the 29th such act to rule. She’s the seventh woman, joining Celine Dion (four No. 1s), Nelly Furtado (three), Carly Rae Jepsen, Avril Lavigne, Alannah Myles and Anne Murray (also one each).
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Wallen 1-2-3; 6 in Top 10
Wallen boasts six songs in the Hot 100’s top 10. After “What I Want” at No. 1, he follows with “Just in Case,” up from No. 11 to a new No. 2 high, surpassing its prior No. 4 peak; “I’m the Problem” (6-3, after reaching No. 2); “I Got Better” (a debut at No. 7); “Superman” (which leaps 16-8 in a single bound for a new best); and “Love Somebody” (18-10, following a week at No. 1 upon its debut last November). With three new top 10s, he ups his count to 18 in his career – the most for any artist that has primarily recorded country music.
Wallen is the first core country artist to infuse the Hot 100’s top 10 with at least six songs simultaneously; Taylor Swift (a record 10 in both 2024 and 2022, following her mid-2010s segue from country to pop), Drake, Kendrick Lamar and 21 Savage have also achieved the feat.
Wallen also becomes the first country act to hold the Hot 100’s top three spots simultaneously. Only five other acts have tallied such triples: The Beatles, for five weeks in 1964; Swift (three, 2022-24); Drake (three, 2021-23); Lamar (two, 2024-25); and Ariana Grande (one, 2019).
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Men & Women at No. 1 on Hot 100
Meanwhile, “What I Want” is Wallen’s first song released with a woman artist. Collaborations by men and women have topped the Hot 100 for all but three weeks this year, as “What I Want” follows Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” (13 weeks at No. 1) and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” (five). The current streak of 14 weeks on top, as “What I Want” dethrones “Luther,” marks the longest by collaborating male and female acts since a record 25-week run in 2016 via Drake’s “One Dance,” featuring WizKid and Kyla (nine), Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Sean Paul (four), and The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,” featuring Halsey (12).
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Rest of Top 10: ‘Ordinary’ & More
Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” dips to No. 4 from its No. 2 high.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” falls to No. 5 after 13 weeks atop the Hot 100. It adds a 22nd week at No. 1 on both the multimetric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts – tying Lamar’s “Not Like Us” (in 2024-25) for the longest command on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (dating to October 1958, when it became the genre’s singular songs ranking).
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” slips 3-6 following five nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 beginning in January.
Plus, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” slides 4-9 on the Hot 100, following its record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning last July.
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2000s at No. 1
Image Credit: Charlie Denis McRae, 21, is the 250th artist to top the Hot 100 this century, although only the sixth born since 2000 to reign. Here’s a recap of their No. 1s (with acts listed from most recently born on down):
- The Kid LAROI (born Aug. 17, 2003): “Stay” (with Justin Bieber), seven weeks at No. 1, beginning Aug. 14, 2021
- Tate McRae (born July 21, 2003): “What I Want” (Morgan Wallen feat. McRae), one week to date, May 31, 2025
- Olivia Rodrigo (born Feb. 20, 2003): “Vampire,” two, July 15, 2023; “Good 4 U,” one, May 29, 2021; “Drivers License,” eight, Jan. 23, 2021
- Jawsh 865 (born Nov. 4, 2002): “Savage Love [Laxed – Siren Beat]” (with Jason Derulo and BTS), one, Oct. 17, 2020
- Billie Eilish (born Dec. 18, 2001): “Bad Guy,” one, Aug. 24, 2019
- 24kGoldn (born Nov. 13, 2000): “Mood” (feat. Iann Dior), eight, Oct. 24, 2020
