SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JANUARY 19: BLACKPINK Lisa attends Melon Music Awards 2016 (2016 MMA) at … [+]
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Right out of the gate, Lisa, one of the four members of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, has shown that she has the power to sell a single like few left in the business. The superstar officially kicked off her solo career with two tunes, and now one of them performs spectacularly well on Billboard’s hip-hop and rap charts, bringing her to those tallies for the first time.
Lisa’s “Money” opens at No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart this week, arriving as the second-bestselling tunes in America that can be described as R&B, rap or hip-hop. The cut blasts onto the ranking in the runner-up space with 6,900 copies sold in its first tracking frame.
“Money” comes in behind only Chloe’s “Have Mercy,” which doesn’t win the week by much. Also new to going solo, the Chloe x Halle singer’s debut release on her own launches atop the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart, as a little more than 8,500 fans bought her initial release under her own name as it became available, according to information shared by MRC Data.
Impressively, both “Have Mercy” and “Money” beat some massive blockbusters that are still selling thousands of copies per week, as well as a number of high-profile debuts. The incoming wins pushes last frame’s two biggest tunes, Drake, Future and Young Thug’s “Way 2 Sexy” and Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” down from Nos. 1 and 2 to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. R&B legend Aaliyah also scores a number of new placements as songs featured on her recently-re-released self-titled album appear on the tally for the first time, but none competed for the uppermost rungs.
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Both “Have Mercy” and “Money” perform well on several even-more-specific charts as well, with Chloe’s solo smash opening at No. 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales ranking, while “Money” becomes a historic win on the Rap Digital Song Sales list.
Chloe and Lisa also score placements inside the top 10 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart, so it’s not shocking they end up at No. 1 on their respective rankings as well. Over on the Hot 100, “Have Mercy” is by far the more popular of the two, as it kicks off its time on the all-encompassing tally at No. 28, while “Money” doesn’t make that roster…though Lisa’s other song “Lalisa” does blast onto the ladder at No. 82.
Despite starting off as the bestselling rap song in the country, “Money” doesn’t quite make the 50-spot Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart, the top ranking in this field. While Lisa’s track may have sold well, streaming helped musicians like Drake and Kanye West continue to dominate the competitive list once again.
