Can Kendrick Lamar beat Mariah Carey and The Christmas Song to the No. 1 spot?

competitor is a midweek column focusing on artists aiming to reach the top advertising billboard charts and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming release of the Billboard Hot 100 on December 14, 2024, we’re taking a deep dive into the post-Thanksgiving holiday craze and whether it will overwhelm Kendrick Lamar’s hit Hot 100 singles chart dominance.

Kendrick Lamar, “TV Off” and “Squabble Up” (pgLang/Interscope/ICLG): Kendrick Lamar surprise announcement GNX The album debuts at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200 (dated December 7) and has an absolute sweep of the Hot 100, with seven songs in the Top 10 and 10 in the Top 15 name. Subsequently, “TV Off” and “Luther”, a collaboration with SZA, ranked first. One of the top five artists at the same time.

Next week, though, Lamar may have two songs vying for the top spot on the charts. Viral “TV Off” surpassed “Squabble” on both the live Apple Music and Spotify Daily Hot Songs US charts — just like “Luther,” although “TV” still leads both charts — But “Squabble” has the upper hand on both. A hilarious music video, it took an early lead at radio, racking up 4.6 million plays across the format between November 29 and December 12. February 2 (the first four days of the tracking week), according to Luminate. (The other two also had some airplay; “TV Off” had 3.1 million viewers and “Luther” had 2.6 million.)

Of course, consumption of all three declines as the excitement wears off. GNX Surprise release. That impact only slowly faded, though—the album still holds the top three spots on the U.S. daily trending songs on Spotify and, incredibly, the top ten on the Apple Music real-time chart— —so these two songs should still be in the mix.

Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (Columbia/Heritage): Season of Maria officially begins right after Halloween, but new gear is always released after Thanksgiving. Sure enough, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has been climbing in streaming, sales, and radio rankings this week—it’s the highest-ranking holiday song in all three Hot 100 metrics, according to Building Data, String Streaming and broadcast programming are expected to see double-digit percentage growth. The song also returns to the top 10 on the Hot 100 this week, ranking at No. 10.

If it doesn’t take the top spot next week – where it will be a strong contender – it might get a special boost next week, with the release of four physical copies of the 1994 single on Friday, December 6 Edition, celebrating its 30th anniversary. If it does reach No. 1 on the Hot 100, it would mark the song’s 15th consecutive week at the top, a stretch currently held by Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song” and Lil Nas X’s “A Bar Song.” The all-time record was set just four weeks short. a holiday.

Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” (Decca/MCA Nashville/UMe) and Wham!, “Last Christmas” (Columbia/Legacy): Don’t forget the artist who briefly slipped past the Christmas Queen last year: Brenda Lee, whose “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” finally reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart for the first time more than 60 years after its release. Lee is back this year, and while promotion for “Rockin'” isn’t as tough as it was in 2023, the song is definitely still in contention for the No. 1 spot, as it leads “All I Want” on the Daily Hot Songs list in the U.S. It’s a close second on the overall Hot 100 (No. 15 this week).

The third (No. 18) Christmas song on this week’s Hot 100 Christmas Songs isn’t the traditional holiday bronze medalist Bobby Helms, whose 1957 classic “Jingle Bell Rock” ended up being released in 2019 Ranking No. 3 every year since, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” may be the most popular emotional song of the year, as the 1984 synth-pop classic celebrates its 40th anniversary. Like “All I Want,” it may get an extra boost in the near future: four physical versions of the single are set to drop on December 13, a week after Carey’s physical concert, which may finally That would take it to number three on next week’s charts, or even higher.