SZA Scores Her First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 With ‘Kill Bill’

[Street Knowledge]

SZA slices her way to her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, as “Kill Bill” jumps from No. 4 to the top spot, following eight weeks at its prior No. 2 high. The song reigns following the release of its remix adding Doja Cat.

Plus, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana” launches at No. 4 on the Hot 100, marking the second top 10 for the former rapper and the 22nd for the latter.

Also in the Hot 100’s top tier, Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma log the first regional Mexican top five hit in the chart’s history, as “Ella Baila Sola” soars 10-5. A week earlier, the song became the chart’s first-ever regional Mexican top 10.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated April 29, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (April 25). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

SZA Scores Her First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 With ‘Kill Bill’

The song reigns following the release of its remix with Doja Cat. Plus, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana” debuts at No. 4.

www.billboard.com

 

[Street Knowledge]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

 

[28 Gramz]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

All these bytches sound the same to me, maybe I'm just old but their songs come on the radio and I can't tell who is who.

 

[Kuma the Bear]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

The collab with Rihanna is what gave her a bigger platform and which became a launchpad for her to crossover to cacs.
Being the leading lady of TDE also helped as there was no female competition or any other females on the label to share resources with.

It helps that she has a unique singing voice which stands out from all those other singers you listed. SZA lowkey ushered in this wave of female R&B singers singing in weird, quirky tones.

 

[Cadillac]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

i think it was Joe budden podcast that said her style and music is very black pop girl music for today, and i think thats why shes big.

her style both aesthetically, stylistically, and content perhaps seems something that can be translated to a white version. thus that crossover that can connect to white audiences

im just spit balling but thats my first thought of a explanation of why shes big.

 

[JustCKing]

Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason as to why an artist is successful. Erykah Badu dropped Baduizm in 1997 and that album went 3X platinum. Lauryn dropped Miseducation a year later and ended up going diamond. What I'm saying is some artists are just anomalies. They crossed over without making crossover joints. Mainstream crossed over to them. There isn't a pattern or mold that you could put them in to explain how and why they were successful because none of them looked or sounded like their contemporaries. Same goes for SZA. She's pretty much her own thing. And no I'm not saying she's Lauryn or Erykah. She's SZA.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Part of it is that she writes great melodies that stick in your head.
The words that she attaches to those melodies are the insane, childish, overly emotional bird babble that most women younger women restrict to their own inner dialogue.
SZA gives voice to the female id.
In other words, she says the crazy shyt women think out loud and they love her for it.

 

[valet]

Boom bap beats #1 in 2023.

 

[Piff Perkins]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

She’s a superior songwriter to them and has multiple hit records. That’s really the main difference. Both her albums have multi plat hits that live on the radio.

I think she also managed to move the ball forward on this album in a way her peers aren’t doing. A lot of female r&b is stuck in the same downtempo, reverb 90s sample shyt that her last album did. Think about like…Broken Clocks. She could have done an album full of that. Instead she leaned into pop, including pop rock. There are songs on the album that sound like 90s/early 00s pop rock shyt and that’s a pretty bold move. It’s clever, seeing (downtempo) 90s r&b is still the vibe other chicks are on and doing something different.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

I keep hearing this song on the radio.. didn’t know it was called kill bill it’s dope but the censored version sucks

 

[L&HH]

The question I always had was how was she able to cross over compared to her other peers in RnB

Like Summer walker, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, H.E.R, Ella Mai etc. She blows everyone out the water in sales and hit records. Is her music just that much better? The critics say so but that’s not always the case. You can’t even use the whole “well she’s light skinned or racially ambiguous and more palatable to white audiences” argument. She’s a regular black girl born in St Louis.

Her music overall is better imo. I think Kendrick, TDE, and the Black Panther soundtrack put her over the top.

 

[Sauce Dab]

Coli A&R’s kept saying she was taking too long to drop and she was being mismanaged and would fall off because of how long she was taking to drop the album but they were wrong again and her songs/album been killing the charts ever since it dropped

 

[CrimsonTider]

Her music overall is better imo. I think Kendrick, TDE, and the Black Panther soundtrack put her over the top.

I think Travis Scott put her over the top

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

Thought this song already went #1

 

[Izanami]

I think Travis Scott put her over the top

Thats why his feature on the album is buried in the tail end of the album while Don featured in the first quarter of the album. Let’s not mention they released a version with out that nikka Travis tragic feature.

Keep up them narratives