Ahead of its arrival on the Hot 100, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s new joint single “The Joker and the Queen” appears on one of the most competitive radio charts published every week by Billboard. With one more win to her name, Swift advances one again in the history books and ties one of the biggest pop stars of all time.
“The Joker and the Queen” debuts on the Pop Airplay chart at No. 37, an impressive start for a tune that was only released last Friday (February 11). The fact that the collaboration between Swift and Sheeran is one of the 40 tracks that reached the largest audience at pop radio in the U.S. in the previous tracking frame after just a few days of activity means it is surely headed for loftier areas on the tally.
The new Pop Airplay chart hit is the twenty-sixth on the ranking for Sheeran, while Swift is 10 smashes ahead of her partner, as she has now placed 36 different tracks onto the list throughout her career. The number is enough for Swift to tie with Britney Spears for the fifth-most appearances among all artists and the third-most among females only. Somewhat coincidentally, Spears collected her thirty-sixth Pop Airplay smash just last week, when her new single “Toxic Pony,” a mashup of her previous blockbuster “Toxic” and Ginuwine’s “Pony,” debuted at No. 40.
Rihanna leads all artists when looking at the number of songs any artist has sent to the Pop Airplay chart, as she’s the only name to accrue 50 placements on the tally. RiRi hasn’t added to her total in a little while, but she’s still in a distant first place, so she likely won’t be challenged for some time. Coming in behind the fashion and beauty mogul is rapper Nicki Minaj, with 41 Pop Airplay hits.
Two men separate Minaj and both Spears and Swift, as Justin Bieber has already snagged 40 wins on the Pop Airplay chart, while Chris Brown isn’t too far behind, with 38 hit singles. With her thirty-sixth placement on the ranking secured, Swift breaks out of a tie with Pitbull, who is comfortable with his 35
