(May 3, 2024). Rock newcomer Benson Boone has been the year’s most patient chart dweller. And now he’s probably the most tortured, well, except for a well known artist whose name rhymes with “sailor miffed” and whose “Tortured” tunes dominate this week’s Billboard Hot 100.
Recently, Boone’s been in the wings watching and waiting as his popular power-rock love song “Beautiful Things” — so far the most streamed tune to be released in 2024 (by far) — has bounced between Nos. 2 and 3 while other songs hopscotched around it to reach the chart pinnacle.
“Beautiful” first rocketed to No. 3 in February behind Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, and has since spent 12 weeks in the top ten, more than any other song this year that has yet to reach No. 1.
Meanwhile, songs by Beyoncé (“Texas Hold Em”), Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign (“Carnival”), Ariana Grande (“We Can’t Be Friends”), Swims (“Lose Control”), Future & Metro Boomin ft. Kendrick Lamar (“Like That”), and Hozier (“Too Sweet”) have all taken turns at No. 1, while Boone’s anthem was bounced around in the top five like a beach ball, its chances seemingly diminishing with each new song’s takeover at the top.
Then, in this week’s turn of events that nearly everyone saw coming, Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department unleashed a tidal wave of new music that made an unprecedented impact on the Hot 100, with 14 of its songs occupying the chart’s top 14 positions — a first in Billboard history.
And sitting right there at No. 15?
You guessed it, Boone’s “Beautiful Things.”
It is ultimately Taylor Thee (Chart) Slayer who robs Boone of what might have been his last shot at the top, one where he outlasted all of his prior tormentors and ranked only behind the biggest artist in all the land, T-Swizzle.
In an imaginary world where tortured poets didn’t exist and the natural ebbs and flows of the charts took their course, these would’ve been the week’s most popular tunes on the Hot 100, based on their relative chart ranks minus all the Taylor Swift songs:
| Untortured Position | Song Title | Artist | Last Week | Actual Rank this week |
| 1. | “Beautiful Things” | Benson Boone | 3 | 15 |
| 2. | “Too Sweet” | Hozier | 1 | 16 |
| 3. | “Like That” | Future/Metro Boomin | 2 | 17 |
| 4. | “Lose Control” | Teddy Swims | 4 | 18 |
| 5. | “Push Ups” | Drake | New | 19 |
| 6. | “Espresso” | Sabrina Carpenter | 7 | 22 |
| 7. | “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” | Shaboozey | 36 | 27 |
| 8. | “Lovin On Me” | Jack Harlow | 6 | 28 |
| 9. | “Saturn” | SZA | 10 | 29 |
| 10. | “Texas Hold Em” | Beyoncé | 5 | 31 |
In a year that’s been essentially a round-robin of new Number One songs, with the highest turnover of chart-toppers to begin a year in recent memory, Boone would’ve finally had his moment in the penthouse.
Instead, the keys to the top floor — the top 14 floors, in fact — went to Taylor and the song “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone. And if it hadn’t been for the marketing of “Fortnight” as the first single or the fact that it appears first on TTPD, Swift would’ve easily crowned the list with any one of her other new songs in an inevitability that no artist currently wields enough power to stop, especially a newcomer with no prior chart credentials (and who doesn’t have over 100 million monthly Spotify listeners just itching for his next release).
I guess there are worst predicaments a newbie like Boone could be in besides playing second (or, more accurately, fifteenth) fiddle to a megastar like Taylor Swift. Besides, he can take solace in the fact that “Beautiful Things” has topped the charts in many other countries, including the U.K., Canada, Switzerland, Slovakia, Portugal, Norway, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Croatia, Belgium, and Australia.
But will this debut hit ever duplicate its international success right here at home for the 21-year-old who hails from Monroe, Washington?
The Taylor TTPD tidal wave will quickly subside as her onslaught of new tracks make their predictable slides down the chart beginning next week. But a number of hot songs by new acts (Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Tommy Richman) are giving Boone — and Taylor — a run for their money.
We will soon see.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog and on Meta’s Threads.
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