Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” breaks hip-hop chart records
Kendrick Lamar‘s collaboration with SZA, ‘Luther’, has officially tied the all-time record for most weeks at number one on Billboard’s Hot R&B / Hip-Hop songs chart.
The track lands its 22nd week at the top of the chart dated May 31st. Lamar ties with his own previous record, matching the milestone Lamar set earlier this year with the single ‘Not Like Us’. Before this, SZA’s 2022–2023 smash hit ‘Kill Bill’ held the record with 21 weeks at No. 1 on the same chart.
According to Luminate, from May 16th to 22nd, ‘Luther’ maintains its chart dominance with 16.7 million official U.S. streams, 2,000 digital sales, and 60.5million in radio airplay.
‘Luther’ has also been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking thirteen weeks, has been deposed by Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae’s “What I Want”. The hit single has now fallen to an impressive number five on the chart after initially being released last November.
Kendrick Lamar performed at this year’s Superbowl halftime show in February, where SZA joined for a quick rendition of the record-breaking song. At the show, Lamar also performed ‘Not Like Us’, an explosive retaliation to an ongoing feud with Drake.
After the show, Drake filed an amended complaint in his defamation and harassment lawsuit against Universal Music Group. The Toronto rapper claims the NFL banning the word “paedophile” from Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance of ‘Not Like Us’ is further evidence that the lyrics are defamatory.
SZA and Lamar are currently on tour together. The stadium tour began in April in Minneapolis and stops in major cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto before concluding in Washington, DC, in June.
Speaking to British Vogue, Kendrick Lamar claimed SZA is making the most beautiful songs of her generation. “Today, I recognise a more expressive SZA,” he said. “The shy shit is completely out the window – to a degree, at least. She has the answers to some of the things she was curious about and is willing to tell it all in the most disruptive yet beautiful compositions this generation has ever heard.”