Mary J. Blige closes out 2023 with a new No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart as “Still Believe in Love,” featuring Vado, crowns the list dated Dec. 30. The calendar year’s final champ advances from the runner-up spot and was the most-played song on U.S. monitored adult R&B radio stations in the week ending Dec. 21, according to Luminate.
“Still Believe in Love” takes the chart’s top spot despite remaining essentially even in plays compared with the prior week. Last week’s leader, Usher, Summer Walker and 21 Savage’s “Good Good,” slips to No. 3 after falling 5% in plays during the tracking week. (Between the pair, Muni Long’s “Made for Me” climbs 3-2 with a 5% play gain.)
Thanks to “Still Believe in Love,” the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul nabs her eighth career champ on Adult R&B Airplay. Further, she breaks out of a tie with H.E.R. to solely have the third-most No. 1s among women artists in the chart’s 30-year history. Alicia Keys leads the scoreboard, with 14, while Toni Braxton ranks second with 11.
As “Still Believe in Love” joins the collection, here’s a review of Mary J. Blige’s eight Adult R&B Airplay No. 1s:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Mary J. Blige), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1
“Not Gon’ Cry,” four, March 2, 1996
“Be Without You,” 14, Feb. 4, 2006
“Take Me As I Am,” one, Jan. 27, 2007
“IfULeave,” Musiq Soulchild featuring Mary J. Blige, eight, Jan. 10, 2009
“Thick of It,” 16, Nov. 12, 2016
“U + Me (Love Lesson),” three, May 6, 2017
“Good Morning Gorgeous,” four, Feb. 26, 2022
“Still Believe in Love,” featuring Vado, one (to date), Dec. 30, 2023
For featured act Vado, the New York-based rapper lands his first Adult R&B Airplay No. 1 with his first appearance on the chart. Prior to his collaboration with Blige, the rapper had scored a pair of entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with Cam’ron – “Speaking in Tungs” and “Hey Muma”. Plus, he’d also make chart waves with two albums, the solo effort Slime Flu, which reached No. 22 on Top Rap Albums in 2010, and the Cam’ron collaborative set Gunz N’ Butta, which peaked at No. 7 on the same chart in 2011.
Elsewhere, “Still Believe in Love” repeats at its No. 14 best on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. Despite the static rank, the song added 2% in weekly audience to reach 6.6 million in the latest tracking week.
