This week, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber’s unstoppable smash hit “Despacito” is steady at No. 1 on the Hot 100, giving the tune its thirteenth turn at the top. That makes the track tied for the third longest-stay at the peak with two other very popular singles—Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine” and Boyz II Men’s “End Of The Road”—and it looks like it will continue to hold on and rack up at least another week or two before it is done. While it may not be No. 1 in terms of the most frames atop the Hot 100, “Despacito” has now conquered another Billboard chart in a way no other artist has ever managed before.
“Despacito” is now the song with the most weeks at the top of the Digital Song Sales listing, which measures the bestselling songs in the United States every seven days. It focuses solely on digital purchases, since the days of people buying CD singles are long gone, and essentially all song downloads take place on platforms like iTunes and Amazon. Rankings like the Hot 100 combine radio play, streams and sales to determine what it really the most popular song in the country, while the Digital Song Sales chart is only concerned with purchases.
Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber’s biggest hit has now been running the show for 14 weeks, which puts it one turn ahead of the competition it was tied with last frame. The song sold another 84,000 copies this past tracking period, according to Billboard, which is impressive considering how many units it has already moved. Before this week, “Despacito” was tied with three other tunes with 13 weeks at No. 1—Flo Rida and T-Pain’s “Low,” Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk!” and most recently, The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s “Closer”—but now it has no competition and is leading the way.
The fact that “Despacito” has been able to rule on that specific ranking for so long is proof that it is not just performing well on one format. The song is racking up billions of plays on streaming platforms like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and especially video hosting site YouTube, but clearly, the American public is also interested in purchasing the song and owning it for themselves. It is rare for any piece of music to be played and purchased with seemingly equal fervor across formats, but if there is any cut that can manage such a feat, it's the history-making "Desapcito."
“Despacito” is already the most-streamed song and the most-watched video of all time, and it is also quickly working its way towards becoming one of the bestselling ever, and a few more weeks at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales tally will certainly help it inch closer.
