The act is the fifth to earn a first leader on the list this year.
Sub Urban‘s “Cradles” climbs 3-1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs airplay chart dated March 28.
The song, serviced to radio by Warner, becomes the first No. 1 on a Billboard chart for the New Jersey native (born Danny Maisonneuve), achieved with his first entry on Alternative Songs.
The coronation also continues this year’s trend of newcomers topping the tally. In just the first three months of 2020, five artists (of six total No. 1s) have led Alternative Songs for the first time, including three in a first visit to the chart. Sub Urban follows The Unlikely Candidates (“Novocaine”), White Reaper (“Might Be Right”), Meg Myers (“Running Up That Hill”) and Absofacto “Dissolve,” and joins White Reaper and Absofacto in leading in a premiere appearance.
Compare that to 2019, when five artists ruled for the first time the entire year: Lana Del Rey, Dominic Fike, Matt Maeson, SHAED and Billie Eilish; Fike, Maeson and SHAED reigned in their firsts chart appearances. In 2018, six No. 1 newcomers ruled (Marshmello, Two Feet, Panic! at the Disco, lovelytheband, AJR and Alice Merton), with five (all but Panic!) doing so on their first tries.
The only repeat leader this year? Eilish, who’s still, of course, a fairly new artist in her own right (although she’s already tied the mark for the most No. 1s among soloists in the chart’s three-decade history).
Sub Urban is also the fourth soloist to lead Alternative Songs in 2020, following Eilish, Myers and Absofacto. A record-tying five songs by solo artists ruled in 2019, by Del Rey, Fike, Maeson and Eilish (two).
On the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart, “Cradles” ranks at No. 9 with 4.8 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
“Cradles” initially found its legs on TikTok before it was serviced to alternative radio and debuted on Alternative Songs in October 2019. Sub Urban’s debut EP, Thrill Seeker, was released March 13.