Ask Billboard: A Snapshot of Highlights as Bad Bunny’s ‘DtMF’ Hits No. 1 on the Hot 100

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Hi Gary,

Here are several random thoughts, starting with Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” topping the Billboard Hot 100, following Ella Langley’s takeover the week before with “Choosin’ Texas.”

Picture-Perfect No. 1s

If my sometimes-photographic memory serves, is “Photograph” by Ringo Starr the only other No. 1 title to include a form of the word “photo,” with “DtMF” translating in English to “I Should’ve Taken More Photos”?

Quick History of Abbreviated Titles

2011 was a big year for No. 1 titles on the Hot 100 that are or include abbreviations, e.g., “E.T.” by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, “S&M” by Rihanna featuring Britney Spears and again Perry that year with “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” “DtMF” is the latest leader in that tradition. To borrow from that era, OMG!

‘Estado Mental del Imperio’

As for Bad Bunny’s “Nuevayol,” it hits a new No. 5 Hot 100 high. That’s a higher peak than the No. 7-charting “Boy From New York City,” as covered by the Manhattan Transfer in 1981; the original recording of that doo-wop hit was by the Ad Libs, a No. 8 hit in 1965, where Bad Bunny originally peaked with “Nuevayol” when it debuted last year. Where do those songs stand among all New York-based hits?

Choice Hits

What about Hot 100 hits with forms of “choosin’,” “choose” or “choice” in their titles, with Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” having gone to No. 1? Shout-out to “Dilemma” by Nelly featuring a true Texan, Kelly Rowland.

Ella-vation

Is Langley the first solo Ella to top the Hot 100? Before the chart began, the legendary Ella Fitzgerald compiled a rich history of hits.

Thanks for reading my Super-sized email!

Pablo Nelson
Oakland, Calif.

Thanks Pablo, as always.

Let’s dig into what’s been a busy year atop the Hot 100 so far. And as a Patriots/Boston sports fan, happy to focus on the Bad Bunny part of the big game. (The New York angle, not so much.)

Among all Hot 100 No. 1s, only Bad Bunny’s new leader and Starr’s “Photograph,” his 1973 single and first of two leaders apart from the Beatles, include any part of the word “photo” in their titles. The other such top 10s are both named “Photograph,” by Nickelback (No, 2, 2005) and Ed Sheeran (No. 10, 2015). Meanwhile, Sheeran’s most recent hit on the chart? “Camera.” Plus, Harry Styles topped the Hot 100 two weeks ago with “Aperture,” whose definition is “the opening in a photographic lens that admits the light.”

“I don’t take many photos, but the meaning isn’t 100% literal,” Bad Bunny told Billboard last year about “DtMF” parent album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, with the song essentially its title cut. “It’s about living in the moment. There’s this balance between capturing the moment and just living it. The other day, I was interacting with a fan and I went to blow her a kiss, but she missed it because she was trying to grab her phone. She lost the moment! I hope someone else saw it and told her.”

A lesson in abbreviations: The first Hot 100 with an abbreviation in its title? “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” by Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. (The history of the National Parent Teacher Association dates back almost as far as Billboard’s, to 1897, vs. 1894, and includes a spirited relationship with Riley’s song.)

“Nuevayol,” notably, becomes the highest-charting Hot 100 hit that specifically name-checks New York in its title. Here are all such top 40 entries, by peak position, with the city’s theme by a New York legend among them:

As for three relevant No. 1s: “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys ruled the Hot 100 for five weeks in 2009; Christopher Cross’ “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” was No. 1 for three weeks in 1981, powered by its classic “if you get caught between the moon and New York City” hook; and Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band led for a week in 1976 with “A Fifth of Beethoven.”

Plus, New York City hit No. 17 on the Hot 100 in 1973 with “I’m Doin’ Fine Now.”

Going back a week to when “Choosin’ Texas” topped the Hot 100, prior to Ella Langley, any form of “choose” was represented highest in a title by “Choose” by Color Me Badd (no Bunny). The catchy song reached No. 23 in 1994.

Ella Fitzgerald was a giant on Billboard surveys ahead of the Hot 100’s 1958 inception. Her résumé includes chart-toppers “Cow-Cow Boogie,” “I’m Making Believe,” “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall” and “Stone Cold Dead in the Market.”

Upon what would’ve been Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday in 2017, Keith Caulfield looked at her legacy, citing a Billboard remembrance upon her passing. “’Baah doodie zeet bwahh, booy doodie doodie-o deet deet bwen …’ A television broadcast of Ella Fitzgerald in action is a reminder of just how convincing and inventive this jazz singer was,” an obituary read in the June 29, 1996-dated issue. “For a large part of her career, she made gibberish sound not only compelling and logical, but very, very pleasurable.

“Her singing was deceptive, though,” the ode continued. “It tricked intricate moves into seeming natural. The crunch of its mechanics, complex to be sure, was almost always hidden by a gorgeous tone and feeling of simple coherence that couldn’t help but impress those who fell under its sway.”

Fitzgerald posted a No. 27 best on the Hot 100 with her version of “Mack the Knife” in 1960.

Before “Choosin’ Texas,” “Boo’d Up” marked the highest-charting Hot 100 hit by an artist named Ella, as Ella Mai’s breakthrough single rose to No. 5 in 2018. Among titles, “Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabón Armado and Peso Pluma, did one better (No. 4, 2023; in English, it translates to “she dances alone”).

Ella Langley, whose full first name is Elizabeth, is, thus, the first Ella to reign on the Hot 100. (Well, sort of the second, or third, or fourth, or ….)