Ariana Grande Earns Sixth No. 1 on Streaming Songs Chart With ‘We Can’t Be Friends’

Ariana Grande snags the biggest streaming debut of 2024 with “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart dated March 23.

“We Can’t Be Friends” earned 32.6 million official U.S. streams in its first week (March 8-14), according to Luminate.

It exceeds the 29.2 million streams accumulated by Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hiss” in its first week (Feb. 10) to become the biggest debut week for a song in 2024. And it’s the biggest bow of any song since three songs from Drake’s 2023 album For All the Dogs started on the Oct. 21, 2023, survey: “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole (42.2 million), “IDGAF,” featuring Yeat (40.8 million) and “Virginia Beach” (34.5 million).

The song also sports the second-biggest week for any non-holiday song this year, second only to “Carnival” by Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign. The Rich the Kid– and Playboi Carti-featuring song racked up 33.7 million streams toward the March 16 list, its fourth week on the tally and third at No. 1.

“We Can’t Be Friends” and “Carnival” are the only non-holiday songs to boast more than 30 million streams in a given week this year.

It’s Grande’s sixth No. 1 on Streaming Songs, a chart that began in 2013. That ties her with Justin Bieber for the third-most rulers in the list’s history; Drake leads all acts with 20 reigns.

Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs
20, Drake
8, Taylor Swift
6, Ariana Grande
6, Justin Bieber
5, Travis Scott
4, Beyonce
4, Cardi B
4, Kanye West
4, Lil Baby
4, Megan Thee Stallion

She first crowned the ranking with “Thank U, Next,” a seven-week leader beginning in November 2018. Prior to “We Can’t Be Friends,” she had last led via “Yes, And?,” for a week this January.

Both “We Can’t Be Friends” and “Yes, And?” are songs from Eternal Sunshine, Grande’s seventh studio album, which concurrently debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 227,000 equivalent album units earned, as previously reported. All 12 chart-eligible songs from the LP appear on Streaming Songs, including four of the top 10; the No. 1 track is followed by “The Boy Is Mine” (No. 7, 17.6 million streams), “Yes, And?” (No. 8, 17.3 million streams) and “Supernatural” (No. 9, 16.4 million streams).

As previously reported, “We Can’t Be Friends” also starts at No. 1 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100.