Hot 100 First-Timers: David Kushner Shines With ‘Daylight’

Singer-songwriter David Kushner scores his first career entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as his breakthrough single “Daylight” opens at No. 48 on the chart dated April 29.

The song, which the 22-year-old Chicago native released via Miserable Music Group/Virgin Music Label and Artist Services, debuts on the strength of 9.6 million U.S. streams and 1,600 downloads sold in its first week (April 14-20), according to Luminate. It also starts at No. 31 on Streaming Songs and No. 42 on Digital Song Sales.

The song also begins at No. 12 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 14 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S, with 38 million streams worldwide in the tracking week. On the Official UK Singles chart, it launches at No. 3.

TikTok has been a big factor in the song’s popularity, with fans likening Kushner’s vocals to that of Bon Iver, Hozier and the Lumineers. In January, Kushner released a snippet of the song, which went viral and has since been used in more than 230,000 clips on the platform. Kushner continued generating hype leading up to the track’s official release by having fans submit cover art options for the single, and posting other demos of it. He also used the song to soundtrack the “you look happier; what happened” trend that he started on the platform; the trend shows users posting a photo of themselves looking happy, and then cutting to a clip of their partner. Kushner finally released the song, along with its official music video, April 14.

Kushner is a newcomer to Billboard’s charts. He had charted one song before this week: “Miserable Man” reached No. 23 on the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under chart and No. 149 on the Global 200 in January 2022.

Last September, Kushner self-released his debut LP Footprints I Found, which debuts at No. 18 on the latest Heatseekers Albums chart. (The set does not include “Daylight.”)

Earlier this month, Kushner opened for Dean Lewis on the European leg of the latter’s The Future Is Bright Tour. He’s slated to open for Lewis Capaldi on July 1 in Wales on his Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent Tour.