Did you know that Diddy was the first rapper to have a song debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Of the 20 songs that have debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ was the fifth single to enter at the top of the chart. Additionally, the track, which featured Faith Evans and 112, was the first tune by a rapper to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 when it arrived at the summit in 1997.
Diddy, who was then known as Puff Daddy, crafted the song from a sample of The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’ as a special tribute to his friend and fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G. The only other rapper to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 to date is Eminem, who achieved the feat in 2010 with ‘Not Afraid’.
Watch Diddy, Sting, Faith Evans and others perform ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ at the 1997 MTV Awards below: