Rihanna’s “Stay” single cover

If this was 2010 and you told me that Rihanna had broken another Whitney Houston record then I would have had a Waiting to Exhale moment. Yet, times change and so has Rihanna’s music. So, although it would still be nice to see a more talented artist replacing surpassing Houston’s status on the US charts, I don’t regard this latest development as a major upset.

Fuelled by her very impressive performance of the tune alongside Mikky Ekko at the 2013 Grammy Awards, Rihanna’s “Stay” has soared from #57 to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song depicted a stunning 358% increase in digital downloads by selling over 306K copies, thus securing it a spot at #2 on the Hot Digital Songs chart.

How does this relate to the late Houston? “Stay” has earned Rihanna her 24th top 10 hit on the Hot 100, exceeding the 23 such hits by Houston and The Rolling Stones. She still has a long way to go before she could challenge Madonna’s 38 top 10 entries by she is now ranked behind a rather short list of acts: The Beatles (34), Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder (28), Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Elton John (27), and Elvis Presley (25).

See the other leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Mumford & Sons - Babel - 185K (total: 1.92 M)

2. Various Artists – 2013 Grammy Nominees – 88K (total: 190K)

3. Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox – 86K (total: 817K)

4. Taylor Swift – Red – 72K (total: 3,44 M)

5. Josh Groban – All That Echoes – 72K (total: 217K)

6. Lumineers - Lumineers - 67K (total: 1.01 M)

7. fun. – Some Nights – 66K (total: 1.09 M)

8. Various Artists – Now 45 – 63K (total: 150K)

9. Andrea Bocelli – Passione – 48K (total: 193K)

10. Maroon 5 - Overexposed – 48K (total: 1.16 M)

Billboard Hot 100

1. Baauer – “Harlem Shake”

2. Macklemore & Lewis – “Thrift Shop”

3. Rihanna – “Stay (Ft. Mikky Ekko)”

4. will.i.am – “Scream & Shout (Ft. Britney Spears)”

5. Taylor Swift – “I Knew You Were Trouble”

6. Lumineers - “Ho Hey”

7. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”

8. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man”

9. Justin Timberlake – “Suit & Tie (Ft. Jay-Z)”

10. Drake – “Started from the Bottom”

Watch the video for Rihanna’s “Stay” below:

Thoughts?