The late Juice WRLD earns his first posthumous top 10 hit on Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as a lead act as “Righteous” debuts on the list dated May 9.
“Righteous” traces its high debut to a strong streaming start. The track registered 29.1 million U.S. streams in the week ending April 30, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, the week’s second-best tally for any tune. As such, “Righteous” opens at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart and repeats the rank on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs and Rap Streaming Songs lists.
In addition, “Righteous” sold 7,000 downloads in the week ending April 30, enough for a No. 6 arrival on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart and a No. 12 entrance on the all-genre Digital Song Sales ranking.
Beyond its Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs start, “Righteous” also debuts at No. 5 on Hot Rap Songs and at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though it just misses the latter’s top bracket, the single marks Juice WRLD’s fourth-best showing among 30 hits. “Righteous” trails only his 2018 breakthrough “Lucid Dreams” (No. 2), a featured turn on Eminem’s “Godzilla” (No. 3) this year, and a 2019 team up with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, “Bandit” (No. 10).
The song marks the first proper release from Juice WRLD’s estate following his death. The 20-year-old, born Jarad Higgens, died due to oxycodone and codeine toxicity in Chicago on Dec. 8, 2019.
“Righteous” marks the sixth release to debut or achieve a new peak in the months since Juice WRLD’s death. The 2018 release “Legends,” originally a No. 65 Hot 100 hit, returned to the chart and a new peak of No. 29 last December, while his “Let Me Know (I Wonder Why Freestyle)” entered the list and climbed to No. 78 the same month.
In 2020, he’s appeared on three Hot 100 hits so far: the aforementioned “Godzilla” (No. 3), G Herbo’s “PTSD” (No. 38), on which he features alongside Chance The Rapper and Lil Uzi Vert, and a collaborative remix of YNW Melly’s “Suicidal,” driving the hit to a No. 20 high.