On Kid Cudi’s new album Man On The Moon III: The Chosen, it seems like the track “Beautiful Trip” would be considered something of an afterthought. The album-opener is only 37 seconds long, it’s an abstract tune that serves as a quick introduction to the record, and it doesn’t seem like it’s primarily meant to be consumed as an individual work. However, the song has actually made history, as it is officially the shortest song to ever place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
On the Hot 100 chart dated December 26, “Beautiful Trip” (which is shorter than the amount of time it probably takes to read this post) squeaked in at No. 100, presumably because it was the first track of a popular album that many people took the time to listen to when playing the full album through. “Beautiful Trip” is eight seconds shorter than the previous record-holder, which was Piko-Taro’s “PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen),” a 45-second track that reached No. 77 in October 2016. Those two songs are the only sub-minute songs to ever make the chart.
(Finneas has a writing and production credit on “Beautiful Trip,” so congratulations are in order for him as well.)
The past couple years have been active as far as chart records related to song length. Last year, Tool’s song “Fear Inoculum” became the longest one to ever appear on the Hot 100 and the only one over 10 minutes. Also last year, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” became the shortest No. 1 song since 1965.
If you have under a minute to spare, listen to “Beautiful Trip” below. If you have more than a minute, also read our review of Man On The Moon III: The Chosen here.