Aretha Franklin has just become the first female artist to place 100 career titles on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (since it became a multi-metric ranking in 1958), as “Rolling in the Deep (The Aretha Version)” debuts at No. 47.
Franklin trails only Lil Wayne (135 entries), Jay Z (127) and James Brown (111) among all acts during that span. The Queen of Soul first hit the list 54 years ago this month, when “Today I Sing the Blues” entered the Oct. 24, 1960, chart on its way to a No. 10 peak. She had last graced the ranking with “How Long I’ve Been Waiting,” which reached No. 91 in February 2012.
Franklin’s interpretation of Adele’s hit (the top Billboard Hot 100 hit of 2011 after it spent seven weeks at No. 1), which incorporates a choral arrangement of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” made famous in 1967 by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, debuts at No. 9 on R&B Digital Songs with 12,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also launches at No. 16 on Hot R&B Songs.
“Rolling” is the first cut from Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, due Oct. 21 on RCA Records. The set reunites Franklin with longtime collaborator Clive Davis, who told Billboard, “She’s on fire and vocally in absolutely peak form. What a thrill to see this peerless artist still showing the way, still sending shivers up your spine, still demonstrating that all contemporary music needs right now is the voice. What a voice.”
