Adele and Greg Kurstin tie at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters chart (dated Oct. 30), each leading for the first time thanks to their work on the former’s “Easy on Me.”
Kurstin also spends his first week atop Hot 100 Producers, as he solely produced the ballad.
“Easy” rockets to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 65 million radio airplay audience impressions, 53.9 million U.S. streams and 74,000 downloads sold in the Oct. 15-21 tracking week (following its Oct. 14 release), according to MRC Data. Adele adds her fifth No. 1, as both an artist and writer, after “Rolling in the Deep,” Someone Like You” (both in 2011), “Set Fire to the Rain” (2012) and “Hello” (2015-16).
Kurstin has a longstanding history on Billboard’s charts as both a writer and producer, including with Adele. “Easy” is his fourth Hot 100 No. 1 as a writer and producer, after Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” in 2012, Adele’s “Hello” and Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Sean Paul, in 2016. (“Easy” is also Kurstin’s first top 10 in those roles since Sia’s leader.)
In 2017, Kurstin won Grammy Awards for album, record, song and producer (non-classical) of the year for his work on Adele’s 25 and “Hello.”
Kurstin first appeared on the Hot 100 as a songwriter in 2006, with Jessica Simpson’s “A Public Affair,” which reached No. 14. He followed with a pair of tracks by Lily Allen, “F*ck You” (No. 68 peak) and “The Fear” (No. 80), both of which he produced and co-wrote with Allen.
“Easy” is Kurstin’s second production to reach the Hot 100 this year, after P!nk’s “All I Know So Far” (co-produced with P!nk, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), a No. 74 hit in May.
As Kurstin leads both Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers, he is the latest talent to top the charts simultaneously. Kanye West doubled up in September, while Finneas, J. Cole and Dan Nigro are the only others to achieve the feat this year.
The weekly Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot 100; plus, genre-based songwriter and producer charts follow the same methodology based on corresponding “Hot”-named genre charts. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
The full Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts, in addition to the full genre rankings, can be found on Billboard.com.
