“Black Madonna” becomes the set’s latest leader.
Cage the Elephant‘s album Social Cues does what no set had done in over a decade: spin off a trio of No. 1 singles on Billboard‘s Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart.
On the April 18-dated tally, “Black Madonna” rises 2-1. It follows the two prior leaders from Social Cues: “Ready to Let Go” and the title track, which led for a week each in March and October 2019, respectively.
The album becomes the first to score at least such a triple atop Adult Alternative Songs since 2008-2009, when Coldplay‘s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends produced four leaders: “Violet Hill,” the title cut and “Lost!” from the set’s standard version, and “Life in Technicolor II” (a reworking of an instrumental from the original LP), from the LP’s Prospekt’s March expanded edition.
“Black Madonna” is Cage the Elephant’s fifth total No. 1 on the ranking. Prior to Social Cues, “Come a Little Closer” and “Mess Around” ruled for two weeks each in March 2014 and February 2016, respectively.
The band moves into a four-way tie for the 10th most No. 1s in the history of Adult Alternative Songs (which began in 1996), alongside The Black Keys, Florence + the Machine and The Lumineers. Coldplay and U2 lead all acts with 13 No. 1s apiece.
Concurrently, “Black Madonna” bullets at its No. 4 high on the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart with 5.8 million audience impressions, up 4 percent, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, and its No. 5 best on Alternative Songs.
Social Cues, Cage the Elephant’s fifth studio set, debuted at No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums chart in May 2019 and has earned 155,000 equivalent album units since its release.
