Fittingly given its title, Sia's “Unstoppable” becomes the first song in nearly a quarter of a century to spend 100 weeks Advertising sign's Adult Contemporary chart.
The track hits triple digits on the chart dated May 11, where it sits at No. 4. It reached 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 between the charts dated November 12, 2022, and March 18, 2023.
Below is a look at the selected four songs that have logged at least 100 weeks on Adult Contemporary during the chart's history, which dates back to July 1961.
Notably, three are by Australian acts: Above Sia's song, the first two are by pop duo Savage Garden. (LeAnn Rimes, also on the list below, is from Jackson, Miss.)
Most Weeks on the Adult Contemporary Chart:
- 124, “I Knew I Loved You”, Savage Garden (No. 1 for 17 weeks, beginning December 25, 1999)
- 123, “Truly Madly Deeply,” Savage Garden (No. 1, 11 weeks, beginning April 11, 1998)
- 104, “I Need You,” LeAnn Rimes (No. 2 peak, October 7, 2000)
- 100, “Unstoppable,” Sia (No. 1, 12 weeks, beginning Nov. 12, 2022)
via the chart dated May 11, 2024
The rules regarding removing songs from Adult Contemporary due to their age have varied over the years. On average, stocks began to hold longer once the survey adopted electronically tracked Luminate data in July 1993. Check Out Advertising signchart legend for more details.
Meanwhile, the longevity of “Truly Madly Deeply” helped propel his No. 1 Advertising signMap of the best adult contemporary songs of all time.
“Unstoppable” has been in the Adult Contemporary top five for a record 84 consecutive weeks since the ranking dated October 8, 2022. It follows Taylor Swift's “Anti-Hero” with an equally active run of 66 weeks in the top five, placing at No. 5 of the last list. (The latter hadn't yet been released when “Unstoppable” began its stay in the top five; it reached Swift's album Midnight that October 21.)
Reflecting its long run on the charts, “Unstoppable” has a fascinating history, having originally been released on Sia's 2016 LP This Is Acting. It was used in promos for the 2016 Major League Baseball postseason and in a Lancôme Idôle ad starring Zendaya in 2019. It then became popular on TikTok and soundtracked a Samsung Galaxy ad.
Radio promotion finally followed in 2022, and the song entered the Adult Contemporary chart with a date of June 18. “We started talking about it [that] January. The question was “How are we going to do this?” ,” said Erik Olesen of Crush Music Advertising sign of the airplay campaign. Complicating the push, Sia's most recent material was released on Atlantic Records, and “Unstoppable” was originally on RCA Records and later moved to Sony Music's catalog division under the Legacy label. However, “both RCA and Legacy have been very supportive and made us do this,” Olesen said.
In its favor, “Unstoppable” was among other older songs released in 2022. As it built at radio, Kate Bush took off with her 1985 classic “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” spurred by the timing of on Netflix Stranger Things. Olesen noted, “At least 'Unstoppable' was 30 years younger!”
As momentum continued to build for the song, Olesen “asked a lot of captains on different radio chains both domestically and internationally to put it in their research. After a few weeks, he started to lift his arm and had tremendous familiarity. One of the most important ingredients for radio is familiarity.”
Since its release, “Unstoppable” has attracted an audience of 2.8 billion to journalists Advertising signChart of radio songs in all its forms. It has also totaled 438.1 million official streams and 494,000 sales in the US
All Advertising sign Charts dated May 11 will be updated on Billboard.com on Tuesday, May 7.
