In 2017, Harry Styles released his debut solo single, “Sign Of The Times,’ and it nearly became his first No. 1 song in the US. It achieved a peak at No. 4 on the Hot 100, and that is as close as he had gotten to claiming the top spot… before today. It has now been revealed that on the chart dated August 15, “Watermelon Sugar” is in the No. 1 spot, making it Styles’ first chart-topping single.
The #Hot100 top 10 (chart dated Aug. 15, 2020) pic.twitter.com/FB2bzgEmsY
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) August 10, 2020
.@Harry_Styles' "Watermelon Sugar" is officially No. 1 on this week's #Hot100 chart for the first time, earning him his first career No. 1 hit.
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) August 10, 2020
A handful of events came together to help the song rise to the top. On July 30, Styles shared a behind-the-scenes video for the song, and on August 3, he premiered a “lost tour visual” video. August 3 was also National Watermelon Day, which led to #WatermelonSugarDay becoming a trending topic online.
“Watermelon Sugar” has had a long journey to No. 1: The track was released as a single nearly three months ago (on May 15), and it previously available as an album track on Fine Line, which was released on December 13, 2019. Before that, it was also shared as a promotional single on November 16, 2019. So, the song was out for about nine months before it managed to top the Hot 100. “Watermelon Sugar” is also popular on TikTok.
Styles is now the second former One Direction member to earn a chart-topping Hot 100 single, as Zayn’s “Pillowtalk” led in 2016.
Elsewhere on this week’s chart, Billie Eilish’s “My Future” debuted at No. 6, which is the highest opening frame for any of her songs.
Revisit our review of Fine Line here.
