Yesterday, December 13th, SZA’s single, “I Hate You” shot up the ranks of the Hot 100. The song finally came to rest at No. 7, nestled in between “Industry Baby,” and “Jingle Bell Rock.” This is the fifth time that SZA has broken into the Top 10. Previously, she ranked 9th in “What Lovers Do” with Maroon 5, 7th in “All The Stars” with Kendrick Lamar, and 3rd in “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat. Only one of her other solo songs, “Good Days,” cracked the Top 10, coming in at 9th in February of 2021. This makes “I Hate You” her highest-debuting solo song to date, an extremely impressive feat.
To the Shock of SZA
SZA dropped “I Hate You” several months ago, but only in a limited capacity. Previously, FMHipHop covered the release of the song on SoundCloud and the overwhelmingly positive audience response. While this is an impressive accomplishment in itself, fans just would not let the song die. The buzz began about two weeks ago when fans finally convinced the artist to make her song available on more streaming services.
A Flood of Positivity
It seems no one is as surprised at the success of “I Hate You” as the author herself. The singer was hesitant to put the song on streaming at first, calling it just an “experiment.”
What followed was an outpouring of positive attention, resulting in a meteoric rise through the various streaming services.
Fans from across various platforms spread encouragement and gave positive feedback to the artist. The song had so many streams on December 3 that it shot to the top of the Apple Spotify charts.
Congratulations to SZA and her ludicrous, if unanticipated success. Fans playfully mocked her for the initial limited release of the song. However, the artist seems willing to listen to the feedback, and excited to give her fans more of what they clearly want.
Hopefully, we’ll get to see more hits like “I Hate You” in the future.
By Chris Colasurdo
@cfcolasurdo on Twitter
