Muni Long Leads Emerging Artists as ‘Hrs and Hrs’ Clocks In on Hot 100 & R&B Charts

Muni Long jumps from No. 7 to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart (dated Jan. 15) to become the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to her breakthrough single as a recording artist, “Hrs and Hrs.”

The song, which she released in November via her own Supergiant Records, soars 83-34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 11.5 million U.S. streams (up 89%) and 3,500 downloads sold (up 81%) in the week ending Jan. 6, according to MRC Data. It bows at Nos. 10 and 19, respectively, on the all-genre Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales charts. Radio airplay is also starting for the song, which drew 28,000 audience impressions in the tracking week.

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“Hrs and Hrs” additionally crowns R&B Streaming Songs, jumps into the top five (9-5) on Hot R&B Songs and bounds to the top 10 (21-10) on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Muni Long (real name Priscilla Renea Hamilton) has forged a notable history on Billboard‘s charts as a songwriter. She’s penned Hot 100-charting tracks for Mariah Carey, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Rihanna, among others. She’s led the list as a writer thanks to Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Kesha (for three weeks in 2014), while her other top 10 as a writer, Chris Brown’s “Don’t Wake Me Up,” reached No. 10 in 2012.

She logged her most recent Hot 100 writing credits before “Hrs and Hrs” via Grande’s “Just Like Magic” and “Six Thirty,” from her Positions LP, in November 2020.

She has also penned three top 10s on Pop Airplay: “Timber” (No. 1, three weeks), Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It,” featuring Kid Ink (No. 4, 2015), and “Don’t Wake Me Up” (No. 6).

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Muni Long appeared on Billboard‘s charts as an artist once before, although under the name Priscilla Renea. Her solo single “Dollhouse” reached No. 31 on Dance Club Songs and No. 34 on Pop Airplay in 2009. The song’s parent set Jukebox hit No. 23 on Heatseekers Albums.

Among other Emerging Artists moves, American Idol alum Lauren Spencer-Smith launches at No. 5 thanks to her breakout single “Fingers Crossed.” The song, whose profile has swelled thanks to TikTok, debuts at No. 69 on the Hot 100, marking her first career entry, following its Jan. 5 release. It opens at No. 14 on Digital Song Sales (4,600 sold in its first two days), while starting with 5.5 million streams. (It’s now being promoted to pop radio.)

Plus, ERNEST debuts at No. 8 on Emerging Artists as his new single “Flower Shops,” featuring Morgan Wallen, enters the Hot 100 at No. 68, marking his first entry as a recording artist. He logged 14 previous credits on the Hot 100 as a songwriter, including Wallen’s top 10 “Wasted on You” (No. 9 peak, January 2021). He has also earned three No. 1s as a writer on Country Airplay: Wallen’s “More Than My Hometown” (November 2020), Chris Lane’s “Big, Big Plans” (December 2020) and Sam Hunt’s “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s” (May 2021).

The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard‘s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.

For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

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