Blue Ivy Carter Becomes Youngest Person Ever to Appear on a Billboard Chart
…Speechless… No Beyonce’
If you guessed that Baby Carter would grow up to be a star because of her ubiquitous, famous parents, Jay-Z and Beyonce, you were probably right. If you anticipated her first song not being released until she was in her tweens, a la Willow Smith, you were dead wrong: Try within days of her birth.
Blue Ivy Carter, who was brought into the world Saturday (Jan. 7), is now the youngest person ever credited with gracing a Billboard chart, as Jay-Z’s newly-recorded studio cut “Glory” – officially billed as “featuring B.I.C.,” an abbreviation of Blue Ivy Carter – begins on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 74. (For historical purposes, this week’s Billboard charts are dated Jan. 21).
Taking a page out of Stevie Wonder’s proverbial book on how to be a sentimental musical dad, Jay-Z recorded his precious girl’s first seconds of life – her breathing, cries and coos – just as Wonder did on his iconic song “Isn’t She Lovely,” written for his then-newborn daughter Aisha.
Why does B.I.C. claim the mark for youngest charted artist and not Wonder’s girl? Two reasons: young Aisha was never officially credited on “Lovely” and the song did not reach a Billboard chart until Jan. 29, 1977 (when it entered Adult Contemporary at its No. 23 peak), almost two years after she was born. The previous youngest credited artist on a Billboard chart was five-year-old Jordy (Jordy Lemoine), who hit the Hot 100 in June of 1993 with “Dur Dur D’Etre Bebe! (It’s Tough To Be A Baby!),” Even younger, although not individually credited, was Cubie Burke of the Five Stairsteps, who actually became a sixth Stairstep at the tender age of 18 months and appeared on several singles beginning in 1967.
Blue Ivy Carter/B.I.C. also benefits from the era in which she born. Technology today allows an advantage in that Jay-Z was able to record and release “Glory” less than 48 after her birth. After almost 72 years of numbers, positions, peaks, lows, gains and debuts – the first national Billboard chart was published the week of July 27, 1940 – Blue Ivy has already broken a record.
“Glory” arrives as the week’s highest new entry on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs with 1.7 million audience impressions on 54 radio stations, according to Nielsen BDS.
In a stroke of chart kismet, the song marks Jay-Z’s 107th career entry on the survey, mirroring the Jan. 7 birth date – in other words (or, um, numbers), 1/07 – of Blue Ivy.
Check billboard.biz tomorrow (Jan. 12), when all rankings, including Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, will be refreshed, as they are each Thursday.
One thing’s clear: Nielsen Soundscan doesn’t count every last album sale. That would be impossible. But are they somehow missing this vast number of unsigned and indie albums (and singles), and grossly skewing our picture of who’s really winning?
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