In March, it looked like Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak might’ve missed their best shot at a No. 1 for the lead single from their joint Silk Sonic project, when “Leave the Door Open” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, below the three tracks from Drake’s Scary Hours 2 song pack.
But a month later, the song has proven it didn’t waste its only chance in that debut week. After climbing to No. 2 a few weeks ago, the song finally jumps to No. 1 in its fifth week on its listing — helped by top-five performance in all three component metrics of radio, sales, and streams, and given an extra boost by a pair of CD single versions of the track that shipped to consumers during the prior chart week.
What does the song’s performance mean for the upcoming An Evening With Silk Sonic full-length project? And who is the No. 1 more meaningful for, Mars or .Paak? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. Four weeks ago in this column, we debated whether or not Silk Sonic had made a bad move by releasing “Leave the Door Open” the same week as Drake’s Scary Hours 2 three-pack, which occupied all the top three spots on the Hot 100 that week and left Silk Sonic to debut at No. 4. On a scale of 1-10, how surprised are you that it’s turned out to be a mostly moot point, as “Door” has climbed to No. 1 in its fifth week?
Rania Aniftos: Around a 3. Despite Drake’s chart takeover last month, Bruno and Anderson have been steadily continuing to promote “Leave the Door Open” in creative, funny ways – whether it be a Fortnite dance, a live version of the song or sassy social media posts. They’ve kept “Leave the Door Open” fun, relevant and in our heads, and I’m not too surprised that as a result, the song naturally climbed up the Hot 100.
Katie Atkinson: 1. Surprisingly for a modern artist who now has eight Hot 100 chart-toppers, Bruno Mars has never once debuted at No. 1. So while I expect him to find his way to the top, I don’t expect him to start there. (Until he eventually does debut at No. 1… and that probably won’t really surprise me either.)
Carl Lamarre: Five. I’m more surprised that Drizzy’s Hot 100 trifecta deflated so quickly versus Silk’s ascension to the summit. Those buttery vocals on “Leave The Door Open” were too irresistible to pass up. Their climb was inevitable. The Silk Gang nimbly threaded a polished ’70s soundscape from top to bottom and, because of that, are more than deserving of this feat.
Joe Lynch: Ah yes, I remember that column as if it were 28 days ago. My surprise registers at a 2.5 here – in my blurb from that column, I predicted an eventual No. 1 for Silk Sonic, and here we are. I’m not patting myself on the back, though: A kid in a red-orange puffer vest time travelled to give me a heads up on this one.
Andrew Unterberger: I’ll say 7. I just didn’t think “Leave the Door Open” was commercial enough for 2021 to have the juice to keep growing after the first couple weeks. But continuing to doubt Bruno Mars on the charts is only slightly less stupid than continuing to doubt Drake, so I really have no one but myself to blame for still being surprised at this point.
