Alicia Keys and Jay-Z debut “Empire State of Mind” on both of Billboard’s global charts long after it conquered rankings like the Billboard Hot 100. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 12: Alicia Keys attends the 2019 Billboard Women In Music at Hollywood Palladium on December 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
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By the time she teamed up with Jay-Z to release “Empire State of Mind,” Alicia Keys had already conquered the Billboard Hot 100 several times. She did so with her breakout single “Fallin'” nearly a decade prior, and in the years following that success, she’d racked up multiple top 10s and several additional champions.
“Empire State of Mind,” however, has proved to be perhaps Keys’ enduring smash, the one that she may never be able to escape, not that she’s likely trying to. The cut served as a single from Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 album, which arrived in September 2009. Ever since it arrived, the song has been regarded as an anthem for New York City.
Keys recently showed up to perform the track at City Hall in the metropolis to congratulate NYC on its Knicks victory. Fittingly, “Empire State of Mind” returns to multiple Billboard charts, and even manages to debut on several it has never reached before.
Alicia Keys Debuts “Empire State of Mind” Globally
Keys scores a new win on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. this time around. “Empire State of Mind” starts at No. 127 on the first tally and No. 155 on the latter roster. The Billboard Global 200 methodology does include American consumption, while the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. does not, which helps explain why the single performs so much better on the first of the pair of rankings.
Alicia Keys Scores Her Third Worldwide Win
Keys now counts three appearances on the Billboard Global 200, with “Empire State of Mind” narrowly standing out as her worst performer. It beats the No. 123 peak of “My Boo” by slipping in four spaces further down. “City of Gods,” a collaboration with both Fivio Foreign and Ye – then known as Kanye West – topped out at No. 43.
“My Boo” has yet to land on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. On that roster, “City of Gods” ranks as Keys’ highest-ranking win. The collaboration debuted at No. 137 in February 2022 and held on for two weeks.
Jay-Z Scores Another Global Hit as Well
Jay-Z does not release music as frequently as he used to – it’s been nearly a decade since his last solo full-length 4:44 – but he has proved more successful than Keys on the two worldwide rosters. “Empire State of Mind” is his fifth smash to make it to the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and his fourth highest-rising, beating only “Crazy in Love,” a duet with his wife Beyoncé.
The rapper has now racked up nine appearances on the Billboard Global 200. “Empire State of Mind” sits somewhere in the middle, sandwiched between “What It Feels Like,” fronted by Nipsey Hussle, and “Run This Town,” another single from The Blueprint 3, which credits both Rihanna and Ye.
“Empire State of Mind” Returns as a Bestseller in America
At the same time that “Empire State of Mind” finally reaches both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S., the single returns to a pair of American tallies, and it’s a top 10 smash on both of them. “Empire State of Mind” reenters the Rap Digital Song Sales chart at No. 4, and it settles at No. 6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. In the past, it has ruled both of those rundowns and has spent more than a year as a bestseller.
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