Cage the Elephant’s “Beaches in Tennessee” rises to No. 1 on both Billboard’s Alternative Airplay and Adult Alternative Airplay charts (dated Sept. 19).
The song lifts two places on Alternative Airplay, where it’s the band’s 14th leader. Cage the Elephant ties Linkin Park and Twenty One Pilots for the second-most No. 1s in the chart’s 38-year history, trailing only Red Hot Chili Peppers (15).
Most Alternative Airplay No. 1s
15, Red Hot Chili Peppers
14, Cage the Elephant
14, Linkin Park
14, Twenty One Pilots
13, Green Day
12, Foo Fighters
8, The Black Keys
8, U2
8, Weezer
“Beaches in Tennessee” gives Cage the Elephant an Alternative Airplay No. 1 for a third consecutive calendar year, becoming the group’s longest such streak. The band last topped the chart in April 2025 with “Metaverse,” following two No. 1s in 2024: “Rainbow” and “Neon Pill.”
On Adult Alternative Airplay, “Beaches in Tennessee” rises a spot to No. 1 with a 1% gain in plays, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s eighth leader at the format and its first since “Rainbow” in September 2024.
With eight No. 1s, Cage the Elephant ties for the seventh-most over the chart’s 30-year history.
Most Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1s
14, U2
13, Coldplay
11, Jack Johnson
11, Dave Matthews Band/Dave Matthews
9, The Black Keys
9, Death Cab for Cutie
8, Cage the Elephant
8, Hozier
8, The Lumineers
8, John Mayer
“Beaches in Tennessee” also holds at its No. 14 high on Mainstream Rock Airplay with a 2% gain in plays. It’s the band’s highest-charting song at the format since “Ready to Let Go” in 2019 (No. 12 peak).
“Beaches in Tennessee” is Cage the Elephant’s first release since signing with Big Loud Rock in July, following the band’s departure from longtime label home RCA Records.
Upon announcing the signing and releasing the single, lead singer Matt Shultz explained that “Beaches in Tennessee” reflects on his past mental health struggles. “It’s no secret that I went through a mental health crisis a few years back; this song for me symbolizes me finally being able to move past it,” Shultz said. “I was hospitalized for nearly three months. The song addresses it by creating a fictionalized account of it. It was my attempt at reclaiming the ability to write about something serious that happened in my life, from a place of genuine experience.
“There’s a saying, ‘There’s nothing better than a poor Christmas,’ ” Shultz continued. “It’s because you learn to make the most of what you have and appreciate it. Having gone through what I did, I’m grateful to have the perspective that I have now. The experience gave me a greater appreciation for my life when I came out on the other side. I’m thankful for where I’m at now in this new chapter. As a band, we were able to reclaim the ability to write a song rooted in a difficult and turbulent real-life event, but do it in a lighthearted way. I hope it helps someone else the way it helped me.”
“Beaches in Tennessee” also helps continue a banner year for Big Loud Rock, the rock/alternative imprint of Big Loud Records that launched in 2021. The single is Big Loud Rock’s third Alternative Airplay No. 1 of 2026, following Edgehill’s “Doubletake” in April and Dexter and the Moonrocks’ “Freakin’ Out” in June. The label generated one prior No. 1, via Dexter and the Moonrocks’ eight-week leader “Sad in Carolina” in 2024.
The new Adult Alternative Airplay leader is also the first No. 1 for any Big Loud Records artist. The label previously logged one top 10, with Kashus Culpepper’s “Believe” (No. 9, last December).
“Beaches in Tennessee” is slated to appear on Cage the Elephant’s forthcoming seventh studio album, though its title and release date have not yet been announced. New track “Dying in Reverse” arrived Sept. 10, with the group set to embark on its Dying in Reverse European tour early next year.
