After 12 years of appearing on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, Michael Kiwanuka achieves his first No. 1, as “Floating Parade” marches to the top of the tally dated Sept. 28.
The British singer-songwriter and producer first reached the chart with “I’m Getting Ready,” which peaked at No. 8 in October 2012. He logged his previous best with “Hero,” a No. 3-peaking track in March 2020. He has earned seven career top 10s, including an ongoing streak of five in a row dating to “Love & Hate” in 2017.
Kiwanuka’s dozen-year wait for his first No. 1 marks the longest on Adult Alternative Airplay since an exceptionally fab break: The Beatles went a record 27 years, 10 months and two weeks between “Free as a Bird,” which ranked on the inaugural list in January 1996, and the coronation of “Now and Then” in December 2023.
Kiwanuka is also the first artist to claim a maiden Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 since Pharrell Williams, the co-lead act alongside Mumford & Sons on “Good People,” in April. Prior to Smith, Noah Kahan last did so with no accompanying acts, with “Dial Drunk” in September 2023.
Concurrently, “Floating Parade” rises 26-25 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 1.2 million audience impressions, up 4%, in the week ending Sept. 19, according to Luminate. It’s Kiwanuka’s highest-charting song on the list, having surpassed the No. 42 high of “Rolling” in 2020.
“Floating Parade” is the lead single from Small Changes, Kiwanuka’s fourth studio album, due Nov. 15. Predecessor Kiwanuka peaked at No. 3 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart in November 2019 and has earned 100,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Sept. 28 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
