Pooh Shiesty enjoys an immediate welcome reception on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as he collects his first No. 1 with the debut of “FDO” atop the list dated Dec. 27. The comeback single is the 25-year-old rapper’s first track since his release from prison in October after serving three years behind bars of a five-year sentence.
For its chart-topping debut, “FDO,” released via 1017 Global/Atlantic Records, registered 23 million official streams, 1,000 digital downloads and 392,000 audience impressions in the United States for the tracking week of Dec. 12-18, according to Luminate. Thanks to those totals in the respective metrics, “FDO” launches at No. 4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart and No. 6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. (Its first-week radio total places it below the threshold for R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, as is the norm for many new releases until airplay promotion campaigns pick up in later weeks.)
With “FDO,” Pooh Shiesty bags his first Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart No. 1 and surpasses his previous career best of No. 6, which he achieved with his first pair of entries. His own “Back in Blood,” featuring Lil Durk, peaked at the position in March 2021, and he equaled the mark the following month with a feature on Spotemgottem’s “Beat Box.” The new champ is Pooh Shiesty’s first appearance on the chart since his guest spot on Lil Baby’s “Shiest Talk,” which reached No. 26 in October 2022.
Elsewhere, “FDO” storms in atop the Hot Rap Songs chart, securing the Memphis, Tenn. rapper’s first leader and outdoing the No. 4 high of “Beat Box.” It also opens at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, notably, with 17 Christmas or holiday-themed tracks above it.
“‘FDO,’ I had to come with this particular song because it’s like the message,” Pooh Shiesty told XXL earlier this month. “It fit around the ‘I’m back’ typa vibe. The thought process on it, I really was getting it together as I was in there doing my time. But I couldn’t finish it because I’m getting new experiences and I’m going through new things. So, like I wrapped it up first day in the studio, with everything, the whole coming home experience. I couldn’t rap in the song on how my welcome was when I came home… I did it when I came home and everything just hit me and it came out perfect.”
Activity from “FDO” powers Pooh Shiesty onto the Billboard Artist 100 for the first time since June 2021. He returns at No. 77 on the ranking, which measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption – album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming – to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of the most popular artists. His career high remains his No. 8 result in February 2021 in the wake of his Shiesty Season album’s release.
