SZA’s final weekend of 2017 ends with a celebration, as the Top Dawg Entertainment songstress earns her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart with “The Weekend.”
It’s a historic win for the soulful songbird and for women in R&B. With this feat, she becomes the first woman to top the chart since Rihanna did it with “Needed Me” in October 2016.
Much of the song’s ascent comes from digital sales, according to Billboard. The rise arrives on the heels of her “Saturday Night Live” appearance, where she performed “The Weekend,” and it also climbs to the top just one week after SZA released the Solange-directed music video.
Initially, the song was simply an album cut off SZA’s acclaimed debut album Ctrl, but “The Weekend” became a runaway smash. It even went platinum without being released as an official single. “YO YALL TOOK A SONG THT WASNT A FUCKING SINGLE AND MADE IT PLATINUM!!!??” tweeted SZA. “AHH I LOVE U MORE THAN CHEESE! THANK U 4 THE BEST BDAY GIFT EVER.”

YO YALL TOOK A SONG THT WASNT A FUCKING SINGLE AND MADE IT PLATINUM!!!??AHH I LOVE U MORE THAN CHEESE!THANK U 4 THE BEST BDAY GIFT EVER 🙏🏾💕💗 https://t.co/9ruKzuu05c

— SZA (@sza) November 9, 2017

In November, SZA was nominated for five Grammys, including Best New Artist, Best R&B Performance (“The Weekend”), Best R&B Song (“Supermodel”), Best Urban Contemporary Album (Ctrl), and Best Rap/Sung Performance (“Love Galore” featuring Travis Scott).
Celebrating the Grammy nods and her career thus far, SZA beamed on Instagram. “This entire thing puts my wildest dreams to shame. I️ dunno what to say cause I️ dunno how to accept its even happening to me,” she wrote. “lol ? I’ve never won anything in my life even until this week (THANK YOU SOULTRAIN AWARDS!!) it all just feels strange somehow BUT IM SO OVERWHELMINGLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS STRANGENESS!!”