A total of 130 tracks involving Canadian artists debuted on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 in 2020. Forty-eight of these made it into the Top 40, sixteen the Top 10, and six reached the top. Most of these were authored exclusively by main artist Canadians, while some were collaborations with a Canadian and foreign artist, and some by featured artist Canadians. The numbers are outlined in the table below.
TOP 100 | TOP 40 | TOP 10 | NO. 1 | |
ALL | 130 | 48 | 16 | 6 |
MAIN | 110 | 33 | 9 | 3 |
CO-MAIN | 9 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
FEATURED | 11 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
Canadian Artist Top 40 Hits
Below is a list of all 33 tracks by Canadian artists that debuted on the Hot 100 in 2020 and reached the Top 40.
TITLE | ARTIST | PEAK |
Laugh Now Cry Later | Drake | 1 |
Holy | Justin Bieber | 1 |
Monster | Shawn Mendes & Justin Bieber | 1 |
Toosie Slide | Drake | 2 |
Yummy | Justin Bieber | 3 |
Intentions | Justin Bieber | 4 |
Wonder | Shawn Mendes | 4 |
Pain 1993 | Drake | 7 |
You Broke Me First | Tate McRae | 8 |
Death Bed | Powfu | 11 |
Lean On Me | ArtistsCAN | 13 |
Chicago Freestyle | Drake | 13 |
In Your Eyes | The Weeknd | 13 |
After Hours | The Weeknd | 14 |
Forever | Justin Bieber | 20 |
Demons | Drake | 21 |
Tme Flies | Drake | 22 |
Stunnin’ | Curtis Waters ft. Harm Franklin | 25 |
Desires | Drake | 28 |
Alone Again | The Weeknd | 28 |
Not You Too | Drake | 29 |
Mine | Felix Cartal ft. Sophie Simmons | 29 |
Snowchild | The Weeknd | 32 |
Deep Pockets | Drake | 33 |
Scared to Live | The Weeknd | 33 |
What If I Told You That I Love You | Ali Gatie | 34 |
War | Drake | 34 |
Landed | Drake | 35 |
Hardest to Love | The Weeknd | 36 |
When to Say When | Drake | 38 |
Too Late | The Weeknd | 38 |
Ciel | Fouki ft. Alicia Moffet | 39 |
Aftertaste | Loud Luxury | 40 |
The Disappointing Prevalence of Tokenism
A glance at the list above makes it clear that Canadian bands are no longer a force on the charts, with no group making the cut; Loud Luxury is the only duo.
Foreign female soloists are embraced on the Canadian charts but homegrowners are not. Tate McRae was the only Canadian woman to make the Top 40 in 2020, and she is the only one to score a Top 10 hit in six years (after her fellow Calgarian Kiesza did so in 2014). As we reported earlier (Link), a Canadian female soloist has not scored a number one hit since Carly Rae Jepsen eight years ago.
“Ciel” by FouKi is the only French language track to appear in the Top 40 through the year, with Francophobia still hamstringing English language conducted radio stations across Canada who are more than happy to play songs in Spanish and Korean but not in the country’s other official language of French.
Main Artists That Made the Top 40
Although there were 33 Top 40 hits, these were authored by only 12 artists, as multiple hits were scored by A-listers like Drake, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and Shawn Mendes. Below is a list of the artists whose tracks made the Top 40 in 2020 with the number of entries in parentheses. Note that these do not add up to 33, as Bieber and Mendes scored a hit as a collaboration.
Ali Gatie (1)
ArtistsCAN (1)
Curtis Waters (1)
Drake (12)
Felix Cartal (1)
Fouki (1)
Justin Bieber (5)
Loud Luxury (1)
Powfu (1)
Shawn Mendes (2)
Tate McRae (1)
The Weeknd (7)
It is important to note that of the 12 artists, nine are male soloists. As mentioned previously, no band made the Top 40, with Loud Luxury being the only duo. Tate McRae was the only female soloist. ArtistsCAN was a collective of Canadian artists who released a cover of “Lean on Me” as a charity single.
Three Canadian artists piggy backed into the Top 40 with features in entries authored by their fellow countrymen: Alicia Moffet with FouKi, Harm Franklin with Curtis Waters, and AmeriCanadian Sophie Simmons with Felix Cartal.
Top 40 Hits Partially Credited to Canadians
Below is a list of the 15 tracks partially credited to Canadians that debuted in 2020 and reached the Top 40 within the year. Some of these are collaborations of Canadians with foreign artists and some are entries by foreign artists that feature Canadians.
TITLE | ARTIST | PEAK |
Popstar | DJ Khaled ft. Drake | 1 |
Stuck with U | Justin Bieber & Ariana Grande | 1 |
Lonely | Justin Bieber & Benny Blanco | 1 |
Greece | DJ Khaled ft. Drake | 3 |
Life Is Good | Future ft. Drake | 3 |
Smile | The Weeknd & Juice WRLD | 7 |
Mr. Right Now | 21 Savage & Metro Boomin ft. Drake | 9 |
D4L | Drake, Future & Young Thug | 17 |
Hawai | Maluma & The Weeknd | 21 |
Over Now | Calvin Harris x The Weeknd | 22 |
Off the Table | Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd | 27 |
Outta Time | Bryson Tiller ft. Drake | 31 |
You’re Mines Still | Yung Bleu ft. Drake | 36 |
Only You Freestyle | Headie One ft. Drake | 37 |
Believe It | PartyNextDoor & Rihanna | 39 |
2020 Hits with Prior Debuts
Find below Top 40 and Franco Songs that debuted on the charts prior to 2020 and peaked in 2020, with the peak position next to the # symbol and year it debuted on the charts in parentheses. Note that the song may have been released prior to the year it debuted on the charts
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas – Michael Buble #4 (2011)
L’amerique pleure – Les Cowboys Fringants #62 (2019)
Coton Ouate – Bleu Jeans Bleu #52 (2019)
If the World Was Ending – JP Saxe #13 (2019)
Blinding Lights – The Weeknd #1 (2019)
Holly Jolly Christmas – Michael Buble #25 (2019)
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