Mumford & Sons and Hozier Make Fastest Flight to No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay This Year

Mumford & Sons and Hozier’s “Rubber Band Man” completes a speedy four-week trip to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, rocketing six spots to the top of the Nov. 29-dated list.

The collaboration completes the fastest rise to No. 1 since The Black Keys’ “Beautiful People (Stay High)” took four frames to reign in February 2024.

Hozier earns his quickest coronation, exceeding the five weeks it took for his “Too Sweet” last year and the Mavis Staples-featuring “Nina Cried Power” in 2018. As for Mumford & Sons’ best, “I Will Wait” and “Believe” each needed only three weeks to lead in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

Hozier now boasts eight No. 1s. Mumford & Sons nab their sixth.

Most No. 1s, Adult Alternative Airplay:

14, U2

13, Coldplay

11, Dave Matthews (solo and with Dave Matthews Band)

11, Jack Johnson

9, The Black Keys

8, Death Cab for Cutie

8, Hozier

8, John Mayer

8, The Lumineers

“Rubber Band Man” is Hozier’s sixth No. 1 in a row, tying him with U2 for the longest streak in the chart’s nearly 30-year history. His run began in 2023 with “Eat Your Young.” U2 linked its six straight leaders in 2001-05.

Mumford & Sons last topped Adult Alternative Airplay with their Pharrell Williams collaboration “Good People” in April 2024. (In between, they hit Nos. 2 and 3 with “Rushmere” and “Caroline,” respectively.)

Concurrently, “Rubber Band Man” leaps 16-10 on Alternative Airplay, becoming Mumford & Sons’ 12th top 10 and Hozier’s third. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song holds at its No. 7 best with 3.6 million audience impressions in the week ending Nov. 20, a gain of 7%, according to Luminate.

The track placed at No. 28 on the most recently published, multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs tally (dated Nov. 22, reflecting data Nov. 7-13). In addition to its radio airplay, it drew 1.6 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads in that span.

“Rubber Band Man” is the lead single from Prizefighter, Mumford & Sons’ sixth studio album, due Feb. 13, 2026. Their LP Rushmere debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart this April and has earned 98,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Billboard charts dated Nov. 29 will update Tuesday, Nov. 25, on Billboard.com.