The Artist That Broke Tool’s Record for Longest Song on Hot 100

This week, an artist broke the record most previously held by Tool for having the longest song to ever appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The artist who did it? André 3000, or André Benjamin, one half of hip-hop duo OutKast. This month, he released his first-ever solo album outside of the group, a new-age jazz effort titled New Blue Sun. The album’s spacey opening track, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” just debuted at No. 90 on the Hot 100. It’s 12 minutes, 20 seconds in length.

Before this, the longest to ever grace the Hot 100 was Tool’s 10-minute-plus titular epic “Fear Inoculum.” In 2019, it debuted at No. 93 on the Hot 100, as Revolver reported. On the Fear Inoculum album, it clocks in at 10 minutes and 21 seconds.

READ MORE: Tool Bassist Justin Chancellor Discusses the Band’s Future + Next Album

André 3000 Broke Tool’s Record

According to Stereogum, André 3000 and Tool are the first and second longest songs to appear on the Hot 100. No. 3 is Taylor Swift‘s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” at 10 minutes, 13 seconds; No. 4 is David Bowie‘s “Blackstar” at 9 minutes, 30 seconds.

The Hot 100, seen as the industry standard for charting popular songs in the U.S., tracks music from all genres and ranks them by streaming activity, radio play and sales data. Its top position is always occupied by a huge pop hit — as of this writing, the current No. 1 is hip-hop artist Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me.”

Listen to the Tool and André 3000 songs below.

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Tool, “Fear Inoculum”

André 3000, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time”