After five albums, a few Grammy awards and pretty much any other accolades an artist could hope for, T.I. finally has his first number one single as a lead artist. When Billboard Magazine publishes its Hot 100 chart Friday the “King of the South” will take the top spot with his latest single from the upcoming Paper Trail.
“Tip” has flirted with the top chart position before when both last year’s “Big Things Poppin’ (Do It)” and 2004’s “Bring ‘Em Out” peaked at the number 9 spot. T.I. was also featured on the Justin Timberlake single “My Love,” which held down the number one slot for a number of weeks in 2006.
After debuting at number 71 on the Hot 100 Chart, “Whatever You Like” was downloaded 205,000 times, making it the greatest leap any single has ever made to occupy the top chart position. The previous record holder was Maroon 5 with “Makes Me Wonder.”
While T.I.‘s camp has billed “Whatever You Like” as Paper Trail‘s first official single, Atlantic Records has purposely leaked other songs. “No Matter What” spent nine weeks on the R&B/Hip Hop chart and peaked at number 42. The lukewarm response may have been what caused the album’s release date to be moved from to Aug. 12 to Sept. 9. Another leaked recording entitled “Swagger Like Us,” which features Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne has also been making the rounds.
