Doja Cat‘s Scarlet 2 CLAUDE has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (April 5) on Billboard, choosing the deluxe edition of the 28-year-old superstar rapper’s fourth studio album as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Scarlet 2 CLAUDE brought in nearly 70% of the vote, beating out new music by J. Cole (Might Delete Later), Vampire Weekend (Only God Was Above Us), Young Miko, (att.), Kehlani (“After Hours”), Bryson Tiller (Bryson Tiller), and others.
The expanded version of Scarlet — named after the villainous character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame — features seven new tracks: “Masc,” “Acknowledge Me,” “Head High,” “Gang,” “Rider,” “Urrrge” and “Hungry.”
“I feel like it connects to the story of ‘Scarlet’ in some way,” Doja explained on The Therapy Gecko Podcast. “And if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand the whole connection. There’s a control aspect. He just abuses his power and his control and is dogmatic and a total c—.”
Doja launched the original edition Scarlet in June with the release of “Attention,” which debuted and peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The accompanying music video — which previewed the era’s overarching horror aesthetic — picked up six nominations at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, ultimately winning best art direction. “Paint the Town Red,” the record’s first radio single, soon followed with a catchy hook and a bouncy Dionne Warwick-sampling beat. The song became Doja’s second Hot 100 No. 1 — her first unaccompanied — becoming the first hip-hop song to reach the top of the ranking in 2023.
Trailing behind Scarlet 2 CLAUDE on the poll is the “other” category, which brought in 14% of the vote. Placing third was J. Cole’s new surprise project Might Delete Later, which pulled in 5% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.