Robert Smith debuts on Hot 100 as a solo artist, reaching No. 17 on June 27

Robert Smith’s Hot 100 moment just shifted gears. For the first time in his career, he shows up on Billboard’s Hot 100 billed as a solo artist, not as the frontman of The Cure, thanks to his guest appearance on Olivia Rodrigo’s “What’s Wrong With Me.” The track debuts at No. 17 on the Hot 100 dated June 27, with 15.5 million official U.S. streams in its opening week, according to Luminate.

This is not a trivia win for music nerds. Chart credit and billing drive downstream behaviors, from how playlists get formatted to how analytics and marketing teams talk about “who is the brand attached to the track.” In other words, Rodrigo’s collaboration didn’t just move the needle for one song. It rewrote the chart narrative for Smith, who has already charted heavily for decades as The Cure’s lead.

To understand why this solo-billing milestone is bigger than it sounds, it helps to look at Smith’s chart history. Billboard surveys The Cure’s first appearance in July 1980 after the band formed in 1976. While Smith has charted extensively as a frontman, “What’s Wrong With Me” is his first appearance on the Hot 100 billed as a solo artist. The Cure, as a group, charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in 1986-96, led by “Love Song,” which reached No. 2 in 1989. The band’s full run on the Hot 100 across those years includes: No. 18 “Friday I’m in Love” (Aug. 8, 1992); No. 40 “Just Like Heaven” (Jan. 9, 1988); No. 42 “High” (May 2, 1992); No. 44 “The 13th” (May 11, 1996); No. 46 “Fascination Street” (June 17, 1989); No. 54 “Why Can’t I Be You?” (Aug. 8, 1987); No. 58 “Mint Car” (July 20, 1996); No. 65 “Hot Hot Hot!!!” (April 9, 1988); No. 71 “Pictures of You” (May 19, 1990); No. 72 “Never Enough” (Nov. 17, 1990); No. 74 “Lullaby” (Dec. 16, 1989); No. 97 “Close to Me” (Jan. 26, 1991); and No. 99 “In Between Days” (Feb. 15, 1986).

And yes, charting outside the Hot 100 has been part of the picture too. Smith has twice reached Billboard’s charts outside of The Cure. In 2004, Junior Jack’s “Da Hype,” featuring Smith, spent a week at No. 1 on the currently inactive Dance Club Songs chart. In 2011, Crystal Castles’ “Not in Love,” featuring Smith, hit No. 24 on Alternative Airplay. So the pattern is clear: Smith’s voice shows up in cross-genre moments. What changed this time is the specific labeling and the Hot 100 billing that finally credits him on the chart as an individual.

Rodrigo, meanwhile, is in a rare phase where collabs are not just marketing. They are chart physics. “What’s Wrong With Me” arrived June 12 on Rodrigo’s third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which opens at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 485,000 equivalent album units. That opening week is described as the second-largest week of 2026, only behind the opening week of BTS’ ARIRANG. Within that launch context, the guest performance lands as a double engine: it drives streaming behavior for the single while also feeding the album release flywheel.

For label and boardroom decision-makers, the second-order implication is about asset usage. When an artist with deep catalog power attaches to a current pop superstar project, the value isn’t only in press. It shows up in measurable chart outcomes: the opening-week stream count (15.5 million official U.S. streams) and the resulting debut position (No. 17) as well as the broader album success (No. 1 on the Billboard 200). This is especially relevant for executives managing legacy catalogs and rights portfolios, where the question is always the same: can you reactivate older audiences without losing current momentum?

If you want a sanity check that fan dynamics and industry attention were already primed, Billboard points to Rodrigo’s longstanding public affinity for The Cure. She has frequently cited The Cure among her favorite artists, and fans speculated about a potential collaboration after the pair shared the stage during her headlining set at Glastonbury last year. Ahead of the new album’s release, Rodrigo reflected on the collaboration in a handwritten letter shared through her fan email newsletter. In that letter, she wrote, “I’ve been insanely excited to tell you guys about this song & it’s been so hard to keep it a secret!” She added, “It’s the first feature I’ve ever done on an album and I actually cannot believe I got to do it with Robert Smith!” She continued, “Robert has been soundtracking my life for as long as I can remember. He has written some of my favorite songs of all time. His music moves me & inspires me to a degree that is hard to put into words. I’ve also been lucky enough to spend time with him over the last year & experience first hand his generosity & graciousness.”

Finally, zoom out to The Cure’s broader Billboard footprint. The group, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, has enjoyed even greater success on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, sending 17 songs onto the ranking. Four of those hit No. 1: “Fascination Street,” “Never Enough,” “High” and “Friday I’m in Love.” The Cure returned to the chart in 2024 with “A Fragile Thing,” reaching No. 14 and becoming the band’s first entry on the ranking in 16 years. So Smith’s solo Hot 100 debut is not a one-off surprise. It is the latest proof that legacy artists can still translate into mainstream chart outcomes when the incentives, timing, and audience overlap line up.

Strategically, executives watching the modern hit machine should take the signal: star collaborations can do real work beyond brand adjacency. In this case, it even changed how Billboard credits an artist. If your catalog, your roster, or your go-to-market strategy depends on where credit lands and who gets counted, this is the kind of chart event that can rewrite internal narratives fast.