Ariana Grande’s current single “The Boy is Mine” is bigger than ever this week. The tune soars up the Billboard charts this frame thanks to the recent release of a remix featuring two of the biggest stars in R&B history, Brandy and Monica. The women scored a generation-defining smash in the ‘90s with their own “The Boy is Mine,” and after they joined Grande on her updated cut, all three musicians score a hit.
Brandy and Monica are officially credited on “The Boy is Mine” on just one Billboard chart. The two R&B powerhouses join Grande on the tune on the Digital Song Sales ranking, which looks only at the bestselling tracks in the U.S. The remixed take featuring all three was the top-selling of all the editions, so it’s the one that’s included–with all the names featured.
This week, “The Boy is Mine” debuts at No. 21 on the Digital Song Sales chart. That’s a new high point for both Brandy and Monica, and it brings both singers back to the all-genre list for the first time in years.
For Brandy, “The Boy is Mine” only barely becomes her highest-rising win. In 2008, she sent her own “Right Here (Departed)” to No. 26. So far, she’s only placed a pair of cuts on the Digital Song Sales list.
Monica has now scored a trio of wins on the same ranking. Before “The Boy is Mine” came along, she’d climbed as high as No. 32 back in 2020. That year, she recruited rapper Lil Baby for the tune “Trenches,” which marked her first smash on the roster in a decade.
Grande, meanwhile, is far more successful on the Digital Song Sales chart. Her heyday came long after both Brandy and Monica’s, which largely preceded iTunes and rankings like this one. She’s now racked up 59 hits on the tally, including nine No. 1s and 29 top 10s.
Luminate reports that the cut sold nearly 3,000 copies in the tracking week that included the release of the exciting remix. That proved to be a large enough sum for the tune to finally hit the Digital Song Sales chart, which it’s never reached before. At the same time, the original version returns to the Streaming Songs list at No. 30 and lifts from No. 74 to No. 29 on the Hot 100.