Industry News

If you guessed that Baby Carter would grow up to be a star because of her ubiquitous, famous parents, Jay-Z and Beyonce, you were probably right. If you anticipated her first song not being released until she was in her tweens, a la Willow Smith, you were dead wrong: Try within days of her birth.
 
Blue Ivy Carter, who was brought into the world Saturday (Jan. 7), is now the youngest person ever credited with gracing a Billboard chart, as Jay-Z's newly-recorded studio cut "Glory" - officially billed as "featuring B.I.C.," an abbreviation of Blue Ivy Carter - begins on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 74. (For historical purposes, this week's Billboard charts are dated Jan. 21).
 
Taking a page out of Stevie Wonder's proverbial book on how to be a sentimental musical dad, Jay-Z recorded his precious girl's first seconds of life - her breathing, cries and coos - just as Wonder did on his iconic song "Isn't She Lovely," written for his then-newborn daughter Aisha.
 
Why does B.I.C. claim the mark for youngest charted artist and not Wonder's girl? Two reasons: young Aisha was never officially credited on "Lovely" and the song did not reach a Billboard chart until Jan. 29, 1977 (when it entered Adult Contemporary at its No. 23 peak), almost two years after she was born. The previous youngest credited artist on a Billboard chart was five-year-old Jordy (Jordy Lemoine), who hit the Hot 100 in June of 1993 with "Dur Dur D'Etre Bebe! (It's Tough To Be A Baby!),'' Even younger, although not individually credited, was Cubie Burke of the Five Stairsteps, who actually became a sixth Stairstep at the tender age of 18 months and appeared on several singles beginning in 1967.
 
Blue Ivy Carter/B.I.C. also benefits from the era in which she born. Technology today allows an advantage in that Jay-Z was able to record and release "Glory" less than 48 after her birth. After almost 72 years of numbers, positions, peaks, lows, gains and debuts - the first national Billboard chart was published the week of July 27, 1940 - Blue Ivy has already broken a record.
 
"Glory" arrives as the week's highest new entry on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs with 1.7 million audience impressions on 54 radio stations, according to Nielsen BDS.
 
In a stroke of chart kismet, the song marks Jay-Z's 107th career entry on the survey, mirroring the Jan. 7 birth date - in other words (or, um, numbers), 1/07 - of Blue Ivy.
 
 
Check billboard.biz tomorrow (Jan. 12), when all rankings, including Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, will be refreshed, as they are each Thursday.