Two 1990s mainstay acts reach the July 5-dated Billboard charts, one with an update of a classic tune from that era, the other with one of those classics itself.
Hootie & The Blowfish appear on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in nearly 29 years on the co-billed “Bottle Rockets” alongside Scotty McCreery, while Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” debuts at No. 50 on the Streaming Songs chart.
First, Hootie. The Darius Rucker-fronted band racked up six Hot 100 entries between 1994 and 1996, paced by the No. 6-peaking “Only Wanna Be With You.” One of those songs, the group’s breakthrough “Hold My Hand” (No. 10, 1995), contributes to “Bottle Rockets,” as the band convened to provide new vocals and instrumentation on its sections, during which the original’s chorus is woven into that of “Bottle Rockets.”
“Bottle Rockets,” released May 15, debuts at No. 80 on the Hot 100 thanks to 4.4 million official U.S. streams, 9.5 million radio audience impressions and 2,000 downloads sold in the week ending June 26, according to Luminate. That equates to a new high of No. 26 on Hot Country Songs.
So far, the song has reached a No. 20 best on Country Airplay, the band’s top rank, having eclipsed the No. 30 peak of “Hold On” in 2019. As a solo act, Rucker has 23 Country Airplay appearances, including nine No. 1s, since 2008. 2011 American Idol winner McCreery boasts five rulers.
As for Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris” makes its first appearance on the all-genre, streaming-specific Streaming Songs chart, which began in 2013. Its No. 50 debut comes from 7.8 million streams in the June 20-26 tracking week.
Why now? The streaming success of “Iris” isn’t completely out of nowhere — the song is just riding a new wave of popularity. In its original run, the song peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100 in 1998 and ruled Alternative Airplay, Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay, as well as the all-format Radio Songs chart, where it led for 18 weeks, still the most for a song by a group.
In 2020, Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers’ cover of “Iris” topped multiple sales charts and hit the Hot 100, while a version by mgk and Julia Wolf charted earlier this year.
The original first reached Rock Streaming Songs in 2022 and has spent 65 weeks on the tally. The song re-entered the Aug. 31, 2024-dated survey and has not fallen off since, spending the last four weeks and five of the last six in the top 10.
The track’s 2024 growth coincided with its synch in the blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, released last July. It’s stuck around, though, via not only its film exposure and newcomers to the band’s discography but also attention on shortform video platforms such as TikTok. More recently, the band performed “Iris” at Demi Lovato’s wedding in May, accompanying the newly married couple’s first dance.
“Iris” is one of a handful of non-holiday songs released in the 1990s or earlier to debut on Streaming Songs. The last to do so? Jimmy Buffett’s 1977 standard “Margaritaville,” which appeared at No. 41 in September 2023 following the singer’s death. Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” (1986) preceded it in summer 2022 after being heard in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Goo Goo Dolls’ most recent LP, Chaos in Bloom, was released in 2022, while Hootie & the Blowfish’s Imperfect Circle arrived in 2019.
