Doja Cat Earns Her First Top 20 Hit With ‘Say So’

Doja Cat might just be having the best week of her career.

The 24-year-old singer and rapper, born Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini, earns her first Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 this week with “Say So,” which leaps from No. 33 to No. 16. The disco-inspired pop anthem serves as a single off Doja Cat’s second studio album, Hot Pink, which she released in November. 

“Say So” has rapidly climbed the charts over the last several weeks thanks to a viral dance challenge created by TikTok user Haley Sharpe, who has over 1.3 million followers on the video app. Doja Cat pays homage to Sharpe’s dance in the retro music video for “Say So,” busting out the routine alongside a team of backup dancers. Sharpe appears briefly in the video as well, flexing her now-world-renowned moves at a disco. 

The viral success of “Say So” has translated into huge streaming numbers. On Monday, the song reached a new peak of No. 7 on the global Spotify chart with 3.554 million streams, while it climbed to No. 11 on the U.S. chart with 1.056 million streams. The single’s meteoric rise has also boosted Hot Pink, which reaches a new peak of No. 17 on this week’s Billboard 200.

“Say So” is not Doja Cat’s first brush with viral fame. She first achieved meme status in August of 2018 with the affably ridiculous “Mooo!” video, in which she dons a cow print outfit, dances in front of a green screen and, in one particularly memorable scene, shoves french fries up her nose. The video earned praise from the likes of Chance the Rapper and Katy Perry and has racked up 67 million YouTube views.

“Mooo!” appeared on the deluxe edition of Doja Cat’s debut album, Amala, which she originally dropped in March of 2018 and re-released the following year. The Amala deluxe edition also contained “Juicy,” which she repurposed as the first single off Hot Pink. It fell just short of the Top 40, peaking at No. 41 on the Hot 100—a career high at the time, but not anymore.

The rapid ascension of “Say So” recalls another 2020 success story: Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” which became the subject of a viral TikTok video and has now spent nine weeks atop the Hot 100. As Doja Cat’s latest hit continues to climb the Billboard and Spotify charts, it could give Ricch a run for his money. 

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