Hot 100 First-Timers: LiAngelo Ball Makes His Chart Arrival With ‘Tweaker’
He joins Shaquille O'Neal and Damian Lillard as basketball stars with chart hits. The song also debuts this week on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 at No. 32.
LiAngelo Ball is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as his breakthrough viral hit, “Tweaker,” debuts at No. 29 on the Jan. 18-dated chart.
The song debuts almost entirely from its streaming sum: 12.4 million official streams in the U.S. in the Jan. 3-9 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also sold 2,000 downloads. The song concurrently tips off at No. 7 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 9 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Ball is one-third of the famed Ball brothers, the sons of Big Baller Brand co-founder Lavar Ball. Eldest son, Lonzo Ball, was the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls. The youngest son, LaMelo Ball, was the third pick in the 2020 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Charlotte Hornets — he was voted rookie of the year in 2021 and named an all-star in 2022. LiAngelo, the middle child, played basketball in Lithuania and Mexico, but hasn’t made the NBA. He is, however, the first of the siblings to score a Billboard chart hit.
LiAngelo released “Tweaker” on Jan. 3 via Born to Ball Music Group, and it almost immediately went viral. The song has already soundtracked nearly 30,000 clips on TikTok. His upward momentum even earned him a slot to perform at Rolling Loud California 2025 in March. The song also helped him, reportedly, sign a deal with Def Jam/Universal Music Group.
LiAngelo isn’t the first basketball star to reach Billboard’s charts. Shaquille O’Neal charted five Hot 100 hits in the 1990s: “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock),” with Fu-Schnickens (No. 39 peak in 1993); “(I Know I Got) Skillz” (No. 35, 1993); “I’m Outstanding” (No. 47, 1994); “Biological Didn’t Bother” (No. 78, 1995); and “Men of Steel,” with Ice Cube, B-Real, Peter Gunz and KRS-One (No. 82, 1997). He has also charted four albums on the Billboard 200: Shaq Diesel (No. 25, 1993); Shaq-Fu: Da Return (No. 67, 1994); You Can’t Stop the Reign (No. 82, 1996); and Respect (No. 58, 1998).
Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard, who raps under the name Dame D.O.L.L.A., has also charted an album on the Billboard 200: The Letter O reached No. 119 in 2016. During a postgame interview on Jan. 8 with ESPN’s Michael Eaves, Lillard co-signed LiAngelo’s “Tweaker.”
“I rock with it, man,” he said. “I’ve been hearing it a lot, it gives me that 2003, 2004 vibe. … And as an artist, you gotta respect other people’s artistry, and when something is going, it’s going. … I’m happy for him, it’s a big record, you’re hearing it everywhere.”
