Ella Mai has gained the top spot on R&B radio with “DFMU” off her sophomore album, Heart On My Sleeve. The recognition marks her first single to hit No. 1 during this album cycle and her fourth overall.
Mai last topped R&B radio in June 2020 with Usher and their certified-gold “Don’t Waste My Time.” It produced the same result on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart.
In 2018, Mai topped R&B radio for the first time with her 7x multi-platinum smash “Boo’d Up.” The Grammy-winning bop appeared on her self-titled debut album.
Circling back to “DFMU,” the second single from Mai’s recent album, has more than 16 million streams on Spotify. In May, she performed “DFMU” and “Leave You Alone” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Mai’s Heart On My Sleeve debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart. She recently supported it at the Strawberries & Creem Festival. She’ll continue to promote the album when she hits the stage at the 2022 BET Awards. The ceremony takes place Sunday, June 26, at 8 p.m. ET.
Later this fall, Mai will join Mary J. Blige on her Good Morning Gorgeous Tour as a special guest, along with Queen Naija.
Mai is expected to perform songs such as “Not Another Love Song” and “Sink or Swim.” Both tracks feature encouraging outros from Blige. Tickets for Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous Tour are available now.
On June 17, Mai released her new collaboration with the legendary Babyface titled “Keeps On Fallin’.” It features co-production and co-writing credit from Oscar and Grammy winner D’Mile.
In other Mai-related news, she will appear on Chris Brown’s tenth album, Breezy, which releases June 24 on RCA Records. In an interview with Big Boy, Brown shared his experience collaborating with Mai.
“She’s one of the dopest vocalists,” said Brown. “She just understands the rhythm in R&B and how to sing. The song that we have…she named like six or seven songs that I’ve done but as metaphors within her verse.”
Revisit Ella Mai’s “DMFU” video below.
