"I Had Some Help" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Commercially, the song debuted atop theBillboard Hot 100 with the highest first week streams since 2020, giving Malone his sixth number one song and Wallen his second. It is thesecond-longest running number one song of 2024, holding its position for six non consecutive weeks. It made history by debuting at number one on both theBillboard Hot 100 andBillboard's Hot Country Songs chart, and maintaining the top spot on each chart for its first five weeks, a feat that had never been achieved before. The song also debuted at number one on theBillboard's annual Songs of the Summer chart and was subsequently crowned as the 2024 Song of the Summer at the end of the tracking period, having spent 14 weeks at the top. Additionally, it debuted and peaked atop theBillboard Global 200 chart and peaked at number one on the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and Norway.
"I Had Some Help" has topped the USCountry Airplay and the all format USRadio Songs charts, making it the sixth song to achieve this milestone and the fastest to do so. It has also topped the USPop Airplay chart and also became Morgan Wallen's firstAdult Pop Airplay number one hit.
On March 20, 2024, Malone previewed a snippet of the song through social media after a different snippet of a previous version leaked earlier, which had a problem with the mixing.[1] On May 2, 2024, the two artists took to social media to announce the title of the song and its release date.[2]
On May 10, 2024, Malone and Wallen released the official music video, which was filmed in Joshua Tree, California and directed by Chris Villa, with both artists playing leading roles.[6]
"I Had Some Help" earned 167 first-week adds at country radio, making it only the second song in history to clear the panel in its first week afterGarth Brooks in 1997 with "Longneck Bottle".[7] It also brokeSpotify's single-day country streaming record with nearly 14 million streams, debuted at No. 1 on the streaming platform's Global Daily chart and became its top male collaboration debut of all time, in addition to toppingApple Music's Global chart andPandora's Top Thumb Hundred chart, upon release.[7]
In the United States, "I Had Some Help" debuted at number 18 on theBillboardCountry Airplay chart dated May 18, 2024, climbing to number nine the following week, before eventually reaching number one for the week June 29, 2024 after spending seven weeks on the chart. It is the first song to reach the top 10 in two weeks or fewer since Brooks' "More Than a Memory" debuted at number one in September 2007, the fastest trip to number one since "More Than a Memory", as well as the fewest total cumulative weeks to reach number one sinceTim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" reached the top spot in its seventh week in July 2004. In addition, it is Malone's first number one on the Country Airplay chart, as well as Wallen's thirteenth.[8] The song would notch a second week at number one for the week of July 6, 2024 while Wallen's "Cowgirls" featuringErnest held the number two position on the Country Airplay chart the same week, making Wallen the third artist in the chart's history to hold the top two positions concurrently.[9] It would remain at the top for two additional weeks before being displaced by "Cowgirls" on the chart dated July 27, 2024, making it the first time that an act has achieved back-to-back number one singles since 2002 when McGraw topped the chart back-to-back, first as a featured artist onJo Dee Messina's "Bring On the Rain" then with his own "The Cowboy in Me", and only the second time that such a distinction has been achieved in the chart's history.[10] The song currently ranks at no. 4 on theAdult Pop Airplay chart.[11][12][13]
On theBillboard Hot 100, "I Had Some Help" debuted at number one on the chart dated May 25, 2024, with first-week figures of 76.4 million official streams, 31.1 million radio airplay audience impressions and 69,000 copies sold. It registered the highest first-week streaming figure sinceBillboard removedYouTube song user-generated content from its chart metrics in year 2020, surpassingTaylor Swift and Post Malone's song "Fortnight". It is Malone's sixth number-one single, fifth as lead artist, and second number-one debut. Post Malone tied the record as the fastest male artist to accumulate two No. 1 debuts onBillboard Hot 100 history, "Fortnight" and "I Had Some Help" within just four weeks, afterDrake previously achieved the feat with the first two singles from his "For All the Dogs" album in 2023.[13] "I Had Some Help" is the first song to spend its first five weeks on theBillboard Hot 100 chart at No. 1 sinceMiley Cyrus' "Flowers", which held the top spot for its first six weeks in January–March 2023. It is also the first song in nearly a year to spend five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart, since Wallen's "Last Night" spent 10 straight weeks at the top out of 16 total weeks in May–July 2023. Additionally, it is the first song to log six weeks at No. 1 on theBillboard Hot 100 in 2024, surpassing the five weeks on top, of six total dating to late 2023, forJack Harlow's "Lovin on Me".[14][15] Furthermore, it's the first song to have debuted atop both theBillboard Hot 100 andBillboard's Hot Country Songs chart and spent its first five weeks on each at No. 1.[16][14]
On the USRadio Songs chart, "I Had Some Help" was the fastest song to hit the top five sinceMiley Cyrus' "Flowers" in 2023. It's also the first song to have reached the top five in as few as four weeks that has also hit the US Country Airplay chart's top five.[18] "I Had Some Help" became the sixth song and the fastest to do so, to top both the US Country Airplay and all-format US Radio Songs charts.[15]
The song debuted at number one onBillboard's Annual Songs of the Summer chart and was subsequently crowned as the 2024 Song of the Summer at the end of the tracking period.[19][14][15]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 20. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
^"Top Singles (Week 20, 2024)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.Archived from the original on May 20, 2024. RetrievedMay 20, 2024.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 5. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
