How “TO THE MOON” went to No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythmic and Rap Airplay charts

JNR CHOI's “TO THE MOON” was released on 4 November 2021 with Sam Tompkins on the hook, a sped-up flip of Tompkins' cover of Bruno Mars' “Talking to the Moon”. It spread on TikTok first, where the sound was used in hundreds of thousands of edits before most people knew the artist's name.

Fly Ty heard it early and, through Against Da Grain and his A&R seat at Epic Records, brought JNR CHOI into the Sony system while the song was still climbing. A Gunna remix followed on 24 March 2022, and a drill remix with Fivio Foreign, M24 and Russ Millions on 29 April 2022, each one widening the audience.

The official video premiered on YouTube on 14 March 2022 and has passed 49 million views. On the charts, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring and then did the thing streaming hits rarely do: it went to No. 1 on both the Rhythmic Airplay and Rap Airplay charts, which is the milestone on the label's stat rail.