J. Cole's "Legacy" Tops Rhythmic Airplay as Catalog Hits Return

J. Cole and PJ's "Legacy" reached No. 1 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart, the fourth chart-topper there for Cole and the first for PJ, while his earlier singles "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip" returned to the charts.

J. Cole has a new radio hit, and with it a familiar second act. "Legacy," his collaboration with PJ, has climbed to No. 1 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart, handing Cole his fourth leader on that tally and giving PJ the first of her career. At the same time, two of Cole's older singles — "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip" — have returned to the charts, a reminder that in the streaming era a new release rarely travels alone.

The chart result was Forbes Business reporting. What the headline number does not show is the machinery underneath it: an airplay No. 1 is not a sales figure, it is a measure of how heavily programmers at a specific format of radio station are spinning a record. That distinction matters for anyone trying to read the economics.

What a Rhythmic Airplay No. 1 actually pays

Rhythmic Airplay ranks songs by radio audience impressions at stations whose playlists sit between mainstream pop and hip-hop. Reaching the top of it does not mean a song sold the most copies or was streamed the most times in a week. It means broadcasters chose to play it more than anything else in the format.

The money that flows from that is performance royalty money, collected from broadcasters and distributed to songwriters and publishers. It is a different pipe from the one that carries on-demand streaming payments, which are split between recording owners and publishing rights holders under separate terms. For an artist like Cole, who has long held an unusually direct relationship with his own catalog and his own imprint, the split between those pipes is not an accounting footnote — it determines how much of each dollar reaches him rather than a distributor or a label partner.

For PJ, a first No. 1 on any Billboard-style airplay chart is a career marker with a commercial tail. Feature credits price off track record. An artist with a chart-topping radio credit negotiates from a different position on the next session, the next sync placement, and the next touring offer than one without.

The catalog echo is the real business story

The more interesting line in the news is not the new No. 1 at all. It is the return of "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip" to the charts. Both are older Cole recordings. Both are re-entering now, in the same week a new single is peaking.

That is the defining pattern of the streaming economy and the single biggest reason music catalogs have been repriced over the past several years. In the physical and download eras, a new release cannibalized attention from an artist's back catalog; buyers had one purchase to make. On streaming, the marginal cost of listening to an old song is zero, so a new hit functions as a top-of-funnel advertisement for everything the artist has ever released. Algorithmic recommendation does the rest: a listener who plays the new single is served the older ones automatically, and those plays register on the charts.

The consequence is that catalog revenue behaves less like a decaying annuity and more like something with recurring upside events. Every new release, every festival slot, every viral clip resets attention on works that were recorded a decade earlier. That is why buyers of music rights — the publishing arms of the major groups, and the specialist funds that spent heavily on back catalogs — underwrite deals on the assumption that an established artist's older songs will be re-monetized repeatedly rather than fading on a straight line.

Who captures the upside

The beneficiaries of a week like this fall into three groups, and they do not share equally.

• Rights owners. Whoever controls the master recordings and the publishing on "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip" collects on the renewed activity without having spent a marketing dollar on it. This is the highest-margin revenue in the business.
• Streaming platforms. Additional listening sessions on catalog deepen engagement at no incremental content cost, since the licenses are already in place. Platforms pay out of a revenue pool, so catalog plays redistribute the pool rather than enlarge the platform's own payment obligation.
• Broadcasters and promoters. A format-topping record gives radio programmers a reliable audience hold, and a re-energized catalog raises the ceiling on ticket pricing for live dates.

The artist's share depends entirely on deal structure. Artists who retained ownership of their recordings capture the catalog rebound directly. Artists who sold, or who signed traditional royalty deals early in their careers, watch most of it accrue to someone else. That asymmetry is precisely why ownership terms became the central negotiation point in music contracts over the past decade.

Where this sits against the wider market

Music rights have been treated by institutional investors as a quasi-bond — a long-duration, inflation-linked income stream lightly correlated with equities. That thesis is sensitive to interest rates, because higher discount rates compress the present value of decades of future royalties, and catalog transaction multiples move accordingly.

The broad tape offers context on risk appetite. At the last close on Fri, 18 Sep 2026, the S&P 500 tracker (NYSEARCA: SPY) finished at $761.69, down 0.12% on the day from a prior close of $762.60, with a day range of $757.97 to $762.00. The Nasdaq 100 fund (NASDAQ: QQQ) closed at $721.45, up 0.63%, while the Dow tracker (NYSEARCA: DIA) ended at $515.88, down 0.48%. A market splitting between a firm technology complex and softer industrial-weighted benchmarks is not a music story in itself, but it frames the cost-of-capital environment in which rights buyers set their bids.

What to watch next

Three things determine whether this week is a data point or a trend. First, whether "Legacy" converts its radio peak into sustained on-demand streaming rather than fading once programmers rotate it out — airplay and streaming often diverge. Second, how long the catalog re-entries hold their positions; a one-week bounce and a multi-month residency have very different revenue implications. Third, whether PJ's first No. 1 translates into lead-artist releases, which is where a featured performer's economics change materially.

For investors in the rights business, the structural read is unchanged and reinforced: the value of a recorded-music asset is not just the song, it is the probability that its creator keeps doing something that sends listeners back to it. Cole just demonstrated the mechanism in a single week.

Key facts

• New No. 1: J. Cole and PJ's "Legacy" tops the Rhythmic Airplay chart
• Career tallies: Fourth Rhythmic Airplay leader for J. Cole; first for PJ
• Catalog re-entries: "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip" return to the charts
• Market backdrop: SPY closed at $761.69, -0.12%, as of Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:00 GMT

Frequently asked questions

What is the Rhythmic Airplay chart?

Rhythmic Airplay ranks songs by how much radio audience they reach at stations programming a blend of pop and hip-hop. It measures broadcaster spins and resulting listener impressions, not sales or on-demand streams. A No. 1 there means programmers in that specific format played the record more heavily than any other during the tracking week.

How many Rhythmic Airplay No. 1s does J. Cole have?

"Legacy," his collaboration with PJ, is J. Cole's fourth song to reach No. 1 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart. For PJ, the credited collaborator on the track, it is the first chart-topper of her career on that tally, a marker that typically strengthens an artist's negotiating position on future features and releases.

Which older J. Cole songs returned to the charts?

Two of his best-known earlier singles, "No Role Modelz" and "Power Trip," re-entered the charts in the same period that "Legacy" reached No. 1. Catalog re-entries alongside a new hit are a recurring pattern in the streaming era, where recommendation algorithms route listeners from a current release into an artist's back catalog.

Why do catalog re-entries matter financially?

Older recordings generate revenue with no new marketing spend attached, which makes them the highest-margin income in recorded music. When a new release drives listeners back to a decade-old song, rights owners collect again on an asset already paid for. That repeatable re-monetization is the core assumption behind modern music catalog valuations.

Who earns money from a radio airplay No. 1?

Radio play generates performance royalties collected from broadcasters and distributed to songwriters and publishers, which is a separate revenue stream from on-demand streaming payments. How much reaches the performing artist depends on the contract: those who retained master recording ownership capture far more than those on traditional label royalty terms.

How do interest rates affect music catalog values?

Music rights are often treated as long-duration income assets, similar in profile to bonds. Higher discount rates reduce the present value of royalty payments stretching decades into the future, which compresses the multiples buyers are willing to pay. Falling rates work the other way, supporting higher transaction prices for established catalogs.

Sources

• J. Cole Charts A New No. 1 While Several Of His Biggest Hits Return — Forbes Business