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\n\tIn a year where the big stars of the past decade have been coming out early to lay claim to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 \u2014 Beyonc\u00e9, Ariana Grande, Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar, the entire Vultures<\/em> crew \u2014 one 2010s hitmaker few saw coming as a top-spot threat scores his first-ever No. 1 on the chart this week.<\/p>\n \n\tHozier, whose lone single to approach the top of the Hot 100 came in 2014 with the No. 2-peaking megaballad \u201cTake Me to Church,\u201d reaches No. 1 this week with TikTok-teased new single \u201cToo Sweet\u201d in its fourth week on the chart. The Irish singer-songwriter had maintained a sizable fanbase since the 2014 smash, but went the next eight years without reaching the Hot 100, until scoring a handful of entries in the lower stretches and one top 40 hit (via an appearance on the remix to Noah Kahan\u2019s \u201cNorthern Attitude\u201d) last year. <\/p>\n \n\tHow did Hozier make his way not only back to the top 10, but all the way to the top spot? And what does this mean for his career going forward? Billboard<\/em> staffers discuss these questions and more below. <\/p>\n \n\t1. So straight off the top \u2014 if you were told at the beginning of 2024 that\u00a0Hozier\u00a0would have his first No. 1 hit by April, how surprised would you be, on a scale from 1 to 10?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tKatie Atkinson:<\/strong>\u00a010! Of course, watching the Hot 100 in the months since has definitely made it much less surprising, because we\u2019ve seen Teddy Swims score his first No. 1, we\u2019ve seen Benson Boone climb to No. 2, and we\u2019ve seen Noah Kahan peak in the top 10, so\u00a0Hozier\u00a0topping the chart is completely in line with all that. But knowing what we knew on Jan. 1, it had been 10 years since he broke through with \u201cTake Me to Church\u201d and he was still hanging around the Hot 100, but the closest he\u2019d returned to his No. 2 peak with \u201cChurch\u201d was to the top 40 last year with Kahan (more on that below). Clearly, his chart-topping moves were already in the works.<\/p>\n \n\tStephen Daw<\/strong>: 10, easy. I loved\u00a0Unreal Unearth<\/em>\u00a0and have been a big fan of\u00a0Hozier\u2019s since his self-titled debut LP in 2013 \u2014 but I genuinely thought \u201cTake Me to Church\u201d would be his chart ceiling. Even when \u201cToo Sweet\u201d began blowing up online, I figured, at best, it would float around the top 40 for a few months before dying back down. But I am delightfully shocked to see audiences really embrace\u00a0Hozier\u00a0again, especially on a song as undeniably good as \u201cToo Sweet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tKyle Denis<\/strong>: About a 7. I had a feeling that whatever music Hozier came out with post-Unreal Unearth<\/em> would do fairly well. That album did a lot to rejuvenate casual interest him beyond being pigeon-holed as the \u201cTake Me to Chruch\u201d guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tJason Lipshutz<\/strong>: A 7. Sure,\u00a0Hozier\u00a0hasn\u2019t been churning out top 10 hits over the past few years, but he has accrued quite a following during that time \u2014 there\u2019s a reason he was able to schedule an arena and amphitheater tour for later this year, before \u201cToo Sweet\u201d was even released. Plus, country- and folk-adjacent pop-rock has certainly invaded the upper reaches of the Hot 100 over the past six months, with artists like Noah Kahan, Zach Bryan, Teddy Swims and Benson Boone all scoring smashes with their respective versions of the guitar-based renaissance. So, yes, still surprising to see a\u00a0Hozier\u00a0single atop the Hot 100, but certainly far from jaw-dropping.<\/p>\n \n\tAndrew Unterberger<\/strong>: A 9 \u2014 and it would\u2019ve been a 10 at the beginning of 2023, but after Hozier\u2019s impressive last year and popular music generally tilting in the direction of his arena-sized alt-folk, a comeback moment of some kind certainly seemed like it could\u2019ve been on the horizon. But a No. 1 hit, at this extremely competitive moment in Hot 100 history? No, I cannot pretend that I saw that coming in any way.<\/p>\n