The song was first used in Scott's girlfriend
Kylie Jenner's "Kybrows" commercial on April 29, 2019, before Scott debuted the song during his set at the
Rolling Loud festival in
Miami on May 10–12, 2019. On August 31, 2019, Scott played a portion of the song at a concert that included a verse from
Lil Baby,[6] but was ultimately cut in the final version because Scott wanted to express the breakup with himself and Jenner on his own. The demo version featuring Baby leaked on December 24, 2019. Baby's verse was on the remix of the song, which is on the
compilation albumJackBoys. However, the original version of "Highest in the Room" did not make it onto the album.
Promotion
Scott officially announced the track's release through social media on September 30, posting three covers for the song as well as a pre-order link and captioning the post "See u on the 4th".[7]
A music video was released on October 3, 2019, on YouTube, directed by
Dave Meyers and Travis Scott himself, while it was produced by Nathan Scherrer, Randy Donaldson, and Sam
Lecca.[8]
Commercial performance
"Highest in the Room" debuted at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated October 19, 2019, becoming Scott's second number-one single on the chart (after 2018's "
Sicko Mode"), his first number-one single on its first week on the chart, and 35th single to debut at the number one position in the chart's history. "Highest in the Room" debuted atop the
Streaming Songs chart with 59 million streams and debuted at number two on the
Digital Songs chart with 51,000 downloads.[9] The song fell to number six the following week on October 26, 2019. It later returned to the top 10 on the issue dated January 11, 2020 at number eight, partly charged by sales from the remix featuring
Rosalia and
Lil Baby.[10][11] Elsewhere, in Greece the song charted at number one. The UK Singles Chart number two on 17 October.
A remix featuring Spanish singer
Rosalía and American rapper
Lil Baby was released on December 27, 2019. It was the first track on Scott and other
Cactus Jack members' album, JackBoys, which was released on the same day.[4] Originally, Lil Baby was supposed to be on the original song, but his verse was cut for unknown reasons. The remix version received a radio release on January 7, 2020.[5]
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201941 into search. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
^"
Media Forest – Weekly Charts.
Media Forest. Retrieved 6 January 2020. Note: Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201941 into search. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
The song was first used in Scott's girlfriend
Kylie Jenner's "Kybrows" commercial on April 29, 2019, before Scott debuted the song during his set at the
Rolling Loud festival in
Miami on May 10–12, 2019. On August 31, 2019, Scott played a portion of the song at a concert that included a verse from
Lil Baby,[6] but was ultimately cut in the final version because Scott wanted to express the breakup with himself and Jenner on his own. The demo version featuring Baby leaked on December 24, 2019. Baby's verse was on the remix of the song, which is on the
compilation albumJackBoys. However, the original version of "Highest in the Room" did not make it onto the album.
Promotion
Scott officially announced the track's release through social media on September 30, posting three covers for the song as well as a pre-order link and captioning the post "See u on the 4th".[7]
A music video was released on October 3, 2019, on YouTube, directed by
Dave Meyers and Travis Scott himself, while it was produced by Nathan Scherrer, Randy Donaldson, and Sam
Lecca.[8]
Commercial performance
"Highest in the Room" debuted at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated October 19, 2019, becoming Scott's second number-one single on the chart (after 2018's "
Sicko Mode"), his first number-one single on its first week on the chart, and 35th single to debut at the number one position in the chart's history. "Highest in the Room" debuted atop the
Streaming Songs chart with 59 million streams and debuted at number two on the
Digital Songs chart with 51,000 downloads.[9] The song fell to number six the following week on October 26, 2019. It later returned to the top 10 on the issue dated January 11, 2020 at number eight, partly charged by sales from the remix featuring
Rosalia and
Lil Baby.[10][11] Elsewhere, in Greece the song charted at number one. The UK Singles Chart number two on 17 October.
A remix featuring Spanish singer
Rosalía and American rapper
Lil Baby was released on December 27, 2019. It was the first track on Scott and other
Cactus Jack members' album, JackBoys, which was released on the same day.[4] Originally, Lil Baby was supposed to be on the original song, but his verse was cut for unknown reasons. The remix version received a radio release on January 7, 2020.[5]
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201941 into search. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
^"
Media Forest – Weekly Charts.
Media Forest. Retrieved 6 January 2020. Note: Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201941 into search. Retrieved October 15, 2019.