Jussie Smollett thanked fans for their support as he celebrated his new single Some Things peaking at number one on the iTunes R&B/Soul chart.
The disgraced star, who was convicted last year for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack he staged, released a screenshot of his new track on Tuesday, which trumps Marshallow & Khalid’s Numb and The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights .
“You all… WE GOT IT ON NO. 1 DONE. #1 on the iTunes R&B chart and #17 across all genres. This is my first number one solo artist ever,” Jussie, 40, commented on the Instagram post.
“You all know a little bit of what we’ve been through”: Jussie Smollett celebrates with his new single “Some Things,” which peaks at number one on the iTunes R&B/Soul chart
“My own music… released through my own label… Totally independent from any conglomerate. You guys know a little bit of what we’ve been through. So that means more than I can explain.
“I promise there’s a whole lot of work to come, and I promise we’ll make you proud. simply thank you I LOVE you all so much and I mean it. Keep working and loving hard.’
The celebrations continued on Wednesday when Smollett posted a video of the new song to his Instagram stories.
Smollett appeared in the clip as the song played in the background, and he smiled and winked at the camera. “#1 iTunes R&B,” he captioned the video.
Chart topper! The celebrations continued on Wednesday when Smollett posted a video of the new song to his Instagram stories on Wednesday
The last time Jussie released an album was 2018’s R&B/Soul album Sum Of My Music. He has also contributed to the Empire soundtrack over the years.
His latest track, Some Things, was released on July 15, months after he was released from a Chicago County jail after serving just six days of a 150-day sentence.
The Illinois Court of Appeals in March ordered a stay of his sentence when he was about to appeal his conviction.
Since then, Smollett has tried to make a new name for himself in Hollywood – this time directing the BET+ original film B-Boy Blues, an adaptation of the 1991 novel by James Earl Hardy.
Celebrations: Smollett smiled and winked at the camera
He also released his song Thank You God, which touches on his recent legal troubles.
‘Some people are looking for fame / Some people are chasing that clout / Just think about it… this isn’t this situation / You think I’m stupid enough to ruin my reputation?’ read the texts.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight on last month’s BET Awards red carpet, Smollett said he “never thought I’d work my way back.”
He admitted it was “wonderful” to get the chance to be back on set and creating content again.
“It’s always been a plan to sort of expand my empire,” Smollett told the outlet of his desire to be a director. “To raise the level of what I want to do… to be able to introduce a new generation of artists and actors and this amazing talent.”
First Place: Smollett posted a screenshot of his song beating Numb and Blinding Lights
Smollett also had a message to those who supported him in sentencing: “I say to you from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
“They never gave up, they never went over the fence and I am forever grateful to them for that. I don’t take this lightly for a moment.
“My family, my friends, the true ones, if I can never hug you in person, you know there’s a hug in my heart that I really mean.”
Smollett was convicted in December of five counts of misconduct for lying to police about being the victim of a racist anti-gay attack he said was perpetrated by Trump supporters, which “this is MAGA land” screamed.
He told Chicago Police Department he was approached on a dark Chicago street by two masked strangers in January 2019.
Hitmaker: He also shared a screenshot of the track, which charted at #17 across all genres
According to his account of the attack, the attackers threw a noose around his neck and doused him with chemicals while shouting racial and homophobic slurs and expressing support for then-President Donald Trump.
But Chicago cops had questions about his story almost immediately, pointing out that he wore a noose around his neck when they questioned him and posited that he staged the attack out of fear of being dropped from the show.
In the course of their investigation, Chicago police discovered that the two men accused of assaulting Smollett were Nigerian brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who are black.
And in court, the brothers told the jury Smollett hired them to fake the assault because he wanted to raise his celebrity profile.
Smollett later claimed that in the days leading up to the stunt, when prosecutors claimed he and the brothers were rehearsing the assault, prosecutors actually got together to smoke marijuana.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight from last month’s BET Awards red carpet, Smollett said he “never thought I’d work my way back.”
Smollett’s December conviction came nearly a year after Cook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx unexpectedly dismissed the charges against Smollett in March 2019.
Months later, Judge Michael Toomin appointed Dan Webb special prosecutor in the case, asking him to investigate Foxx’s handling of the case and determine whether Smollett should be further sentenced. Shortly thereafter, Smollett was charged again and a trial ensued.
Finally, Cook County Judge James Linn ordered the actor to pay the City of Chicago more than $120,000 plus a $25,000 fine and serve 30 months probation and 150 days in prison.
Linn accused Smollett of “thrown a national pity party for himself”. “You turned your life upside down with your misconduct and shenanigans,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “You destroyed your life as you knew it.
“You wanted attention, and you were so passionate about social justice issues, and you knew this was a sore point for everyone in this country.”
But in March, an Illinois appeals court ordered a stay of Smollett’s jail sentence and required him to post $150,000 in personal acknowledgment bail. Since then he has been free.
He has since been at large and recently doubled down on his claims in an interview with Sway’s SiriusXM show
Jussie doubled down on his claims in a recent interview with Sway’s SiriusXM show.
Smollett said on the show that his moral principles as a black gay man made him unable to orchestrate the hoax.
“If I did that, I’d be a piece of shit. And I don’t think that’s really questionable,” Smollett said on last week’s episode. “If I had done something like that, I would have stuck my fist in the pain of black African Americans in this country for over 400 years.”
“That would mean putting my fist into the fears of the LGBTQ community around the world. I’m not that motherf*****. Never been. Doesn’t have to be,’ he added.
With hindsight, Smollett likened his six-day stay at the Cook County Jail in March to a cathartic opportunity he used to “reset and gain clarity” through fasting.
“My lawyer… he lied when he said I was fasting because of Lent. I did not fast during Lent. I fasted because that’s what we do in my family, we fast for clarity,” he said.
Smollett also said he felt compelled to speak out about the attack, which in court turned out to be a hoax, because he wanted to help those who didn’t have the means to resist themselves.
“Do I feel better than everyone else who has been attacked? Absolutely damn no, but at the same time I was so embarrassed that it happened,” he said.
Smollett said that while some of the things that emerged during the trial, such as his drug use, were true, he insisted he did not pay perpetrators to attack him in order to gain public sympathy.
He boasted about his career and claimed he never did anything on purpose to be called a victim.
“I’m an actor, a director, a writer, a producer… If I had to do anything, it wouldn’t be to look like a victim. It would be like looking like strong, if anything,” he said.