Elite 100: Drake Reigns, Twenty One Pilots Take Flight, Post Malone Still Red Hot

Drake is still on top of the Elite 100 Artists Chart, and it’s not even close, with 217,500 album-equivalent units sold for the week ending July 19, with XXXtentacion, Post Malone, Juice Wrld and Future holding down the rest of the Top 5.

Drake kicks off a major arena tour with Migos Thursday in Salt Lake City, after his last headlining run was the largest hip-hop tour ever according to WME agent Brent Smith, who said the 2016-2017 run grossed more than $140 million, with multiple-night sellouts at Madison Square Garden ($7.1 million, four nights) and Staples Center ($4.9 million, three nights) according to Pollstar data.

Pollstar, with the BuzzAngle Music-powered Elite 100 Artists Chart, gives a snapshot of the week’s top-selling artists based on music sales and streaming, counting data from the U.S. and Canada.

All product, not just current releases, by that artist are included in the figures and the total for ranking purposes is based on an album sale equaling 1, 10 song sales equal 1 album, and 1,500 on-demand streams equal 1 album. 

The week also saw Twenty One Pilots jump from the No. 39 spot to No. 17, with the release of two singles (“Jumpsuit” and “Nico and the Niners”) and the announcement of a 60-date tour.

The band’s manager, Chris Woltman of Element 1 Management, said the onsale went amazingly well.

“We crushed it on the onsale,” Woltman told Pollstar over the weekend. “U.S. dates all sold out yes-terday except Lincoln and ex-U.S. dates look amazing – two sold-out Wembley Arenas in London with-in three hours.”

That “Bandito” tour takes the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun clear to Russia as well as Poland, Sweden and Norway in February-March following the lengthy North American arena tour that runs Oct-Nov.  Sandwiched between in January is Australia and New Zealand. Their new album Trench drops Oct. 5.

Frances Sealy / ConcertLivewire.com – Post Malone
Post Malone pours it on during the Beale Street Music Festival at Tom Lee Park in Memphis, Tenn., May 6.

Minnesota promoter Zack Chazin had him for the second night, on a co-promote with Myth Live at Myth in Minneapolis July 20.

“Last night Juice WRLD said this was his first REAL concert. (Only playing 2 “shows” prior to this),” Chazin posted on Facebook. “Last night was also the kickoff to his DEBUT tour and we sold out 3,000 tickets in advance. Could have easily sold 4,000 in my opinion.”

Juice has dates into September at venues including the Agora Theatre & Ballroom in Cleveland, Roseland Theatre in Portland, Showbox in Seattle, Observatory in Santa Ana, Calif., and Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Fla.

Another notable name on the chart is the still-red-hot Post Malone, who just wrapped up a major North American amphitheatre tour with 21 Savage and SOB X RBE and sold out two nights at the Hollywood Bowl June 28-29, which moved 32,045 tickets and grossed $2.6 million. His agent, Cheryl Paglierani of United Talent Agency, tells Pollstar he’s poised to play arenas next year, including a headlining run in Europe.

“Our last European headline run was in 700-1,000 cap rooms and to see a jump from that straight into arenas is astounding,” she said.