Features
Elite 100: Queen Reigns, Metro Boomin And Ariana Grande Overtake Drake
AP Photo / dpa, Daniel Reinhardt – Brian May
“We Will Rock You” musical premiere, Mehr! Theatre, Hamburg, Germany
Queen is the champion, my friends. In a major aberration, perennial streaming king Drake has been bumped all the way to the No. 4 slot on the Elite 100 Artists chart for the week ending Nov. 8.
Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Oct. 19 to accompany the major motion picture, which came out Nov. 2. The major spike in Queen listeners didn’t come until the movie came out, but the band logged 54,100 album sales and 190,700 song sales for the week. Those the album sales were the highest on the week and, combined with the 58.9 million streams, the band logged 112,500 album units.
Queen still regularly tours with Adam Lambert and the band recently wrapped a Las Vegas residency at the Park Theater at Monte Carlo Resort & Casino. The group toured Australia, New Zealand and Europe earlier this year, grossing more than $1 million in most markets. A highlight was the $3.27 million gross over two nights at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, March 2-3.
The stellar success of Queen on the listening chart this week further proves just how much a good soundtrack can add to a blockbuster film, as the films “A Star Is Born,” “La La Land,” and “The Greatest Showman” have all added tons of revenue from soundtrack streams and sales.
The streams leader on the week was overall No. 2 entry Metro Boomin, with 139.8 million streams logged on the week. The producer extraordinaire’s most recent project, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES, heavily features hip-hop tastemakers like Travis Scott, Swae Lee, Young Thug, Gunna, WizKid and 21 Savage on multiple tracks, along with single-song features from Gucci Mane, Offset, Drake, J Balvin and Kodak Black.
For a producer to command such an A-list of features, to the degree that it feels like a mini-album from some of the guests, speaks to how much clout the 25-year-old hitmaker has built up. Metro Boomin tours as a solo artist and is scheduled to perform alongside Ludacris, Migos, Lil Baby and Lil Yachty at Bud Light Music Festival Jan. 31.
Ariana Grande is making a big splash herself, as the release of single “thank u, next” propelled her to 190,600 song sales. She is also still riding the success of her album Sweetener, which came out Aug. 17. That no doubt helped with the 107.1 million streams logged on the week, which led to a total of 86,600 album units.
A newcomer to the chart is Korean-Chinese pop star Kris Wu, who enters at the No. 5 with the release of Antares Nov. 2. Wu sold a whopping 258,800 songs for the week and 50,600 albums, which more than compensated for the meager streaming figure of 5.1 million.
Another music titan resurging on the chart is Barbra Streisand, who released her Walls album Nov. 2. Babs logged 27,200 album sales and 14,900 song sales, goo enough to get her to No. 21 overall with 30,200 album units. She hasn’t toured much recently, but she grossed nearly $3.7 million in one night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn last year.
In the coming days be on the lookout for projects from Mumford & Sons, Anderson .Paak, John Mellencamp, Jaden Smith, Mariah Carey, Little Mix, P.O.D., Smashing Pumpkins, Birdman and Jacquees, Chuck D (of Public Enemy), Eiko Ishibashi, and Michael Bublé.
Also, next week’s charts will include projects from Imagine Dragons, Trippie Redd, Jeff Goldblum, J Mascis, Hanson, Muse, Steve Aoki, Olly Murs, Cupcakke, Architects, Mark Knopfler, and Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers, and posthumous releases from Lil Peep and Charles Bradley.