Features
Elite 100 Artists Chart: Ariana Grande Reigns Supreme
Dave Hogan via AP – Ariana Grande & Miley Cyrus
Performing at the One Love Manchester tribute concert in Manchester, England.
The Elite 100 Artists chart has resumed publication and we are starting off with Ariana Grande standing head and shoulders above all comers.
Grande released the thank u, next album Feb. 8 and that project propelled her to 446,700 album units for the week ending Feb. 21. She led every category for the week, with stats including 127,500 album sales; 192,000 song sales; and 398.9 million streams.
The streams figure in particular is impressive, with streaming king Drake being the only other artist to cross 100 million streams on the week.
The album’s singles are performing well, as “thank u, next” was approaching 600 million streams on Spotify at press time; “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored” has more than 117 million Spotify streams; and “7 rings” had more than 333 million streams on Spotify.
Grande just announced her plans to return to Manchester, England, where a terrorist attack killed 22 outside her May 22, 2017, show at Manchester Arena and led to her postponing a few of her Dangerous Woman tour stops.
She has a massive tour planned throughout the spring and summer, including multiple nights at United Center in Chicago; Staples Center in Los Angeles; Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Madison Square Garden in New York; and The O2 in London.
On top of all this, the CAA client is also a headliner at Coachella this year, still just 25 years old.
The top of the chart is full of the usual suspects (i.e. Drake, Queen, Post Malone, XXXTentacion, Eminem), but the streams charts are also a good place to look out for rising stars. Youngboy Never Broke Again appears at No. 7, with 68.1 million streams on the week. Much of that likely came from the streaming of his single “Gangsta Fever,” which dropped Feb. 19.
Rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is still shining on the chart, despite his last release, Hoodie SZN, being in December. A Boogie has a full club tour plotted in March, with stops including Terminal 5 in New York; The Van Buren in Phoenix; Summit in Denver; and House of Blues in Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Anaheim, Calif.
Billie Eilish is also making some noise on the streams charts, as well as in song sales. She logged 67 million streams and 34,900 song sales on the week, many of which were likely her latest single “Bury A Friend.” Her debut LP drops at the end of March.
Other notable entries on the chart include Blueface, whose track “Thotiana” with Cardi B and YG no doubt helped propel him to No. 38; YNW Melly, who is sitting comfortably at No. 40 after the Jan. 18 release of “We All Shine”; and Marshmello/Bastille, who collaborated on one song, “Happier,” which got them a separate listing on the chart with 20,400 song sales and 13.7 million streams.
Next week’s chart will include projects from Dream Theater, Gunna, Lil Pump, Gary Clark Jr., The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Ray Charles, John Mayall, and Offset, all of which are out now.
Also, be on the lookout this week for new projects from 2 Chainz, Demon Hunter, Queensrÿche, Weezer, and In Flames.