Elite 100: Hozier Hits No. 4; 2 Chainz, Jonas Brothers Return

Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com – Hozier
File photo / 2015

Ariana Grande, Drake and Queen still reign atop the Elite 100 Artists chart for the week ending March 7, but Hozier dropped a new album, which propelled him to the No. 4 spot.

Hozier led the chart in album sales, with 70,400, after the March 1 release of his sophomore album Wasteland, Baby!. Best known for “Take Me to Church,” Hozier also logged 15,800 song sales and 28.4 million on-demand streams, for a total of 93,400 album units.

A highlight of the Irish superstar’s tour last year was a three-night run at Olympia Theatre in Dublin Dec. 17-19, grossing $174,302. The 1,529-capacity venue reported sellouts for all three nights, for a total of 4,587 tickets.

Hozier has a full tour of North America jumping off March 14 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, Va. That run includes plays at Bonnaroo and Boston Calling, with spring and summer legs.

2 Chainz also hopped onto the chart at the No. 9 position after he dropped Rap or Go to the League March 1. His strongest metric was his 77.7 million streams, but he also had 12,600 album sales and 24,900 song sales.

2 Chainz took all kinds of festival plays last year, including “Hippie Hill” in San Francisco and “Derby Soundstage” in Louisville, Ky. A headline show in Beaumont, Texas grossed $80,915.

Another artist making gains this week is Lil Skies, who climbed to the No. 11 position on the chart, from No. 90 last week. He was a streaming giant, with 91.2 million streams on the week, which mostly carried his 74,600 total album units. He released the project Shelby March 1.

Lil Skies is set tour clubs and theatres with Lil Pump through April and May. He already had some good opportunities to build his live presence last year opening for the Wiz Khalifa / Rae Sremmurd co-headline tour that was getting him front of tens of thousands in some markets.

Jonas Brothers, long absent from spins charts, decided to release the song “Sucker” March 1, and it shot them up to No. 15 on the chart. They logged 54.3 million streams and 111,000 song sales for the week, most of which were undoubtedly “Sucker.”

Another climber on the chart was Bryan Adams (not to be confused with the embattled Ryan Adams). Bryan released his latest album Shine A Light to the tune of 45,700 album sales, 6,700 song sales and 5.1 million album sales.

Adams is scheduled to play Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow at Spark Arena. He continues touring New Zealand and Australia through March. Then he has U.S., Europe, and Canadian legs planned.

Solange also dropped a new project, When I Get Home. She came in at No. 28 with 45.1 million streams, 7,700 song sales, and 12,000 album sales for 44,900 total album units.

Weezer came on at No. 39 after the release of its Black Album. The group’s strongest metric was album sales, with 20,800.

Another new name on the chart this week is

Finally, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers released a greatest hits album, The Best Of Everything – The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016, which earned 16,700 album sales, 13,300 song sales and 12.9 million streams.

Next week’s chart will include data for new releases from Juice WRLD, Meat Puppets, Patty Griffin, Flight Of The Conchords, Dido, Buckcherry, Townes Van Zandt, The Wild Reeds, Foals, and David Gray.

Also, be on the lookout for new projects from Stephen Malkmus, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, The Faint, and Cinematic Orchestra.