Elite 100: Billie Eilish Reclaims Crown, YG Climbs, NCT 127 Goes Superhuman

Courtesy of Huka Entertainment – YG
Pemberton Music Festival, Sunstone Ranch, Pemberton, BC, Canada.

Billie Eilish is once again perched in her increasingly regular spot atop the Elite 100 Artists chart and several other artists made big gains off new releases for the week ending May 30.

The 17-year-old Eilish has been in either the No. 1 or No. 2 position every week since the March 29 release of her debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, and she seems to have decisively taken the “artist to beat” role from Drake, who has not passed her in ranking during the same period.

There are several reasons for Eilish’s dominance. For one thing, she is the chart leader in on-demand streams, with 106.3 million. She narrowly edged out Drake in that category, as Drizzy logged 105.8 million, but when you add in her 58,100 song sales for the week and her 10,600 album sales, she stands alone with 106,500 total album units.

The fact that Eilish’s album and song sales figures have remained so steady over the last six charts since her album release supports what everyone in the industry is seeing plain as day: people are discovering her music and falling in love, consistently spending in big numbers to support her.

Eilish was recently the subject of a Pollstar cover feature and is repped by Paradigm, whose Tom Windish told Pollstar: “We did her debut show in Highland Park down the street from her house. That was like the industry and fan shebang.

“By that point we knew something was happening beyond just the song [her first single, “Ocean Eyes”] being fantastic. That show was a really big deal, and pretty much every show since has been a really big deal.”

She also recently rocked her second Australian tour with five sold-out arenas dates for more than an estimated 120,000 fans.

Eilish’s Chicago fans were thrown for a loop last month when a venue change saw many of their GA tickets converted into upper-level seats, but her team did promise those fans perks to try and make good.

YG is the highest-charting artist with a new release this week, as his 4REAL 4REAL project came out May 24, and he landed at the No. 12 spot. The LA rapper’s best category by a mile was on-demand streams, of which he logged 58.5 million, which comprised the bulk of his 50,600 album units.

The rapper is currently booked to play several radio shows in July: KSFM’s Hella Summer Show in Sacramento, Calif.; KUBE Summer Jam in Tacoma, Wash.; and 106.1 KMEL Summer Jam in Oakland, Calif.

Young Thug released a new song, “The London” with J. Cole and Travis Scott, May 23, and that no doubt helped propel the artist to his 46.7 million on-demand streams for the week. He came in at No. 27 overall with 37,000 total album units.

NCT 127 came in at the No. 54 position for the week, largely thanks to the K-pop group’s 22,600 album sales. NCT #127 WE ARE SUPERHUMAN – The 4th Mini Album came out May 24, just a month after the group released its first full Japanese album, Awaken, on April 17.

Notably, the Elite 100 chart only measures music consumption in the U.S. and Canada, so the Seoul-based NCT 127’s latest project no doubt drew many more listens overseas.

One fresh face on the chart is Morgan Wallen, who came in at No. 99. The country artist’s single “Whiskey Glasses” seems to be making a big impression on country radio, which no doubt helped with his 20,900 song sales for the week.

Next week’s chart will include data for new projects from Denzel Curry, Thomas Rhett, Duff McKagan, Chrishan & OG Parker, Mozzy, Skepta, Sarah Davachi, Bedouine, and Jim Jones.

Also, be on the lookout this week for new releases from Santana, Luke Combs, Jonas Brothers, Tyga, Neil Young, Tee Grizzley, Peter Frampton, Perry Farrell, Silversun Pickups, and a posthumous release from Avicii.