Elite 100: Gunna, YNW Melly Climb; Offset, Kehlani, Gary Clark Jr. Enter

Scott Legato / Getty Images – Kehlani
Kehlani brings her “Tell Me You Love Me Tour” to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit March 13.

The Elite 100 Chart saw two young rappers rise into the top 10 this week and several artists break onto the chart with new album releases.

Gunna released his new mixtape Drip or Drown 2 Feb. 22, which likely drove many of his 141.6 million streams on the week. He made it to No. 8 on the chart for the week ending Feb. 28, a notable jump from his position of No. 94 the previous week.

Yung Gunna also has a separate entry on the chart for his collaborative project with Lil Baby, which came in at No. 85, mostly thanks to 29.4 million streams.

The Atlanta-based rapper is set to take on festivals and North American clubs in the coming months. In addition to Buku in New Orleans, Firefly in Dover, Del., and Reading and Leeds festivals in the U.K., Gunna Gunna has an opening slot for Travis Scott locked in March 17.

YNW Melly also shot up the chart this week, with 100.5 million streams being his strongest metric. His last project was We All Shine in January, but his biggest single is “Murder On My Mind” from 2018’s I Am You.

The title of the single is a bit ironic, as YNW Melly is currently being held without bail and facing a double murder charge. The victims in the case were two friends of Melly who also rapped. If convicted, he could be facing life in prison.

The top of the chart is otherwise mostly unchanged, as Ariana Grande is No. 1, with 69,900 song sales and 293.7 million streams being particularly impressive. She led the chart in the latter category.

Queen led the chart both in song sales, with 54,300 and 143,400 in each category respectively, good enough to get the band to No. 3.

Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper led the chart in album sales with 71,600, good enough to get the silver screen duo to No. 8 for the week.

Both Queen and the “Star Is Born” duo can likely attribute the surge in sales to the “Oscars Effect,” as the Academy Awards were held Feb. 24.

Offset entered the chart at No. 16 after the release of Father Of 4 Feb. 22. One of the famed trio Migos, Offset logged 113.2 million streams on the week, which accounted for most of his overall album units. His album includes a “who’s who” of featured artists: J. Cole, Cardi B (his wife), Gucci Mane, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, CeeLo Green, Gunna, and his fellow Migo Quavo all make appearances on the album.

Migos have a few gigs booked in the coming months, including an appearance at Pharrell’s just announced Something In The Water festival April 26 in Virginia Beach, Va.

Kehlani hopped onto the Elite 100 at the 44 position, with 55 million streams and 14,100 song sales. Her latest album, While We Wait, dropped Feb. 22, with features from Musiq Soulchild, Dom Kennedy, and Ty Dolla $ign.

Gary Clark Jr. showed that he can still sell albums, as his latest album this land sold 38,500 copies in its first week. He reached the No. 56 position on the chart.

One more artist that made its Elite 100 premier is Pinkfong, which is children’s music developed by a South Korean educational entertainment company. With music in English and Korean, Pinkfong’s biggest song is “Baby Shark,” and the song’s content is simple, but undeniably catchy.

Next week’s chart will include recently released projects from 2 Chainz, Solange, Weezer, Hozier, and Self Esteem.

Also, be on the lookout for new music from Juice WRLD, Meat Puppets, Patty Griffin, Flight Of The Conchords, Dido, Buckcherry, Townes Van Zandt, The Wild Reeds, Foals, and David Gray.