The Weeknd Returns for 25th Week at No. 1 on Billboard Artist 100 Chart
The Weeknd rebounds from No. 2 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Feb. 12), returning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a landmark 25th total week, thanks to his latest LP, Dawn FM.
The album revisits its No. 2 high on the Billboard 200 chart with 70,000 equivalent album units (up 63%), according to MRC Data, following its release on CD on Jan. 28. Of that sum, 37,000 are from traditional album sales – almost entirely CD sales – as the set concurrently hits No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart for the first time.
The Weeknd’s Artist 100 reign is also aided by his best-of The Highlights at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 (33,000 units), as well as five songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Save Your Tears,” with Ariana Grande (No. 19); “One Right Now,” with Post Malone (No. 22); “You Right,” with Doja Cat (No. 36); “Sacrifice” (No. 40); and “Take My Breath” (No. 84).
The Weeknd is just the third act to reach 25 weeks or more atop the Artist 100, after Taylor Swift (50) and Drake (36).
Elsewhere, Grateful Dead re-enter the Artist 100 at No. 7, thanks to the iconic group’s Dave’s Picks, Volume 41: Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD – 5/26/77. The set, a three-CD live album consisting of 23 tracks and clocking in at over 3 hours long, opens at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 with 22,000 equivalent album units (all from album sales), marking the highest debut on the chart this week. It earns the band its 110th career entry on the Billboard 200, extending its record for the most among groups. The Dead hit a No. 3 best on the Artist 100 in November 2020 (powered that week by Dave’s Picks Vol. 36).
Plus, Childish Gambino vaults 94-12 on the Artist 100 thanks to the vinyl reissues of three of his LPs. Because the Internet re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 83 (11,000 units, up 112%; 7,000 in vinyl sales); Awaken, My Love! returns at No. 87 (10,000, up 71%; 6,000 on vinyl); and Camp re-enters at No. 171 (7,000, up 118%; 4,000 on vinyl). Childish Gambino, the musical pseudonym of Donald Glover, reached No. 3 on the Artist 100 in May 2018 as his single “This Is America” began a two-week command on the Hot 100.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
