Drake jumps from No. 21 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Sept. 18), returning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a 33rd total week on top, thanks to his new LP, Certified Lover Boy.
The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 613,000 equivalent album units, according to MRC Data, scoring the biggest week of the year so far, surpassing Kanye West’s Donda (309,000, a week earlier). Drake earns his 10th No. 1 album, becoming just the eighth artist to reach the milestone.
Meanwhile, all 21 songs from Certified Lover Boy debut in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including a record nine in the top 10. “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, leads at No. 1, followed by “Girls Want Girls,” featuring Lil Baby (No. 2); “Fair Trade,” featuring Travis Scott (No. 3); “Champagne Poetry” (No. 4); and “Knife Talk,” featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat (No. 5). Drake joins The Beatles (April 4, 1964) as the only acts to monopolize the entire top five of the Hot 100 in a single week.
Drake has now led the Artist 100 for 33 total weeks, dating to the chart’s 2014 inception, the second-most among all acts after Taylor Swift (48).
Elsewhere, Iron Maiden re-enters the Artist 100 as No. 3, a new high, as its LP Senjutsu opens at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (64,000 units), marking the group’s highest charting effort. It also starts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales (61,000 copies sold).
Plus, Imagine Dragons jump 51-8 on the Artist 100 as their new album Mercury – Act 1 debuts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 (31,000 units). The group last appeared in the Artist 100’s top 10 in May 2019, after a spending a week at No. 1 in July 2017.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
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