Taylor Swift stays atop the Billboard Artist 100 chart this week, logging a record-extending 10th week at No. 1, while Nicki Minaj soars 12-2, fueled by sales for her new album.
The Artist 100 provides the first weekly ranking dedicated to measuring artist activity across Billboard‘s most influential charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. The Artist 100 blends data measuring album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Swift has crowned the Artist 100 for 10 of its 25 weeks, dating to its July launch. The next-longest-leader is Sam Smith, with three weeks at No. 1. And Ariana Grande and Maroon 5 are the only other acts to tally multiple weeks on top, with two weeks each.
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Swift holds a nearly 2-to-1 lead in points over Minaj, despite the former dipping by 6 percent and the latter leaping by 192 percent. Album sales again account for the majority of Swift’s Artist 100 rank (42 percent). Her album 1989 returns (2-1) for a sixth week atop the Billboard 200 with 375,000 total album equivalent units (with 331,000 from pure album sales), according to Nielsen Music.
Digital song sales follow, with 28 percent of Swift’s Artist 100 points. Her current single, “Blank Space,” tops the Hot 100 for a sixth week, having sold 228,000 downloads in the week ending Dec. 21.
Minaj returns to her No. 2 highpoint on the Artist 100. She first hit the runner-up spot on Sept. 13 (and has ranked inside the top 20 each week since). Her new album The Pinkprint starts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 244,000 total album equivalent units (with 194,000 from pure album purchases). Album sales mark her biggest Artist 100 points contributor (41 percent).
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Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Ed Sheeran reaches a new peak (4-3), followed by Pentatonix (3-4) and Smith (5-5).
In the Artist 100’s other main top 10 news, Matt McAndrew rockets up 196 percent from 44-10 following his second-place finish on the latest season of NBC’s The Voice, powered by the debut of his single “Wasted Love” at No. 14 on the Hot 100. Additionally, third-place finalist Chris Jamison roars 64-28; winner Craig Wayne Boyd charges 54-30 (as his coronation single “My Baby’s Got a Smile on Her Face” storms onto Hot Country Songs at No. 1); and fourth-place finisher Damien debuts at No. 84.
View the complete Billboard Artist 100 chart here.
