The Weeknd has yet another honor to tout when he headlines the first Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival, to be held Aug. 22-23 at Jones Beach in New York: he’s the top musical act in the U.S. for a third week, holding atop the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Aug. 22).
The Artist 100 measures 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.
Atop the Artist 100, The Weeknd reaches a milestone: he becomes just the third act to spend at least three weeks at No. 1 since the chart launched in July 2014. Taylor Swift easily leads with 31 frames on top, while Sam Smith has also led for three weeks. The Weeknd earns the honor concurrent with his first Hot 100 No. 1, “Can’t Feel My Face.”
The Weeknd fends off a surging Drake, who pushes 6-2 on the Artist 100, up by 91 percent in total activity. He’s fueled largely by a 440 percent surge in digital song sales, as four new tracks debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, totaling 236,000 downloads sold in the week ending Aug. 6, according to Nielsen Music.
Swift drops 2-3 on the Artist 100, while One Direction rockets 28-4, up by 222 percent. Digital song sales lead the way (61 percent of the boy band’s sum), as new single “Drag Me Down” blasts in at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart (and No. 3 on the Hot 100) with 350,000 sold, the group’s best week so far for a download. 1D ranks in the Artist 100’s top five for the first time since December 2014, when it peaked at No. 2.
Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, iconic rock group Led Zeppelin re-enters at a new peak (No. 5), up by 758 percent in activity, as three of its reissued classics enter the Top Album Sales top 10: In Through the Out Door (No. 3, 23,000 sold), Coda (No. 5, 21,000) and Presence (No. 6, 20,000).
Meanwhile, One Direction isn’t the only boy band riding high on the Artist 100. Australian pop/punk quartet 5 Seconds of Summer rebounds back into the chart’s top 40, bounding 42-26, up by 25 percent in overall activity. New single “She’s Kinda Hot” drives its climb, with social reaction marking the group’s biggest Artist 100 points contributor (41 percent). Digital song sales follow with 25 percent of the act’s sum, with “Hot” hiking 35-23 on Digital Songs (46,000 sold, up 45 percent) following the Aug. 3 premiere of its official video. 5SOS spent a week at No. 1 on the Artist 100, dated Aug. 9, 2014, when its self-titled debut full-length arrived at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
