Arcade Fire is the top musical act in the country, as the rock group debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Aug. 19), powered by the release of its new studio album, Everything Now,which arrives atop the Billboard 200 chart with 100,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 3, according to Nielsen Music.
The Artist 100, which launched in July 2014, 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.
Arcade Fire becomes just the seventh act to debut at No. 1 on the Artist 100, following Frank Ocean, Blink-182, David Bowie, Future, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers and Trey Songz. Ocean was the last act to do so, following the release of Blonde on the Sept. 10, 2016-dated chart.
Album sales contribute nearly all of Arcade Fire’s Artist 100 points (99 percent). Additionally, the album's eponymous lead single re-enters Hot Rock Songs at No. 13, nearly besting its No. 11 peak from the June 24-dated chart.
Rounding out the top 5, Bruno Mars rises 5-2, Ed Sheeran climbs 4-3, Imagine Dragons ascends 7-4 and Kendrick Lamar moves 8-5.
Among other Artist 100 moves, Alice Cooper debuts at No. 61, as the rock veteran’s latest studio album Paranormal arrives at No. 6 on the Top Rock Albums chart (14,000 units), and Manchester Orchestra makes its debut at No. 68, as the rock group’s fifth studio album A Black Mile to the Surface opens at No. 7 on Top Rock Albums (just under 14,000 units).
Check out this week’s full Artist 100 here.
