JAY-Z re-enters at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated July 29), fueled by his latest studio album, 4:44, which earned the rapper his whopping 14th No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (the most among soloists) with 262,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 13, 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.
JAY-Z's chart-topping re-entry shatters his previous peak of No. 91 (the week that the Artist 100 began). He's the fifth act to return to the tally at No. 1, following A Tribe Called Quest, Bon Jovi, Prince and The Lumineers.
Album sales contribute the majority of JAY-Z's Artist 100 points (78 percent), followed by streaming (15 percent).
Rounding out the Artist 100's top five, Ed Sheeran holds at No. 2; Bruno Mars descends to No. 3 after five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1; Kendrick Lamar climbs 5-4; and DJ Khaled drops 3-5.
Among other Artist 100 moves, 21 Savage re-enters the chart to a new peak of No. 8, as his first unaccompanied studio set, Issa Album, arrives at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (77,000 units); HAIM starts at No. 17 on the Artist 100 as the trio's sophomore album Something to Tell You enters the Billboard 200 at No. 7 (32,000); and Kesha debuts on the Artist 100 at No. 38, as her new single "Praying" bows at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Check out this week's full Artist 100 here.
