RS Charts: Taylor Swift Tops the Artists 500 for Second Straight Week

Taylor Swift took the Number One spot on the Artists 500 chart for the second straight week on the strength of her surprise album Folklore, which also finished at Number One on the Top 200 Albums chart for the second week in a row. All told, the singer earned 179.4 million streams for the week of July 31 through August 6. 

Last week, Swift topped the Top 100 Songs chart, in addition to the Artists 500 and Top 200 Albums charts. Folklore was slightly less dominant on the 100 Songs chart this week, with “Cardigan” falling from Number One to Number Four, but the album still placed three songs in the top 12 spots. All told, the numbers confirm Folklore as a major triumph for Swift, who announced the album just one day before releasing it, after a major pre-release campaign for 2019’s Lover. 

The Rolling Stone Artists 500 chart ranks the most-streamed artists of the week in the United States, taking into account audio streams across an artist’s entire catalog during the tracking period. The chart does not include passive listening such as terrestrial radio or digital radio. The Artists 500 is updated daily, and each week Rolling Stone finalizes and publishes an official version of the chart, covering the seven-day period ended the previous Thursday.

Just behind Swift was Pop Smoke, who racked up 138.4 million streams this week, followed closely by JuiceWRLD, with 136.5 million streams. Both rappers’ posthumous projects had helped them top the Artists 500 in recent weeks; Juice’s Legends Never Die had the biggest debut week of any 2020 album until Folklore surpassed it last week. 

Billie Eilish returned to the Top 10 for the first time since April, jumping from Number 22 to Number Nine, thanks to her new single “My Future,” which finished at Number Three on the 100 Songs Chart with 140,000 song units. The only other new artist to crack the Top 10 was Florida rapper Rod Wave jumped from 14 to Number Ten. 

Rounding out the Top 10 were Da Baby at Number Five with 80.8 million streams, Post Malone at Six with 68.7 million, recent Rolling Stone cover star Lil Baby at Seven with 67.7 million, and Young Boy Never Broke again with 65.3 million.