Drake Fends Off YoungBoy Never Broke Again to Hold Top Spot on Artists 500
Drake managed to fend off yet another challenge to his Artists 500 throne, notching a record-extending 35th week atop the chart.
Drake pulled in 274.5 million song streams for the week of September 24th through September 30th, the 14th highest weekly stream count the chart has ever seen. His closest challenger this week — and really the only artists whose come near him in the wake of Certified Lover Boy — was YoungBoy Never Broke Again, who rose to Number Two on the Artists 500 with 226 million song streams following the release of his new album, Sincerely, Kentrell. For NBA Youngboy, the last time he charged this high on the Artists 500 was November 2020.
Top Artists
Drake
274.5M
YoungBoy Never Broke Again
226.8M
Kanye West
118.9M
Taylor Swift
99.1M
Juice Wrld
75.1M
Elsewhere, J. Cole popped back into the Top 10 for the first time since June, landing at Number Eight with 70.4 million streams as his new song, “Your Heart” with Joyner Lucas, debuted at Number 18 on the Top 100 Songs chart. Coldplay and BTS also got big boosts as their new collaboration, “My Universe,” bowed at Number One on the RS100: Coldplay rose 29 ranks from the previous week to hit Number 61 with 26.9 million song streams, while BTS returned to the Top 40 at Number 35 with 37.1 million streams.
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 ending the previous Thursday.
Further down the chart, Adele re-entered the Top 100 for the first time since October 2020, landing at Number 96 with 20.2 million song streams as rumors about her long-awaited new album continue to grow. Nirvana also continued to rise up the Artists 500 chart in the wake of Nevermind’s 30th anniversary, with the grunge pioneers hitting a new peak of Number 104 with 19.1 million song streams.
Making his Artists 500 debut this week is rising Nigerian singer, Ckay, who hit Number 431 as his single “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” continued climb the RS100. Video game developer and composer Toby Fox also hit a new peak of Number 320 on his second week of the Artists 500 thanks to the success of the new game, Delatrune Chapter 2 and its accompanying soundtrack. And Alessia Cara rose 201 ranks from last week — the largest chart leap of the week — hitting Number 261 following the arrival of her new album, In the Meantime.
