Mike., Sueco Lead Breakthrough 25 Chart as PinkPantheress Rises
Hip-hop artist Mike. makes a strong debut on Rolling Stone’s Breakthrough 25 Chart, entering at Number One after having a massive month on streaming in August. In the last week of July, his album the highs. debuted Number 45 on the RS 200 as he also made his debut on the Artists 500 Chart. But Mike., whose full name is Michael Francis Seander, didn’t lose steam in August, pulling in 22.5 million more streams than he did in July.
Coming in second is Sueco, an L.A. Instagram personality turned rapper turned, most recently, rocker. Two years after releasing his rap debut, Miscreant, under the name Sueco the Child, he’s dropped the Child and taken a sharp left turn toward angsty alt-rock on his latest single “Paralyzed.” The song launched to Number 37 on the RS 100, and also helped Sueco make his Artists 500 debut.
Rising to Number Three is London singer PinkPantheress, who is a leader in the emerging alt-girl rap microgenre. She’s followed by two other Breakthrough alums, banda group Grupo Firme and country singer Parker McCollum, at Numbers Four and Five.
Top Breakthrough
mike.
22.5M
Sueco
20.2M
PinkPantheress
14.9M
Grupo Firme
14.2M
Parker McCollum
13.5M
The Rolling Stone Breakthrough 25 chart ranks the artists who are seeing the greatest gains each month in audio streams. It does not include passive listening, such as terrestrial radio or digital radio. Because the chart focuses on newer music, eligible artists must not have not reached the upper ranks of the charts before. Each month, Rolling Stone publishes an official version of the Breakthrough 25 chart, covering the four-week period ending with the previous Thursday.
Nessa Barrett, who got her start on TikTok before transitioning to music, rises to Number Seven after the success of her single “I Hope Ur Miserable Until Ur Dead,” which became her first RS 100 hit and also helped her reach the Artists 500 Chart for her first time. Debuting close behind her is Oakland indie-pop singer Still Woozy, who in August released his debut album, If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is.
Other artists making their debuts include A-Wall (Number Nine), who saw his song “Loverboy” went viral on TikTok, British soul singer Celeste (Number 10), who saw a massive growth in listenership in the U.S. in August, Portland rapper Yeat (Number 11), and Babyxsosa (Number 13), a rising female rapper from Richmond.
See the full Breakthrough 25 Chart here.
