RS Charts: Drake Bounces Back to Number One on Artists 500 Chart

bubbled back to the top of the Rolling Stone Artists 500 chart, raking in 280.1 million streams for the week of May 1st through May 7th.

Though never far from the top of the artists chart, Drake’s unsurprising return was prompted by the arrival of his new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes. Five of the project’s 14 cuts premiered in the Top 10 of the Top 100 Songs chart, with “Pain 1993,” featuring Plaboi Carti, bowing highest at Number Three, followed by “Chicago Freestyle” at Five, “D4L” at Eight, “Not You Too” at Nine and “Time Flies” at 10.

And while Dark Lane Demo Tapes accounted for the bulk of Drake’s weekly streaming tally — it pulled in 220.8 million alone — it didn’t do quite enough to beat Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now, which took the Number One spot on the Top 200 Albums chart. In total, Dark Lane Demo Tapes moved moved 206,900 album-equivalent units to Here and Now‘s 227,800. Chesney’s numbers were bolstered by album bundles opposed to a strong stream count, so while the release of Here and Now did give him a bump on the Artists 500, it was only from Number 72 to Number 44 as he pulled in 23.7 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.

Coming in behind Drake on the Artists 500 was Lil Baby, who racked up 100.5 million song streams as his latest project, My Turn, moved to Number Three on the RS 200, moving 98,400 album units. Last week’s Artists 500 Number One, Youngboy Never Broke Again, dropped to Number Three with 89.3 million streams, while Da Baby and Lil Uzi Vert followed at Four and Five with 86.2 million and 85.6 million streams, respectively. More regulars filled out the rest of the Top 10 with the Weeknd landing at Six (69.7 million), Post Malone at Seven (66.6 million), Juice WRLD at Eight (61.9 million), Rod Wave at Nine (52.4 million) and Travis Scott at 10 (51.6 million).

Outside the Top 10, Megan Thee Stallion continued to rise up the Artists 500 chart, jumping from Number 19 to Number 12. The rapper pulled in 45.4 million song streams this week as her recent “Savage” remix with Beyoncé claimed the Number One spot on the RS 100. Doja Cat also got a big bump this week, picking up 39.6 million streams as she went from Number 30 to Number 16 as the new remix of her song, “Say So,” with Nicki Minaj landed at Number Two on the RS 100.