RS Charts: Youngboy Never Broke Again Hits Number One on Artists 500
Youngboy Never Broke Again jumped from Number Seven to Number One on the Rolling Stone Artists 500 for the week of February 21st through February 27th.
The Louisiana rapper is a streaming favorite and has been a mainstay in the Top 10 of the Artists 500 for some time, but his swift rise this week was prompted by the release of his new mixtape, Still Flexin, Still Steppin. In total, NBA Youngboy racked up 180.5 million streams, and Still Flexin, Still Steppin is projected to debut at Number Two on the Top 200 Albums chart, moving approximately 95,900 album units thanks to about 115.6 million streams. The rapper also debuted one song in the Top 10 of the Top 100 Songs chart, with “Lil Top” bowing at Number Eight with 14.5 million song 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 with the previous Thursday.
Coming in behind NBA Youngboy was last week’s Artists 500 chart-topper, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. This time around, he picked up 104.4 million song streams thanks to the continued success of his latest LP, Artist 2.0, which is expected to hit Number Six on the Top 200. Roddy Ricch, meanwhile, landed at Number Three with 96.9 million streams as “The Box” scored yet another week at Number One on the RS 100, while Post Malone and Drake rounded out the Top Five with 92.3 million and 89.6 million streams respectively.
From there, Justin Bieber, the Weeknd, Trippie Redd and Billie Eilish filled out Numbers Six through Nine, while the 10 spot went to late rapper Pop Smoke. The Brooklyn MC was already climbing the chart thanks to the release of his mixtape, Meet the Woo 2, but fans began flocking to his music even more after he was shot and killed in a robbery last month. Pop Smoke pulled in 74.9 million song streams as Meet the Woo 2 is expected to rise to Number Seven on the RS200.
The biggest mover on the Artists 500 chart this week, though, was K-pop stars BTS, who jumped from Number 55 to Number 12 following the release of their new album, Map of the Soul: 7. The album is projected to debut at Number One on the Top 200, but its success was mostly driven by sales, with the LP only racking up 55.6 million streams.
