Eric Church vaults from No. 86 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated May 1) to become the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to his new album Heart.
The set debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 49,000 equivalent album units earned, according to MRC Data. Of that sum, 40,000 are from album sales, as it debuts atop the all-genre Top Album Sales list.
The album marks Church’s sixth career top 10, all of which have hit the top five, on the Billboard 200 and first since Desperate Man in 2018 (No. 5 peak). On Top Country Albums, Heart opens at No. 3, marking Church’s ninth top 10, and eighth top five title.
Plus, Greta Van Fleet re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 3 on the strength of its sophomore LP The Battle at Garden’s Gate. The set arrives at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart with 44,000 units. The band topped the Artist 100 for a week in November 2018, when its prior LP Anthem of the Peaceful Army debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Top Rock Albums.
The Artist 100, which launched in 2014, measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
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