J. Cole jumps from No. 12 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated May 29) to become the top musical act in the U.S. for a third total week, and for the first time since May 2018, thanks to his new LP The Off-Season.
The album launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 282,000 equivalent album units, according to MRC Data, marking the second-biggest week of 2021 so far, after the opening frame of Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (291,000). Cole’s new set is his sixth Billboard 200 No. 1.
All 12 tracks from The Off-Season concurrently land in the top 40 of the latest Billboard Hot 100, with four debuting in the top 10: “my.life,” with 21 Savage and Morray, at No. 2 (J. Cole’s new career-best rank); “Amari” at No. 5; “pride.is.the.devil,” with Lil Baby, at No. 7; and “95.south” at No. 8. He’s the eighth artist to chart at least four songs in the top 10 simultaneously and just the fourth artist to debut four songs in the top 10 concurrently.
Plus, Olivia Rodrigo hits a new No. 2 Artist 100 high, up from No. 21, as “Good 4 U” soars in as her second Hot 100 No. 1, and Nicki Minaj re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 5, marking her highest placement since August 2018, when she reached a No. 2 best. Minaj returns as her re-released 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (80,000 units).
The Artist 100 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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