Drake jumps from No. 8 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 21), reigning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a 38th total week, thanks to the arrival of his new studio album, For All the Dogs.
The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 402,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week (Oct. 6-12), according to Luminate. That’s the fourth-biggest week of the year, after only the first frames of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (716,000 units), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at at Time (501,000) and Travis Scott’s Utopia (496,000).
For All the Dogs tallied 514 million on-demand official streams for its 23 tracks in its first week, the fourth-highest single-week sum ever for an album. The biggest streaming weeks were achieved by first weeks of Drake’s own Scorpion (745.9 million, 2018) and Certified Lover Boy (743.7 million, 2021) and Swift’s Midnights (549.3 million, 2022).
Further, all 23 songs from the new album land on the Billboard Hot 100, helping Drake extend many of his chart records, including the most top five hits (41), top 10s (76), top 20 entries (132), top 40 titles (199) and overall entries (320). “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, debuts at No. 1, becoming Drake’s 13th career leader, tying him with Michael Jackson for the most among solo males. (J. Cole claims his first No. 1.)
Drake’s 38 weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100 are the most among males in the chart’s nine-year history, and second overall only to Swift’s 81.
Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Swift dips to No. 2, Morgan Wallen falls 2-3, Olivia Rodrigo holds at No. 4 and Zach Bryan repeats at No. 5.
Elsewhere, NCT 127 re-enters at No. 8, thanks to the group’s new set Fact Check: The Fifth Album. The collection opens at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on World Albums, where it’s the act’s seventh leader, with 31,000 units.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
