Westside Gunn re-enters Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart (dated Oct. 28) at No. 1, becoming the top up-and-coming act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to his new album, And Then You Pray for Me.
The set, released Oct. 13 on Griselda/EMPIRE, debuts at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 with 20,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week, according to Luminate. It also starts at No. 7 on Top Rap Albums and No. 8 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It becomes his first top 40 entry on the Billboard 200, and fourth overall. He previously charted highest with Pray for Paris (No. 67 peak, 2020).
Earlier this year, Westside Gunn earned his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to his featured appearance on Travis Scott’s “Lost Forever.” The song debuted and peaked at No. 46 in August.
Rounding out the top five of the latest Emerging Artists chart, Victoria Monet jumps 10-2 for a new high, as her single “On My Mama” stands at No. 97 on the Hot 100; Paul Russell drops to No. 3 after two weeks at the summit; Ren bounds 23-4, hitting a new best as his new album, Sick Boi, debuts at No. 137 on the Billboard 200 (9,000 units); and Teddy Swims dips 3-5.
The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard’s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.
