Taylor Swift Rules Artist 100, Stray Kids & Chris Stapleton Surge to Top 3
Written by djfrosty on November 21, 2023
Taylor Swift spends a record-extending 86th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Nov. 25) thanks to the continued success of her latest rerecorded LP, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), as well as nine additional albums on the Billboard 200 and 11 songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) spent its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and falls to No. 2 on the latest list with 159,000 equivalent album units earned in its third frame, according to Luminate. Two weeks earlier, it debuted with 1.653 million equivalent album units – the largest one-week total since the debut of Adele’s 25 (3.482 million; Nov. 15, 2015).
Here’s a recap of Swift’s current Billboard 200-charting albums:
- No. 2, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
- No. 7, Midnights
- No. 14, Lover
- No. 18, Folklore
- No. 24, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
- No. 25, Reputation
- No. 31, Red (Taylor’s Version)
- No. 32, Evermore
- No. 49, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
- No. 58, 1989
On the Hot 100, Swift’s 11 songs include 10 from 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Leading her haul, “Cruel Summer,” from 2019’s Lover, spends a fourth week at No. 1.
Stray Kids re-enter the Artist 100 at No. 2 thanks to the group’s new album, ROCK-STAR. The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 224,000 units earned in its opening week. It’s the group’s fourth No. 1 (encompassing all of its entries), after ODDINARY, MAXIDENT (both in 2022) and 5-STAR (this June). Stray Kids becomes the first act to debut its first four chart entries atop the chart since Alicia Keys in 2001-07, when she achieved the feat with Songs in A Minor (2001), The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), the live set Unplugged (2005) and As I Am (2007).
Meanwhile, all four of Stray Kids’ albums have topped the Billboard 200 in a span of nearly 20 months. That’s the fastest accumulation of four No. 1s since Swift notched four in just under 16 months with Folklore, Evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) between August 2020 and November 2021.
Stray Kids also scores its first entry on the Hot 100 as “LALALALA,” from ROCK-STAR, debuts at No. 90.
Plus, Chris Stapleton jumps 13-3 on the Artist 100 as his new LP, Higher, debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (90,000 units), marking his fifth top five title. The album’s single “White Horse” gallops 29-12 on the Hot 100, becoming is highest charting song in a lead role.
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.