Scoreboard: Migos, Dua Lipa

This week on Scoreboard Migos take #1 on the Billboard 200 and Dua Lipa moves up the Hot 100

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated February 10, 2018

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

This week the Georgia rap trio Migos take over at #1 on both the Artist 100 and the Billboard 200 with new album Culture II. The release also increases the number of Migos appearances on the Hot 100 to 14 tracks. Drake maintains his hold at #1 on that chart with “God’s Plan” for the second week in a row. This week the Billboard charts also reflect Grammy bounces. The night’s biggest winner Bruno Mars moves up to #3 on the Artist 100, while country star Chris Stapleton rockets to #5. Stapleton’s performance on the charts is driven by both three Grammy wins and a new collaboration with Justin Timberlake, “Say Something,” which starts at #9 on the Hot 100.

Veteran electronic act Above & Beyond take #6 on the Artist 100 with new album Common Ground

Migos Continue Owning Culture

If it feels like Migos just released an album, you’re right. The first edition of Culture took #1 on the Billboard 200 a year ago and the second installment of Culture, like Taylor Swift‘s reputation, is both bigger and badder. When the first Culture provided 13 tracks and 58 minutes, the sequel extends to 24 tracks and 105 minutes. A straight listen-through of the album can feel exhausting. Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset rap a mile a minute, although their trademark repetition ensures that you know the title of every song. What do they repeat this time around? If you’re a fan of former Hot 100 #1 “Bad And Boujee,” you get “BBO (Bad Bitches Only)” ft. 21 Savage. If you’re more into old school Migos of “Versace,” Drake is back on “Walk It Talk It.” If you want Cardi B and Nicki Minaj on the same track, there’s the Hot 100 #8 hit “MotorSport.” Over the 105 minutes, the album captures much of today’s hip-hop culture, bringing in Gucci Mane, Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, Big Sean, Post Malone, and 2 Chainz under the Quality Street Music umbrella. While the quantity of guests is less than, say, a DJ Khaled album, the quality of Culture II is first-class.

To understand the genius and, to some, the annoying-ness of Migos one can focus on “Stir Fry,” which sits at #12 on this week’s Hot 100. The track is produced by Pharrell, who lent Migos a beat originally intended for T.I. It takes Migos away from a trap sound to a poppy production familiar to Pharrell followers. Yet the lyrical delivery is typical Migos. The song’s title is repeated 29 times; Migos are specifically whipping illegal substances in the kitchen, like a stir fly. The album is not all trapping, bad bitches, and MotorSport though. The outro, “Culture National Anthem,” provides an anthem to “my people [who] pray and take a knee,” bringing the album’s celebration to a subdued conclusion. Just like in 2017, Migos are eager to carry hip-hop culture forward and whether it’s “MotorSport” or “Culture National Anthem,” they are prolific ambassadors.

Migos are quickly moving to take hip-hop’s throne with two #1 albums in one year

Dua Lipa’s Slow Chart Climb

Last year has been an underwhelming one for female pop singers. Lorde, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift all had strong debuts with their albums, but their chart momentum quickly fizzled. Despite critical recognition, Kesha, Pink, and Lana Del Rey also struggled to sustain on the charts. Then we had lesser-known female singers who had greater chart longevity than expected. Halsey, for example, is #6 this week on the Hot 100 with “Bad At Love,” a track off of June’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. Right behind her is Dua Lipa, a British-Albanian singer who initially came off as an anonymous dance-queen voice on Martin Garrix‘s “Scared To Be Lonely” and her Hot 100 debut single “Blow Your Mind (Mwah).” Neither of those songs reached the Hot 100’s top 50, but six months ago Lipa’s “New Rules” entered the Hot 100 and this week it has reached a peak of #7.

Lipa’s slow rise on the chart is of course attributable to her being a new artist, but “New Rules” cut through the due to its sassy, even humorous, numerical approach to getting over an ex. The line “if you’re under him / you ain’t gettin’ over him” is easily one of the catchiest pop lines of the year. It brings back the glorious empowered pop of Britney Spears and the Spice Girls, and reminds us all that there’s more to female pop than Dr. Luke productions. Lipa’s self-titled album showcases that her range is not only limited to dance music, but also to power ballads on which she sounds more like a British Pink. If making it to Saturday Night Live musical guest is vindication, Lipa has achieved it (a week ago). Check out her performance of “Homesick” below and track her performance every week on Scoreboard.