FutureΒ and his self-titled album take #1 on the Billboard 200 this week; International Scoreboard introduces Rag’n’Bone Man.
Billboard Artist Top 10
For the magazine dated March 11, 2017
See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100
| Billboard Artist Top 10 | Name | Billboard 200 Album Rank | Billboard Hot 100 Singles | Highest Charting Single |
| 1 | Future | Β 1 | 8 | 23:Β Cold |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran | 43 | 3 | 1:Β Shape Of You |
| 3 | Bruno Mars | 2 | 2 | 4:Β That’s What I Like |
| 4 | Weeknd | 4 | 4 | 11:Β I Feel It Coming |
| 5 | Drake | 15 | 3 | 13:Β Fake Love |
| 6 | Adele | 11 | 1 | 37:Β Water Under The Bridge |
| 7 | Chainsmokers | 29 | 3 | 5:Β Closer |
| 8 | Shawn Mendes | 19 | 2 | 18:Β Mercy |
| 9 | Rihanna | 23 | 1 | 7:Β Love On The Brain |
| 10 | Big Sean | 6 | 3 | 9: Bounce Back |
On this week’s Scoreboard, the major move belongs to Atlanta rapperΒ Future whose surprise self-titled album takes #1 on the Billboard 200 and lands five songs on the Hot 100. @future, Billboard’s #12 artist of 2016, also takes #1 on the Artist 100, a position he is bound to hold next week as well whenΒ anotherΒ new Future album will make its mark on the Billboard 200. If Future’sΒ HNDRXXΒ takes #1 next week, he will become the first artist ever to have back-to-back #1 album debuts on the chart! However, Future Hendrix’s reignΒ at #1 will thenΒ be endedΒ byΒ Ed Sheeran who this week maintains his hold atΒ #1 on the Hot 100 with “Shape Of You” and who will certainly reclaim #1 on the Artist 100 once his new album Γ· (Divide)Β makes its chart impact (it came out globally on March 3rd).
Ed Sheeran selling his new album at the record store and scheming to take over the Scoreboard
FUTURE is Now
After some mixtape success, @future made his first mark on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2011 guest-rapping onΒ YC‘s catchy “Racks.”Β “Racks on racks” may have been YC’s one-hit-wonder high mark, butΒ forΒ Future it was just the start to one of the most successfulΒ rap careersΒ of the decade. Just this week, he has three songs on the Hot 100 NOTΒ off of his new album. There is the single “Used To This” ft.Β Drake, a frequent collaborator, a guest appearance onΒ Ariana Grande‘s “Everyday,” on which @future simply barks the song title over and over on, and an appearance onΒ Maroon 5‘s “Cold,” the second single off of the group’s forthcoming album. Although @future is happy to be a rapper-for-hire, the new #1 album in the U.S. is notableΒ being a solo release.
Future’s futuristic hip-hop style has become ubiquitousΒ in hip-hop, and onΒ FUTURE’s “Zoom” he reminds the up-and-comersΒ copying his style aboutΒ who is #1. He also raps about how he is a “Super Trapper.” On “Draco” he celebratesΒ his AK-47Β and on opener “Rent Money” he raps aboutΒ drugs, guns, and women while putting down his rivals. To paraphrase his collaborationΒ album with Drake, what a time to be Future. Watch for himΒ againΒ on next week’s Scoreboard with another big album.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQgA-lFlxAX/?taken-by=future&hl=en
@future getting all contemplative while releasing TWOΒ new albums
International Scoreboard: Rag’n’Bone Man
With American charts dominated by Future and Ed Sheeran, it is a good time to look overΒ at the British charts. There,Β The Chainsmokers are not messing around with two top 10 hits andΒ Sheeran’s “Shape Of You”Β is #1 on the Official Singles Chart. The most compelling NEWΒ artist in the top 10 is known as Rag’n’Bone Man, sitting at #4 with “Human.”Β @ragnbonemanuk comes from East Sussex in southern England and hisΒ singer-songwriter rockΒ combines with hip-hop for a compelling genre-bending sound.
“Human” recalls brooding 1970’s soul ofΒ Bill Withers, the more recent global success ofΒ Hozier‘s “Take Me To Church,” and the thoughtful lyricsΒ of Grammy country winnersΒ Chris Stapleton andΒ Sturgill Simpson. There is also his presence, “6ft 5in tall, heavily tattooed and built like a Viking,”Β which makes him hard to miss or forget. With the success of “Human” in Europe, he will surely become famousΒ in the U.S. soon. Although the song is not yet on the Hot 100 it is already #1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs chart and at #65 on the Canadian Hot 100. Check out “Human” below and stay tuned to Scoreboard to see if he can make the Billboard Artist Top 10 in 2017:
