The week after the Grammys featured big chart moves by performers and winners, but the biggest winner of all was the “Fifty Shades Darker” soundtrack.
Billboard Artist Top 10
For the magazine dated March 3, 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 | Bruno Mars | 2 | 2 | 7: That’s What I Like |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran | 45 | 2 | 1: Shape Of You |
| 3 | Adele | 6 | 1 | 31: Water Under The Bridge |
| 4 | Weeknd | 5 | 3 | 9: I Feel It Coming |
| 5 | Lady Gaga | 8 | 1 | 18: Million Reasons |
| 6 | Drake | 15 | 3 | 12: Fake Love |
| 7 | Big Sean | 3 | 3 | 10: Bounce Back |
| 8 | Migos | 4 | 3 | 3: Bad And Boujee |
| 9 | Chainsmokers | 27 | 2 | 5: Closer |
| 10 | Beyoncé | 9 | 1 | 62: Shining |
The Grammy Awards took place on February 12th and this week’s Billboard charts have rewarded performers and winners. On the Hot 100, Ed Sheeran maintains his hold at #1 with “Shape Of You,” which he performed at the Grammys and on Saturday Night Live in the same weekend. Sheeran’s album is not out yet, so on the Artist 100 he is bettered by Bruno Mars who comes back to #1 for the first time in 12 weeks. Mars performed “That’s What I Like” at the Grammys and it moves up 30 spots on the Hot 100 to #7. 24K Magic, the album, also rises to #2 on the Billboard 200. But @brunomars cannot quite retake the top of the Billboard 200. That goes to the soundtrack to Fifty Shades Darker, which came out the same day as the film and disrupted the Grammy effect on the charts.
After a big weekend in America, Ed Sheeran went off to Austria and Britain to build buzz for his forthcoming album
50 Shades Darker, The Album, Arrives
Universal and Republic records released the soundtrack to Fifty Shades Darker on the same day as the film release, two years after the first Fifty Shades Of Grey film and soundtrack came out. That first soundtrack became Billboard’s #9 album of 2015 and generated two Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 – The Weeknd‘s “Earned It” and Ellie Goulding‘s “Love Me Like You Do.” The sequel’s lead single has been the Zayn and Taylor Swift duet “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” which reaches a new high this week at #2 on the Hot 100, though @taylorswift is blocked from returning to #1 by her friend Ed Sheeran. The music video came out on January 26th and featured a decent amount of emoting from @zayn and Swift, but not enough Fifty Shading. The next single off the soundtrack is courtesy of Halsey, the female voice on The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer,” who goes solo on “Not Afraid Anymore.” The second single is loud and dark, and vague. “Watching my dress fall to the floor” is the most specific @iamhalsey gets. Eminem was also “Not Afraid” back in 2010 and somehow that track does a better job summarizing what you need to know for Fifty Shades Darker. Based on the film reviews, the only thing to be afraid of is the wasting of your money and time. At least with Sia and Kygo involved, the soundtrack offers fifty shades of silver lining.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ1fGbnDkXw/?taken-by=iamhalsey&hl=en
Halsey keeps channeling that New Americana
The Grammys Effect
After more than three and a half hours of music and award presentations, Adele emerged as the biggest winner at the 59th Grammy Awards. @adele went 5-for-5, winning all awards for which she was nominated and brought her Grammys success rate to 15 out of 18, and 13 in a row. No wonder she is up to #3 on the Artist 100 and her Album of the Year 25 back up to #6 following the awards. Despite all the wins, @adele was quite apologetic to the other major nominee Beyoncé, who ended the night 2-for-9, including 4 head-to-head losses to Adele. After Winning Album of the Year, Adele snapped her trophy in half, though reports that she intended to share the Grammy with Queen Bey were erroneous – the breakage was an accident, and Adele was later photographed with five intact trophies. The lead story coming out of the Grammys has been one of Beyoncé’s bold experimentation being passed over for Adele’s more “traditional” sound. It is a challenge when the Grammy voters skew older and the fact that Chance The Rapper won Best New Artist is not an excuse. As Queen Bey said on “Formation,” “the best revenge is your paper.”
@beyonce had fun at the NBA All-Star the weekend after the Grammys
Then there were other movers and shakers at the Grammys. Ed Sheeran defended his #1 single on the Hot 100 from the Zayn/Taylor Swift Attack. Bruno Mars got extra exposure paying tribute to Prince. Pentatonix performed…and did NOT sing Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.” John Legend performed…and did NOT sing “Love Me Now.” Lady Gaga, fresh off the Super Bowl, came to duet with Metallica (?!), and the mic did not work. Twenty One Pilots, the biggest rock band of 2016 in America, took their pants off. In summary, it was a bumpy Grammys, with host James Corden‘s opening skit of falling down the stairs setting the stage for a lot of strangeness and snafus. Even Adele had to restart her funereal cover of George Michael‘s “Fastlove.” In the strangest outcome, the late David Bowie was the biggest winner after Adele. While he was alive he went 1-for-12, and in 2017 he won all four Grammys for which he was nominated. Here’s hoping the Grammys can mess up less and give more trophies to artists while they’re still alive in 2018.
Chance also made it to the All-Star weekend after winning at the Grammys
