Every week, Scoreboard brings The Knockturnal readers the 411 on who is moving up and down the charts in the U.S., with an artist feature and a check-in on the international Scoreboard.
Billboard Artist Top 10
For the magazine dated August 27, 2016
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 | Drake | 2 | 9 | 5: One Dance |
| 2 | Twenty One Pilots | 6 | 3 | 4: Heathens |
| 3 | Rihanna | 9 | 4 | 3: This Is What You Came For |
| 4 | Justin Bieber | 23 | 4 | 2: Cold Water |
| 5 | Blake Shelton | 4 | 1 | 71: She’s Got A Way With Words |
| 6 | Adele | 10 | 1 | 11: Send My Love (To Your New Lover) |
| 7 | Skillet | 3 | – | |
| 8 | Ariana Grande | 13 | 1 | 13: Into You |
| 9 | Chainsmokers | 163 | 2 | 6: Closer |
| 10 | Meghan Trainor | 14 | 1 | 20: Me Too |
The Scoreboard is quiet this week with few changes on the Artist 100. Drake maintains his grip at #1, and Blake Shelton makes a move to #5 due to a $0.99 album promotion on Google Play. The sole new entry in the Top 10 is by Christian Rock band Skillet, and unlike NEEDTOBREATHE (from a few Scoreboards ago) Skillet really rock, with their lead single “Invincible” reminding me of that moment in 2007 when Seether‘s “Fake It” and Finger Eleven‘s “Paralyzer” were making moves on the Hot 100.
Speaking of the Hot 100, Sia and Sean Paul are still #1 with “Cheap Thrills,” while “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots reach a new high at #4. This peak is driven by the Suicide Squad soundtrack that debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album’s second biggest hit is a #squadgoals collaboration by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign, and X Ambassadors with “Sucker For Pain,” which moves up to #15 on the Hot 100. The collection of artists on the track lands it in the Top 5 of both the Hip-Hop and the Rock chart, and DJ Khaled was not even involved in bringing this crew together.
Read about Twenty One Pilots’ NYC shows on The Knockturnal
Artist Spotlight: Ariana Grande
Staying at #8 on the Artist 100 this week, Ariana Grande will finish among the Top 10 artists of Summer ’16. The Arianators have kept her in the Artist Top 10 for 10 of the last 13 weeks and over this stretch @arianagrande reached a peak of #2 following the release of Dangerous Woman, her third studio album that came out in May.
Over the last three years Ari broke free through the crowded field of young female singers on the heels of her distinctive, powerful voice, which has enabled her to seamlessly move between hip-hop, EDM, and the ’60s. Beyond the music, Grande has not forgotten her acting roots (she started on Nickelodeon’s Victorious) and has been busy making guest appearances on television, including a popular Saturday Night Live episode she hosted this spring, during which she saved Tidal with her vocal impersonations.
On the new album @arianagrande takes her pop into dangerous territory with an older, sexier sound. Second single “Into You” is at #13 of the Hot 100, and in it she asks for “a little more touch my body,” which will not make the Mariah Carey comparisons go away, but perhaps that is Ari playing the early Mariah references back to the Arianators. In 2010 James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem claimed that one touch is never enough, so that explains why “Touch It” is a different song on Dangerous Woman, giving the fans even more touch my body.
Back in 2014, Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Britain’s Jessie J banged it big with the Hot 100 #3 “Bang Bang,” in which Ari shed her Nickelodeon past by telling the world “you need a bad girl to blow your mind.” She is now a dangerous woman, and the tour of the same name is coming – Grande is rehearsing for it on Instagram. Expect Ari to stay on the Scoreboard.
Nicki Minaj: “Young Ariana run pop”
International Scoreboard: Ariana Grande
The post is for the Arianators, so we’ll go international with Ari despite the fact that she is from Florida. Indeed, as the #3 most followed person on Instagram, @arianagrande has global appeal. “Bang Bang” went to #1 in Britain, but her most successful song globally was the Iggy Azalea and Big Sean collaboration “Problem” that made it to #1 in three countries tracked by ACharts and also spent four weeks as the World #1 track, at least for countries of the world tracked by Media Traffic. Throw it back with “Problem” below: