This week Future is #1 with another new album on the Billboard 200; Little Big Town have a little big debut.
Billboard Artist Top 10
For the magazine dated March 18, 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 | 1 & 2 | 7 | 32:Β Cold |
| 2 | Bruno Mars | 3 | 2 | 4:Β That’s What I Like |
| 3 | Ed Sheeran | 49 | 2 | 1: Shape Of You |
| 4 | Weeknd | 7 | 4 | 11:Β I Feel It Coming |
| 5 | Chainsmokers | 34 | 3 | 5:Β Something Just Like This |
| 6 | Rihanna | 19 | 2 | 6:Β Love On The Brain |
| 7 | Little Big Town | 4 | 1 | 42:Β Better Man |
| 8 | Drake | 18 | 3 | 16:Β Fake Love |
| 9 | Migos | 6 | 4 | 2:Β Bad And Boujee |
| 10 | Adele | 22 | 1 | 41:Β Water Under The Bridge |
Last week Atlanta rapper Future took the top of the Billboard 200 and the Artist 100 with his new albumΒ FUTURE. This week,Β Future Hendrix is again #1, but that is driven by another new Future albumΒ HNDRXX. This is the first time in the 61-year history of the Billboard 200 that one artist had back to back debuts with two different albums. Billboard dug deeper into chart history and found that Future is the first artist to replace himself at #1 on the albums chart sinceΒ Simon & Garfunkel in 1968 (this chart phenomenon happened four times in the 1960’s prior to Simon & Garfunkel). Over on the Hot 100 the top four singles stay the same, led byΒ Ed Sheeran‘s “Shape Of You,” andΒ Little Big Town also make a big move on the charts with new albumΒ The Breaker, which takes them to #7 on the Artist 100.
Country artist Aaron Watson has his first top 10 Billboard 200 albumΒ this week and takes #18 on the Artist 100
Future Keeps Winning with HNDRXX
Back in 2014, @future toldΒ Britain’sΒ The Guardian that he’s a “rock star…Future Hendrix.” Three years later,Β HNDRXX is the name of Future’s latest album. He has now released five #1 albums in a row, a feat more remarkable becauseΒ those five albums came out in a span of less than two years. Like rap counterpartsΒ Drake andΒ Lil Wayne, Future is all about prolificity.
His #1 album from last week had no guest appearances andΒ did not deviate from Future’s signature trap rap. On “Mask Off,” @future reflected on his addiction to painkillers. Although it is a deep album track this week it is the highest-charting song off ofΒ FUTURE. When it comes toΒ HNDRXX the mood is lighter and the music crosses over to R&B and pop-oriented hip-hop. There are also collaborators.Β On “Selfish,”Β @future sings “let’s no be alone” on chorus withΒ Rihanna. This type of bedroom R&B was missing onΒ FUTURE and over the comingΒ monthsΒ HNDRXX is likelier to get more radio play.Β The Weeknd, sitting at #4 on this week’s Artist 100, also joins @future on “Comin Out Strong,” a track on which both Future and @theweekend ask the haters “do you know who I am?” Scoreboard certainly knows who they are and will monitor how strongly Future will be coming on in 2017.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRTciNUAzVM/?taken-by=future&hl=en
Future’s pushing culture forward and maintaining Atlanta’s winning streak in 2017
Little Big Town Bring The Breaker
Music careers canΒ span decades in country music and this week Little Big Town are back in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with their eighth albumΒ The Breaker. The origins of the group date back to 1998, whenΒ Karen FairchildΒ andΒ Kimberly Roads started singing together. They were joined by Philip Sweet andΒ Fairchild’s (eventual) husbandΒ Jimi WestbrookΒ to form @littlebigtown. Their musical style has been defined byΒ vocal harmonies (all four members sing) that recalls theΒ 1970’s sounds ofΒ Poco andΒ Fleetwood Mac, and their more recent country competitorsΒ Lady Antebellum.
It took a while for @littlebigtownΒ to break through: their first Hot 100 hit “Boondocks” made it to the charts in 2005, their first country #1 “Pontoon” came out in 2012, and LBT gotΒ their first Grammy for “Pontoon” in 2013 followed by another Grammy for “Girl Crush” in 2016. Now that Little Big Town finally made it toΒ the country A list, they have gotten more adventurous with their sound, releasing a pop-oriented album last year produced byΒ Pharrell. OnΒ The Breaker, pop still comes through on “Night On Our Side” and “Lost In California,” but those tracks are an embellishment to the country ballads that serve as the main course on the album. The success of “Girl Crush,” the group’s biggest hit, has led to collaborating withΒ Taylor Swift, who wrote lead single “Better Man,” and to more ballads such as “When Someone Stops Loving You.” Not all of the group’s slower songs succeed onΒ The Breaker,Β “Free” and “Don’t Die Young, Don’t Get Old” cross over into platitude, but when they work,Β they go to #1. “Better Man” just became the band’s third country #1. Thank you, @taylorswift.
Little Big Town’s tour takes them to Australia this month; the group is back in Las VegasΒ for ACM on April 2nd
