Scoreboard: The Chainsmokers, Harry Styles

The Chainsmokers have the #1 album in America and Harry Styles has the biggest new single

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated April 29, 2017

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

The Chainsmokers are the big winners on Scoreboard this week, taking #1 on the Artist 100 for the first time. They also take #1 on the Billboard 200 with their first studio album Memories…Do Not Open, which finally comes out three years after the New York City EDM duo first hit the singles charts. On the Hot 100, Ed Sheeran refuses to move from the top with “Shape Of You,” which earns its 12th week at #1 and inches closer to the all-time Billboard Hot 100 record of 16 weeks at #1, set in 1996 by “One Sweet Day,” a collaboration between Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. At #2 on the Hot 100 is Bruno Mars with “That’s What I Like,” which has now spent four non-consecutive weeks at #2 behind Sheeran’s hit. Pentatonix is also back in the Artist Top 10 this week due to a new album of covers that features a “Jolene” collaboration with Dolly Parton. That puts the group at #8 on the Artist 100 marking their first appearance in the Artist Top 40 since January.

Rihanna (#10 on Artist 100) and Drake (#3) were at the same birthday party earlier this month…though they did not look like they planned it this way

The Chainsmokers Take The Crown

This week marks a first for The Chainsmokers as they are both #1 on the Artist 100 and on the Billboard 200 for the first time. Alex Pall and Drew Taggart met in New York City in 2012, connected by manager Adam Alpert. Success came suddenly with 2014’s “#selfie,” a novelty EDM hit that brought both fame and embarrassment. However, given their success over the last 18 months, “#selfie” is now a footnote in the group’s career. In 2016-17 @thechainsmokers had five hits make the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, including the #1 smash “Closer” feat. Halsey that stayed at #1 for 12 weeks. Two of those hits are on the new album Memories…Do Not Open: “Paris” and “Something Just Like This,” feat. Coldplay.

So what has been the winning formula? Expanding from EDM certainly helped. In a 2015 interview, @alexpall and @drewtaggart called their style “pop music with an indie flair,” which helped them break out in 2016. Their three major hits of last year featured up-and-coming female vocalists, not only Halsey, but also Rozes and Daya. Alex Pall discovered Rozes on Hype Machine and when “Roses” went to #6 on the Hot 100, doors opened to other guest appearances. Going from Halsey to Coldplay, of course, is quite the leap, but one both the Chainsmokers and Chris Martin and co. are comfortable with given Coldplay’s embrace of EDM music. The rest of the new album maintains that Chainsmokers sound though it is not 100% electronic. The duo are taking a band and instruments on tour with them and hope to gain fans beyond pop and dance music. In fact Alex and Drew close the album with “Last Day Alive,” a collaboration with the biggest duo in country music, Florida Georgia Line. The vocals on the track are heavily distorted and the country twang of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley is buried by the Chainsmoker synths. That is the sound of genre-bending circa 2017 that may well be the future of pop.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHIr_phXMj/?taken-by=thechainsmokers&hl=en

The Chainsmokers finally have an album and are the #1 artist in the U.S.

Harry Styles Takes His Turn

The British boy band One Direction released five major albums in five years and generated $208 million just from their 2015 tour, proving the staying power of the boy band phenomenon. 1D is currently “on hiatus,” whatever that means, and without Zayn Malik, who was the first to depart for a solo career in 2015. @zayn has done well, taking #1 on the Hot 100 with “Pillowtalk” and recently going to #2 on the Hot 100 with Taylor Swift and “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.” Niall Horan was next one out with solo material; his “This Town” made it to #20 on the Hot 100 this winter. Louis Tomlinson paired up with Steve Aoki on his first single “Just Hold On,” which was recently a #2 hit in Britain, but did not rise above #52 on the Hot 100. This week the spotlight is on Harry Styles, perhaps the best known directioner famous for his big hair and for dating Taylor Swift and being subject of her “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Trouble finally has his first solo single out, called “Sign Of The Times,” which comes in at #4 on the Hot 100. On it, @harrystyles takes us back to the monster ballad days of the 1980’s. In a strange way, “Sign Of The Times” becomes the second gigantic eighties ballad of 2017, following Zayn’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.” Will it have what it takes to dethrone fellow Brit Ed Sheeran from #1? Check Scoreboard each week to find out, and check out Harry’s performance from Saturday Night Live below (an official music video is also on its way):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feyRL4lrWWk