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 July 2, 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 | 1 | 11 | 1: One Dance |
| 2 | Rihanna | 6 | 5 | 6: This Is What You Came For |
| 3 | Justin Bieber | 18 | 2 | 19: Love Yourself |
| 4 | Beyoncé | 4 | 1 | 38: Sorry |
| 5 | Nick Jonas | 2 | 1 | 14: Close |
| 6 | Twenty One Pilots | 7 | 2 | 13: Ride |
| 7 | Justin Timberlake | − | 1 | 2: Can’t Stop The Feeling |
| 8 | Ariana Grande | 11 | 2 | 15: Dangerous Woman |
| 9 | Adele | 8 | 1 | 20: Send My Love (To Your New Lover) |
| 10 | Meghan Trainor | 12 | 2 | 18: Me Too |
Drake is owning the Billboards this week and his June 2016 is one to remember, just like LeBron James’s. His championship belt includes both the number one single and the number one album in the country and a seventh consecutive week as the #1 Billboard artist in the U.S. With another week on top @champagnepapi will tie Justin Bieber (who is lurking at #3) for most weeks at #1 in 2016 while continuing his campaign for Artist of the Year. Having 11 (eleven!) of the Hot 100 spots is certainly helping his MVP case.
Papi loves to spread the love on his tracks. This week he shares the mike with other artists on 7 of those 11 hits on the Hot 100. His long-time flirting partner Rihanna is in on two of them (her former #1 “Work” and his “Too Good”) and Drake is also helping out snapchat king DJ Khaled on “For Free” in anticipation of Khaled’s forthcoming ninth studio album. It is no surprise then that @champagnepapi got @justinbieber to do the “One Dance” remix, a rare occurrence of two artists collaborating while on top.
@champagnepapi brought out the gold watch to celebrate his 7th week at #1 on the albums chart
Artist Spotlight: Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas has a big week and a complicated year.
His new album Last Year Was Complicated came in at #2 on the Billboard 200 and the lead single “Close,” a duet with Tove Lo, moved up to a new Hot 100 peak of #14. Nick has been working extra hard promoting the album with 28 videos posted on Vevo in the last two months. He already has four official music videos out there for songs from the album with “Chainsaw,” “Bacon,” and “Under You” joining “Close,” which has already exceeded 100 million views.
I listened to Nick’s album this week and dug his version of smooth, sexy pop. @nickjonas continues working the Justin Timberlake formula while turning up the heat, channeling his inner Chris Brown. Be assured, the album is rated R: 6 of the 12 tracks have explicit content and even the tracks with no cursing keep it hot, “Touch,” for example, mentions the act of touching 36 times. This is no Justin Timberlake “Can’t Stop The Feeling” from a children’s movie. This is for the grown folks.
While “Close” is the obvious big bet tailored for radio and streaming, I most appreciated album closer “Comfortable.” The track sneaks in a hilarious Allen Iverson rant about practice from 2002 for the OGs. What I gather is Nick saying that during his complicated year he has no time for practice, and at 23 years old he is focused on the game that he and Iverson “go out there and die for.” Leave a comment if you have a different interpretation and watch this space to see where @nickjonas takes it in the 2016 Billboard MVP race.
Nick Jonas hyping his album for his 7.4m Instagram followers
International Scoreboard: Kungs
Some artists come out of nowhere with a massive hit and in this era of Internet sharing it is more frequent than ever. While the stars you see on the Billboard Artist 100 continue to dominate consistently, big hits have carried lesser-known artists like Gotye, Omi, and Desiigner to #1 as well. Perhaps 29-year-old French DJ Kungs is next in line.
You have likely never heard of @kungs before 2016 and I certainly have not. The most that I found out about him came from an article in an Italian magazine that Google translated for me. He is a 29-year-old French DJ from Aix-en-Provence who at one point remade Lana Del Rey’s 2014 hit “West Coast,” but never hit the charts in 19 countries tracked by ACharts.co until this year. The track that brought him international success has not made it to the Billboards in the U.S. yet, but it is already on the charts in 15 countries and made it to #1 in France and Germany and #2 in the U.K.
It is “This Girl,” a remix of an obscure 2009 track by Australian band Cookin’ On 3 Burners ft. Kylie Auldist. According to Facebook, Cookin’ On 3 Burners are Australia’s “hardest hitting Hammond Organ Trio,” which is probably correct because unlike their competitors, they made it to #1 in France and Germany. As for Kungs, he is sharing the stage with David Guetta in Ibiza on June 27, which is quite the promotion to the big leagues. Mike Posner will probably not be there taking pills.
Check out “This Girl.” It is a bouncy, summery, soft-EDM track that reminds me of Euro crossovers “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit and “Wave After Wave” by Robin Schulz. Auldist does her best Jess Glynne, and a music video with models flirting on the Italian coast also helps. Let the Scoreboard know if you think this has the potential to be a hit in the U.S. in the comments.
