Lionel Richie Leads Artist 100, Thanks to 'Hello From Las Vegas' Album Debut

He's the third act to debut at No. 1 this year, after Tool and The Raconteurs.

Lionel Richie debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Aug. 31) to become the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time since the list's launch in 2014.

He reigns thanks to the chart start of his new live album, Hello From Las Vegas, which arrives at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 65,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music.

The set earns Richie his sixth solo top 10 on the Billboard 200 and first since 2012's Tuskegee, which spent two weeks at No. 1.

Richie is the fourth soloist to debut atop the Artist 100, after Future in 2015 and David Bowie and Frank Ocean in 2016. Tool and The Raconteurs have also opened at No. 1 this year.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Billie Eilish holds at No. 2 on the Artist 100 and Taylor Swift leaps 16-3 as "Lover," the title track from her new album (released Aug. 23), debuts at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart (35,000 sold) and No. 21 on Streaming Songs (16.1 million U..S. streams). Plus, Swift surges 12-4 on the Social 50 survey.

Rounding out the Artist 100's top five, Lizzo rises 8-4 and Khalid dips 3-5.

Check out this week's full Artist 100 chart here.