Sheeran blasts from No. 29 to No. 1 as he launches at Nos. 1 and 6 on the Hot 100 with 'Shape of You' & 'Castle on the Hill.'
Ed Sheeran is the top musical act in the U.S., vaulting from No. 29 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Jan. 28). The coronation accompanies his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Shape of You," which debuts at the summit. He also arrives on the Hot 100 at No. 6 with "Castle on the Hill," becoming the first act ever to debut two songs in the top 10 simultaneously in the chart's 58-year history.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across Billboard's most influential charts, including the Hot 100, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. The Artist 100 (which launched in July 2014) blends data measuring album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Sheeran shoots to the top of the Artist 100, vaulting by 486 percent in overall activity, for his second week atop the chart. He first led on Sept. 5, 2015, then boosted by reaction to his NBC concert special Ed Sheeran – Live at Wembley Stadium, which had aired that Aug. 16.
Now, the pop singer-songwriter returns to the Artist 100's top spot with sales accounting for more than two-thirds of his points on the chart, with the 241,000 downloads that "Shape" sold in its first week, according to Nielsen Music, marking the most for a song in a week since Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!" launched with 379,000 (May 28, 2016). Sheeran's "Castle" starts with 171,000 sold.
Rounding out the Artist 100's top five, The Weeknd descends to No. 2 after 12 (nonconsecutive) weeks at No. 1, the most for a solo male in the chart's brief history; Bruno Mars holds at No. 3; Drake drops 2-4; and twenty one pilots retreat 4-5.
Check out this week's entire Artist 100 here.