Queen Naija Hits No. 1 on Emerging Artists Chart
Queen Naija is the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time, as the Detroit-based R&B singer/YouTube personality leaps from No. 12 to No. 1 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart (dated July…
Queen Naija is the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time, as the Detroit-based R&B singer/YouTube personality leaps from No. 12 to No. 1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart (dated July 14).
The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, of the week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard‘s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.
Queen Naija, 22, tops the chart on the strength of her new single “Karma,” which debuts at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the R&B Songs chart.
The song, her second single and follow-up to “Medicine,” arrives with 13.2 million U.S. streams and 17,000 downloads sold in the week ending July 5 according to Nielsen Music, prompting a No. 49 debut on the Streaming Songs chart and a No. 13 debut on the Digital Song Sales chart.
Her debut single “Medicine” peaked at No. 45 on the Hot 100 in April and at No. 6 on R&B Songs last week (chart dated July 7); it currently stands at No. 12 on the latter list.
Up-and-coming Australian country singer/songwriter Morgan Evans hits the top 10 of the Emerging Artists chart for the first time, as he jumps from No. 15 to No. 4 on the strength of his breakout single “Kiss Somebody.”
The track debuts at No. 76 on the Hot 100, earning him his first entry on the chart, and jumps 20-13 on Hot Country Songs. The track logs 29.7 million radio audience impressions in the tracking week ending July 9, helping him rise 9-8 on Country Airplay and leap 38-31 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart.
Rounding out the Emerging Artists’ top five, Lauv dips 1-2, Morgan Wallen holds at No. 3 and Chris Lane vaults 20-5. Lane rises on the strength of his new single “I Don’t Know About You,” which starts at No. 47 on Hot Country Songs. The track joins his previous single “Take Back Home Girl,” featuring Tori Kelly, which returns to its No. 14 peak.
Plus, Los Angeles-based ska group The Interrupters debut at No. 9 thanks to its third studio album Fight The Good Fight, which launches at No. 11 on Alternative Albums and No. 141 on the Billboard 200.
Check out this week’s full Emerging Artists chart here.