Ed Sheeran Back on Top of Billboard Artist 100

Ed Sheeran Back on Top

Ed Sheeran has bounced back to the number 1 spot (from number 2) on top of the Billboard Artist 100 chart. This chart is dated December 30th, and earns Sheeran his sixth total week on top of the rankings. His first time since April 22nd.

The Billboard Artist 100, launched in July 2014, measures artist activity against music consumption. Key metrics are based on album and song sales, radio airplay, streaming, and social media fan interaction. Compiling data like this allows for multi-dimensional ranking of popularity.

Shreeran’s return to Number 1 is off the strength of his second career Number 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “Perfect,” with Beyoncé, tallied its 2nd week on top of the chart. The song remains at Number 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart for a third week with almost 100,000 downloads sold. “Perfect” also rises to Number 2 on the Radio Songs chart and holds strong at Number 3 on the Streaming Songs chart (up 14 percent to 40 million streams).

Regarding Sheeran’s Artist 100 points, digital song sales account for the greatest share at 33 percent. Album sales have accounted for 24 percent, as his album Divide rises to Number 3 on the Billboard 200. The highest the album has placed since May. Divide spent two consecutive weeks at Number 1 after its release in March. Sheeran has also seen a boost in popularity with another version of “Perfect,” this past week due to the release of his duet with Italian superstar, Andrea Bocelli.

Elsewhere

In other news on the Artist 100, country star Luke Bryan has seen a huge jump up the charts. Surging from 57-4 as his latest album “What Makes You Country” debuts at Number 1 on the Billboard 200. The album has moved 108,000 equivalent album units giving Bryan his fourth Number 1 on the list.