Meek Mill Beats Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, And Ed Sheeran On ‘Billboard’ Artist 100

Meek Mill will soon be known as the artist who finally knocked Taylor Swift off Billboard‘s Artist 100 list. Billboard broke the news on Thursday evening.

“Meek Mill is the new top musical act in the U.S., vaulting to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 (dated July 18), as the arrival of his new album fuels his vault to the top. The rapper dethrones Taylor Swift, who drops to No. 2 after spending a record 31st nonconsecutive week at No. 1.”

Billboard notes that their Artist 100 chart measures artist success across Billboard‘s most influential charts, which includes the Hot 100, the Social 50, and the Billboard 200 album chart. Speaking of the Billboard 200 album chart, Reuters reports that Meek Mill made quite the impressive debut this week.

“Rapper Meek Mill scored his first No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, far outpacing R&B artist Miguel for the top spot.

Reuters notes that Mill’s sophomore studio record Dreams Worth More Than Money sold 215,000 albums, 222,000 songs and was streamed 14 million times, totaling 246,000 units for the charts.

Meek Mill received generally good reviews for his album. Exclaim loves Dreams Worth More Than Money.

“Dreams Worth More Than Money overflows with sonic effervescence, drawing you into the snake pit that is the mainstream hip-hop industry, with all the opulent trappings therein.”

Billboard also gave Meek Mill’s album a positive review, noting that Dreams Worth More Than Money is really focused as it presents an uncomfortably lucid character study detailing the underside of the American Dream. It will be interesting to see if Meek Mill can stay at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart next week as Dreams Worth More Than Money has currently dropped to No. 3 on iTunes. However, it was No. 1 just a couple days back.

Taylor Swift trails Meek Mill at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Artist 100 chart. She fell from the top after being there for 31 weeks in a row. However, it is likely that Swift will return to the No. 1 spot again as her 1989 Tour continues to make waves throughout the United States. She is also supposed to release a new single soon as a follow-up to the No. 1 hit “Bad Blood.”

Behind Meek Mill and Taylor Swift is The Weeknd, who stays at No. 3 this week. Maroon 5 stays at No. 4 and Ed Sheeran is at No. 5. Do you think Meek Mill will spend another week at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Artist 100 chart? Let us know in the comments section.

[Photo Credit: BET]