Elite 100: Juice WRLD Remembered; Camila Cabello, Roddy Ricch, The Who Surge

After 21-year-old rapper Juice WRLD died in Chicago Dec. 8, many turned to his music to remember the artist’s legacy, pushing him once again to the No. 1 position on the Elite 100 Artists chart for the week ending Dec. 12. 

Juice WRLD was pronounced dead after being transported to a hospital from Chicago’s Midway International Airport. It was later revealed that the rapper was treated with the opioid antidote Narcan during a search of his airplane by federal agents.

Once news of the artist’s death broke, waves of tributes poured in through social media, and his music apparently spiked in popularity. He was No. 36 for the week ending Dec. 5, but this week he was the top artist, with 164,600 total album units for the week. His strongest metric was on-demand streams, with 194.3 million for the week.

The rapper whose real name was Jarad Anthony Higgins was one of rap’s brightest stars, with a blossoming touring career with an average gross of $128,733 on 3,077 in his one-and-a-half years of reporting to Pollstar. He had a breakout year in 2018, being named top breakthrough artist for Spotify and Apple Music, and top artist overall for SoundCloud. His hit single “Lucid Dreams,” which heavily samples Sting’s “Shape Of My Heart,” became a smash hit and he has since released the sophomore album Death Race For Love, which sent him to the top of the Elite 100 artists chart in March. He was the subject of a Pollstar cover feature in December.

Just two positions below Juice WRLD on the chart this week was XXXTentacion, who had a posthumous release, Bad Vibes Forever, for the week. X, who logged 124.6 million on-demand streams this week, was murdered outside a Florida motorcycle dealership in 2018. Multiple suspects were indicted and arrested in that case.

Cabello announced a 2020 arena tour last month, set to kick off in Vancouver July 29. Messina Touring Group is promoting the 26-date trek, very much solidifying her into the MTG family of artists, as she is currently dating Shawn Mendes and opened for Taylor Swift, two very notable MTG clients.

The upcoming tour is Cabello’s first full arena jaunt, though she did a run in Mexico in 2018 that grossed $394,225 in Monterrey; $380,554 in Zapopan; and $710,444 in Mexico City. 

Roddy Ricch comes in at No. 5 this week, with 147.5 million on-demand streams for the week, second only to Juice WRLD in that category. His latest release, Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, includes features from Meek Mill, Gunna, Mustard, Ty Dolla $ign, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. 

The Who also released an album, titled WHO, on Dec. 6. The rockers led the chart in album sales for the week, with 101,300, getting the guys to No. 6 for the week. The group announced on Dec. 3 that it will play its first concert in Cincinnati since 11 fans died in a pre-show stampede 40 years ago. 

Taylor Swift led the chart in song sales for the week, with her new song “Christmas Tree Farm,” released Dec. 6. She reached No. 9 overall for the week.  

Halsey also logged 34,100 song sales for the week, after the release of her latest single “finally // beautiful stranger”.  She reached No. 35 overall for the week. 

Kidz Bop Kids released the Spanish version of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” Dec. 6, and reached No. 82 for the week.

Next week’s chart will include data for new projects from Harry Styles, Blake Shelton, Stormzy, Atmosphere, Jacquees, Rich Homie Quan, Robb Bank$, scarlxrd, Troy Ave, YFN Lucci, Kaytranada, Smokepurpp, Free Nationals, Lil Wop, Ja Rule, and KXNG Crooked & Bronze Nazareth.

Also be on the lookout for new music this week from Gucci Mane, Frank Zappa, NLE Choppa, Mosaik, Wifisfuneral, Cam’Ron, SOB X RBE, Black Palle, Juliana Barwick, Flee Lord & Grafh, MYRHOLT, Doe Boy, Nuerosphere, and Murray Wilson & Snow.