Lil Wayne Reigns Atop Elite 100; Kesha, Louis Tomlinson Soar

He may have just had a funeral, but his numbers are alive! Lil Wayne dropped his Funeral album Jan. 31, which propelled him to No.1 on the Elite 100 Artists chart for the week ending Feb. 6. 

Weezy took on all comers for the week, leading the chart in album sales (with 38,900) and on-demand streams (155.8 million). Add in his 24,500 song sales, and he totaled 160,500 units for the week. 

Lil Wayne, who signed with CAA in 2018, is recognized as one of the most influential living figures in hip-hop. Not only does his music still have chart-topping power, but he signed and developed seminal artists like Drake and Nicki Minaj through his Young Money label, and provided an aesthetic or sonic template younger artists continue to build from. 

Wayne’s last full tour was a co-headline amphitheater run with Blink-182, which had some cancellations from Wayne, but was bang-on business for many of the dates that did happen. The tour’s highest reported grosses were in arenas in New York ($886,645 at Barclays Center) and Los Angeles ($747,606 at the Forum), but other strong markets were Jacksonville, Fla., ($422,870 grossed at Daily’s Place Amphitheater) and Hershey, Pa. ($433,161 grossed at Hersheypark Stadium).

The artist also puts on his own festival, WeezyAna, in his hometown of New Orleans every year, though last year’s event was marred with the injury of several attendees in a stampede.

Kesha also released an album Jan. 31, titled High Road. She came in at No. 13 for the week with 52,700 total units, with album sales (36,800) as her strongest category. 

The singer has a full tour lined up from April in June through theaters, amphitheaters and large clubs in North America, with Big Freedia joining for most dates. She reported a few headline shows in 2019, but her last real moneymaking tour in Pollstar’s Boxoffice records was her 2018 co-headline tour with Macklemore, which regularly raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yo Gotti comes in at No. 27 after the Jan. 31 release of Untrapped. The rapper logged 37.3 million on-demand streams, which made up the bulk of his 40,000 total units. 

Yo Gotti has a mix of dates coming up, playing arenas with the likes of Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Kevin Gates, 2 Chainz, Jeezy, T.I., and Moneybagg Yo. He hasn’t reported a full tour in years, but the standalone shows he reported in 2018, like 97.9 WJLB Big Show 2018 in Detroit; Wild ‘N Out Live in Rosemont, Ill.; and a headline gig in Columbus, Ga., all did quite well. The Columbus gig at Columbus Civic Center grossed $480,973, with Blac Youngsta and Moneybagg Yo.

Louis Tomlinson comes in at No. 29 after the release with 39,900 overall units, most of which come from his 35,500 album sales. 

Meghan Trainor and Key Glock also had new albums, and came in at No. 42 and 44 respectively. Trainor’s best metric was song sales, with 25,800, while Key Glock had great streaming numbers, with 41.8 million for the week.

And at No. 97 Morgan Wallen returns to the chart with 18,500 units after the Jan. 31 release of his song “Heartless” with Julia Michaels. 

Next week’s charts will include data on new releases from Green Day, Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats, Aubrie Sellers, The Cadillac Three, The Lone Bellow, Sepultura, Pop Smoke, Gil Scott-Heron, and Stone Temple Pilots.

Also, be on the lookout next week for new projects from Justin Bieber, Tame Impala, Carly Pearce, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, $UICIDEBOY$, Huey Lewis & The News, Boosie Badazz & Mo3, Tennis, and Nathaniel Rateliff.