Billboard

Drake, Dua Lipa, And BTS Top The ‘Billboard’ Year-End Charts For 2021

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The flood of year-end music round-ups has started over the past few days, as websites (like Uproxx) have shared their year-end lists and Spotify Wrapped has made the rounds. Now Billboard has chimed in with their year-end charts, and some expected figures have found themselves atop the ranks.

Drake was 2021’s top artist and following him on the list are, in order, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, and Morgan Wallen. As for Top New Artists, Rodrigo tops that list and is followed by The Kid Laroi, Giveon, Pooh Shiesty, and 24kGoldn. There’s also a lists of top artists that are duos or groups, and that’s led by BTS, as well as Glass Animals, Dan + Shay, Fleetwood Mac, and AJR.

When it comes to Billboard 200 albums, Morgan Wallen reigns supreme with Dangerous: The Double Album, ahead of Rodrigo’s Sour, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, Swift’s Evermore, and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. Meanwhile, Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” leads the Hot 100 Songs chart, followed by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears,” The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” 24kGoldn and Iann Dior’s “Mood,” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U.”

Check out all of the year-end charts here and below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Nas X Celebrates Being ‘The First One-Hit Wonder’ With 11 ‘Billboard’ Songs At Once

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Lil Nas X is determined to have the last laugh over any of his critics — and often does. With the release of the first Billboard charts to count his debut album, Montero, he got as much ammo as he’ll need for the foreseeable future. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and landing three songs in the Hot 100 top 10, Nas has accomplished a pretty rare feat for any artist, let alone one dropping his official debut.

He knows it, too, thanks to a tweet from PopCrave that also noted even more songs from Montero that landed in the Hot 100 after the album’s first week. “wow,” he tweeted in response, taking the opportunity to gloat over all the detractors who figured he’d flop after “Old Town Road.” “i just became the first one hit wonder of all time to have 11 songs on billboard all at once.”

Among those songs are “Industry Baby,” the inescapable and controversial Kanye-assisted hit featuring Jack Harlow, “Montero” aka “Call Me By Your Name,” the song that sent critics from Boosie Badazz to Nike into a tizzy, “Scoop,” which features a standout verse from Doja Cat (who replaced Ski Mask The Slump God), and “Dolla Sign Slime,” the song that Drake missed out on but Megan Thee Stallion killed (in a good way).

Songs From J. Cole’s ‘The Off-Season’ Dominate All But One Of The Top Five Streaming Spots

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J. Cole’s new album The Off-Season may have had an unconventional rollout, but it looks to have had some pretty results for the North Carolina rapper-turned-ballplayer on this week’s Billboard charts. Not only did the album land at No. 1 on the album chart with the biggest streaming week yet in 2021, but songs from the new album also dominated all but one of the top five on the streaming chart, while the Hot 100’s top 10 contains all four of those entries from the new album.

The four songs that made both charts are “My Life” featuring 21 Savage and Morray (who sings Pharoahe Monch’s chorus from Styles P’s 2002 single “The Life”), “Amari,” the only song to be released with its own video, “Pride Is The Devil” which features streaming favorite du jour Lil Baby, and album intro “95 South,” which contains uncredited appearances from turn-of-the-millennium pioneers Cam’ron and Lil Jon. While these songs occupy spots 2-5 on the streaming chart — with Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” taking the top spot — they came in at Nos. 2, 5, 7, and 8 on the Hot 100, respectively.

During the album’s eccentric launch, J. Cole released the album’s “Interlude” as a standalone single, shared a documentary detailing its creation, covered Slam magazine, and joined the newly formed Basketball Africa League, playing his first game for the Rwanda Patriots against the Nigeria Rivers Hoopers just one day after the album’s release. Also, some fun facts:

Check out the Billboard tweets above and listen to The Off-Season here.