Lil Baby Tops Billboard Artist 100 Chart Thanks to ‘It’s Only Me’ Debut

Lil Baby jumps from No. 8 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 29), returning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a fourth total week, thanks to his new studio album, It’s Only Me.

The LP launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 216,000 equivalent album units earned in the Oct. 14-20 tracking week, according to Luminate. It’s the seventh-largest weekly unit sum this year, and the third-largest for a hip-hop album, after the opening weeks of Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (295,000; May 28) and Future’s I Never Liked You (222,000; May 14).

Lil Baby concurrently charts 25 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, the third-most in a single week in the chart’s 64-year history. Drake placed a one-week record 27 songs on the July 14, 2018 survey, concurrent with the chart debut of his LP Scorpion, and Taylor Swift sent 26 songs onto the Nov. 27, 2021-dated chart after the arrival of Red (Taylor’s Version), with both sets also having opened atop the Billboard 200.

Elsewhere on the Artist 100, Red Hot Chili Peppers re-enter at No. 2 thanks to their new album Return of the Dream Canteen. The set arrives at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 63,000 units, earning the group its ninth top 10, and No. 1 on Top Album Sales (56,000 sold). The group topped the Artist 100 for the first time in April when its previous 2022 album Unlimited Love began at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Plus, Bailey Zimmerman jumps 16-9 on the Artist 100, entering the top 10 for the first time, thanks to his new debut studio album Leave the Light On. The project opens at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Top Country Albums (32,000 units).

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.