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Katy Perry Completes Record Climb to No. 1 on Billboard Artist 100

Katy Perry vaults from No. 44 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated July 1) to become the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time. She completes a record 149-week ascent to the…

Katy Perry vaults from No. 44 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated July 1) to become the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time. She completes a record 149-week ascent to the summit, passing Bruno Mars’ 114-week rise to No. 1 on the Dec. 10, 2016-dated list.

The Artist 100, which launched in July 2014, measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Perry’s leap to No. 1 is fueled by her new album Witness, which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 180,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending June 15, according to Nielsen Music. The album is Perry’s third No. 1 on the Billboard 200, following Prism and Teenage Dream (both released prior to the Artist 100’s inception). Album sales contribute the majority of Perry’s Artist 100 points (86 percent).

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And, with Perry replacing Halsey (1-13) atop the Artist 100, the chart boasts two women at No. 1 in consecutive weeks for the first time since early 2015, when Taylor Swift took over for Meghan Trainor. (In the first 26 weeks of 2017 so far, women have led for three weeks, duos or groups for four and solo men the other 19.)

Below Perry, Nos. 2-5 on the Artist 100 hold in place from a week ago: Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar and Justin Bieber, respectively.

Also in the top 10 of the Artist 100, Lady Antebellum vaults 89-6, matching the country trio’s peak (first set in 2014), as its new album Heart Break debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on Top Country Albums, with 53,000 units. Album sales mark 79 percent of the group’s Artist 100 points.

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Elsewhere on the Artist 100, SZA debuts at No. 16, as her sophomore set Ctrl arrives at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (60,000 units). Plus, Childish Gambino continues to scale the Artist 100, rising 38-30 (up 6 percent in overall activity), as his hit “Redbone” enters the top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100 (16-14).

Check out this week’s full Artist 100 here.