Billy Strings re-enters Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart (dated Oct. 9) at No. 1, becoming the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to his new LP, Renewal.
The set, released via Rounder Records/Concord, debuts at No. 1 on the Bluegrass Albums chart, as well as No. 4 on Americana/Folk Albums, with 10,000 equivalent album units earned, according to MRC Data; No. 4 on Vinyl Albums (5,000 sold on vinyl); No. 9 on Top Country Albums; and No. 82 on the Billboard 200, marking his first entry on the all-genre ranking.
Renewal is the Michigan-born, Kentucky-raised artist’s fourth entry on the Bluegrass Albums chart and second No. 1, after 2019’s Home, which spent 25 weeks on top, becoming one of just eight sets in the list’s history to log a reign of that length or better. It also won the Grammy Award for best bluegrass album this March.
Elsewhere on the Emerging Artist chart, Angelo de Augustine debuts at No. 11, thanks to his new LP with Sufjan Stevens, A Beginner’s Mind. The set debuts at No. 3 on Vinyl Albums, No. 5 on Americana/Folk Albums, No. 12 on Alternative Albums and No. 115 on the Billboard 200 (9,000 units). This week brings his first appearances on any Billboard charts.
The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard’s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.