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Megan Thee Stallion tops Radar Station for April

IQ’s Radar Station tracks the rise of US rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who comes out top on April’s chart, followed by Philadelphia’s Pink Sweats and Tierra Whack

By Anna Grace on 01 May 2019

Megan Thee Stallion, IQ Radar Station

Megan Thee Stallion


American rapper Megan Thee Stallion has topped April’s chart, the first time a female artist has clinched the top spot in IQ Radar Station chart history.

Philadelphia singer-songwriter Pink Sweats and fellow rapper Tierra Whack take second and third place on the latests chart.

IQ’s monthly Radar Station chart uses an algorithm to identify the fastest-growing new artists by analysing data across a number of online platforms, including Spotify, Facebook, Songkick and Last.fm. The Brits Critics’ Choice award winner headed up last month’s chart, see March’s Radar Station here.

Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion, real name Megan Pete, released her debut EP Make it Hot in 2017, followed by Tina Snow in June 2018. The latest EP is a reference to one of the rapper’s alter-egos, influenced by Pimp C’s alias Tony Snow.

The first female rapper to sign with 300 Entertainment, Megan Thee Stallion has often spoken out against the tendency to censor women in rap, whereas male artists have free reign to rap as explicitly or aggressively as they like.

Megan Thee Stallion has topped April’s chart, the first time a female artist has clinched the top spot in IQ Radar Station chart history

In February, the rapper released ‘Big Ole Freak’, a single from her Tina Show EP. The release of the artist’s debut album Fever was pushed back following the death of her mother and manager, Holly Thomas, in March and is expected to come out later this month.

Pink Sweats, aka David Bowden, started recording less than a year ago, releasing his first single ‘Honesty’ in July 2018. The single now has over 48 million streams on Spotify alone. Pink Sweats later released his debut EP Volume 1 in November, followed by Volume 2 last month.

Sweats’ acoustic, laid back RnB style takes its influences from artists such as Michael Jackson and Kanye West.

Fellow Philadelphia-native Tierra Whack is friend and mentor of Pink Sweats. Originally releasing music as Dizzle Dizz, the rapper debuted as Tierra Whack in 2017. She released debut album Whack World in May 2018, which is comprised of 15 one minute-long vignettes.

Whack’s single ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ received a nomination for best music video at the 2019 Grammy Awards. The rapper has released one track a week since February.

See the full chart, along with links to artists’ Facebook pages and booking agency details, below.

 

This monthLast monthArtistCountryAgency
133Megan Thee StallionUSN/A
241Pink Sweat$USParadigm, X-ray Touring
39Tierra WhackUSUTA
4-Lil TjayUSAPA
51Sam FenderUKCAA
619BadflowerUSAPA
72Lennon StellaUSCAA
87Polo GUSN/A
925Julia JacklinAUCollective Artists (AUS), ATC (UK, EU), Paradigm (North America)
1029Stella DonnellyAUSelect Music (AUS), ATC (UK), Ground Control (North America)
1121FinneasUSCoda
12-Nle ChoppaUSMac Agency
1342OctavianUKCara Lewis Group (Americas), Echo Location Talent (RoW)
1438ChillinitAUN/A
1518Flora CashSWEParadigm (Americas), UTA (RoW)
166JpegmafiaUSParadigm (USA), WME (RoW)
17174The Comet is ComingUKParadigm (USA), Blow Up Live (RoW)
18128Durand Jones and the IndicationsUSParadigm
1998DynoroLITHUANIACoda
2053Leikeli47USParadigm (Americas), Primary Talent (RoW)

 


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