Florence + the Machine Reaches Number Two on “Billboard’s” Artist 100

Credit: Tom BeardFlorence + the Machine's number one debut on the Billboard 200 with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was good enough to get them the number two spot on Billboard's Artist 100 chart. The Artist 100 measures an artist's activity across album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media interaction.

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, Florence + the Machine's third album, moved 137,000 equivalent album units -- 128,000 of which were pure album sales -- in its first week, giving the band their first number-one record on the Billboard 200. Their previous two albums, 2011's Ceremonials and 2009's Lungs, peaked at number six and number 14, respectively.

Since its launch in July 2014, the Artist 100 has been a hard nut for rock bands to crack. Only Mumford & Sons and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been able to top the chart. Both Florence + the Machine and Imagine Dragons have reached the number two spot.

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