RS Charts: Fredo Bang, Jackboy, Surf Mesa Lead May’s Breakthrough 25 Chart

Baton Rouge rapper Fredo Bang tops the May edition of Rolling Stone’s Breakthrough 25 chart, pulling in nearly 23 million on-demand audio streams in April and topping his March total by nearly 13 million streams. 

Two years after his breakout single “Oouuh,” the 24-year-old has seen his biggest monthly streams thanks to his latest mixtape Most Hated. The 12-track project, which features Lil Baby, YNW Melly and more, helped him reach his highest position yet on the Artists 500, climbing to Number 186 on the April 27th chart.

Bowing in second is Jackboy, an affiliate of Kodak Black who, after a string of successful singles like “Grimace” and “Bipolar,” saw a growth of 12.5 million streams in April with his self-titled debut album. Surf Mesa, the producer behind the Tik Tok phenomenon “ily (i love you baby)” takes third, followed by Buffalo rapper Westwide Gunn, whose streams grew by nearly 10 million in April with the release of his album Pray For Paris. Latin trio Eslabon Armado round out the top five.

The Rolling Stone Breakthrough 25 chart ranks the artists who are seeing the greatest gains each month in audio streams. It does not include passive listening, such as terrestrial radio or digital radio. Because the chart focuses on newer music, eligible artists must have been released their debut single or album within the past five years and have not reached the upper ranks of the charts before. Each month, Rolling Stone publishes an official version of the Breakthrough 25 chart, covering the four-week period ending with the previous Thursday.

Also debuting on May’s chart are urban corrido artist Junior H (Number 6), country singer Travis Denning (Number 7), pop singer Alexander 23 (Number 8), “Old Streets” rapper 2kBaby (Number 9), and “LMK” crooner Lil Xxel. 

Japanese nu-metal/pop singer Rina Sawayama and country up-and-comer Ingrid Andress charted at Numbers 14 and 15, respectively, following the release of their debut albums. After dropping his 800 BC project and being featured on Drake’s new track “Demons,” Brooklyn drill rapper Fivio Foreign debuts at Number 17. K-pop group (G)I-DLE debut at Number 20, with Canadian indie-pop group Peach Pit right behind.

See the full Breakthrough 25 chart here.