The only notable hip-hop release making its debut on this week's chart is Young Thug's JEFFERY. Released on Aug. 26, the project sold a reported 37,000 equivalent album units (including streaming) in its first week; the pure album sales tally is 18,000. That performance lands JEFFERY at No. 8 on the new Billboard 200 albums chart.
This is Thug's third debut in the top 40 this year, reports Billboard, and his second in the top 10. February's I'm Up entered the chart and No. 22 and Slime Season 3, released at the end of March, debuted at No. 7. Like both of those, it's been relatively unclear whether one should refer to JEFFERY as an album or as a mixtape; the term "commercial mixtape" seems to be what's sticking.
If you had to pick one, what's the essential Thug project of 2016? Stream JEFFERY here.