This week Drake is knocked from his pedestal ever so slightly, as Big Sean's new album Dark Sky Paradise is ushered in at #1. Drake moves to #4, which still isn't a bad look, considering he's above rivals Chris Brown and Tyga. Fan of a Fan didn't move as much as you might expect two mainstream stars to sell-- with just over 50k in pure sales opening week. Would they have done better by releasing it as a mixtape like the first instalment? Despite being feature-heavy and promoted across the U.S., it only debuted at #7. Big Sean, on the other hand, pulled off his first #1 debut with DSP. His past two albums have both debuted at #3, but it looks like having more involvement from Kanye West on this one really helped propel it a bit further, as well as having a do-less approach. Apart from these two new entries, you can see how Drake, Nicki, J. Cole and more fared below.
1) Big Sean— Dark Sky Paradise: Big Sean earned his first #1 album with Dark Sky Paradise. The album managed to moved 173,000 units including streams (sales: 139,000). Will he stay up on the Billboard 200 in the longterm?
2) Drake— If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late: There’s no need to question Drake’s longevity on the charts. He’s definitely going to be here for the long haul, after a half a million sales his first week out. His third week is just as successful as most rapper debuts these days. The album did 99,000 sales and streams while sitting at #4 (sales: 59,000). His total sales rose up to 683,000 units this week.
3) Chris Brown & Tyga— Fan Of A Fan: The Album: Despite heavy promotion for the LP, which included a series of interviews where the artists attempted to avoid discussing Drake, the duo hasn’t been able to surmount Drizzy on the Billboard 200. Fan Of A Fan landed a debut at #7, after moving 66,508 copies including streams (sales: 51,345).
4) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Further below her YMCMB counterparts is Ms. Nicki, with The Pinkprint dropping from #9 to #12. As Nicki begins her descent, she sold and streamed another 38,299 units (sales: 14,850). The Pinkprint grand tally is 540,598.
5) J. Cole— 2014 Forest Hills Drive: Cole falls this week to #22 from #16. With a tour on the horizon, the new album sold and streamed 23,851 units (sales: 16,213). His gran total broke the 800k mark, at 801,690.
6) Ne-Yo— Non-Fiction: Ne-Yo’s new album falls nine spots to #30 this week, after charting for five weeks. The singer’s combined number for the past week is 15,134, with almost half of that being pure sales (sales: 8,314).
7) Rae Sremmurd— SremmLife: After eight weeks on the Billboard 200, Rae Sremmurd drop to #36. The duo have definitely had a successful debut, moving another 12,934 units this week. That number is predominantly composed by album and single streams (sales: 4,163).
8) Beyonce— Beyonce: Bey Bey doesn’t really need to drop another album for a while, because it looks like this one will never really leave the charts. This week the self-titled album drops down to #49 (don’t worry, it’ll undoubtedly climb back up again), after selling/streaming 9,784 copies (sales: 3,997). Her total sales are 2,227,000.
This week on the Billboard Hot 100, Big Sean makes an entry at #99 with “Paradise,” as does another DSP track “One Man Can Change The World” a few spots higher at #97. “All Your Fault” from Sean and Kanye also debuts at #80. Trey Songz’s “Slow Motion” single rises up to #77, and Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself” is down one at #63. J. Cole’s unintentional single “Apparently” continues to rise up at #59 this week. Common and John Legend’s Oscar-winning “Glory” makes a huge leap up 50 spots to #49. Meanwhile Drake’s IYRTITL cut “Energy” falls 14 spots to #40. Big Sean’s “Blessings” makes the jump to #36, and Beyonce’s “7/11” falls 6 spots to #31. Inside the top 20, we find “Only” at #18, Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” at #16 (a 19-spot jump), and Nicki Minaj’s “Truffle Butter” at #14.