While there were a couple of debuts this week, the top 2 albums were not able to be unseated. Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly is still sitting comfortably atop the charts, while the Empire soundtrack trails not-so-far behind. Both Action Bronson and Earl Sweatshirt had their opening weeks, with Bronsolino edging out his Odd Future competitor by a good 5 spots on the Billboard 200. Elsewhere, releases from Big Sean, Nicki Minaj, Drake, and J. Cole, continued to accumulate sales, with a couple of them edging their way toward platinum status. (While there were reports that Cole went Platinum this week, this not the case. He did manage to surpass 1 million in worldwide sales, but they don't have no award for that.)
1) Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp A Butterfly: Kendrick holds on to the top spot this week, earning another 106,551 in sales, with his total adding up to 430,954 total. It might not be enough to make Drake sweat, but it's certainly an accomplishment these days, and we're thinking the sales will continue to pour in for at least another few weeks ("King Kunta" should help).
2) Empire Cast— Original Soundtrack From Season 1: Like Kendrick, the Empire OST didn't do any budging this week, managing to acquire another 61,440 in sales, most of which came with actual purchases rather than stream. It's total tally so far is an impressive 246,292.
3) Action Bronson—Mr. Wonderful: Bronson is the first of a couple of rap debuts on this week's charts, and it finds the rapper sitting comfortably within the top ten at number 7. Bronsolino pulled an admirable 48,540, and his track, "Baby Blue" enter the Hot 100 at number 91.
4) Earl Sweatshirt—I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: Earl's somewhat botched surprise album falls just shy of the top 10 in its first week, coming at 12 with 30,772 total sales. We're not anticipating any smashes from this one, but it may maintain a steady sales count over the next few weeks through word-of-mouth hype.
6) Big Sean—Dark Sky Paradise: Sean is up two spots this week from 16 to 14. He pulled in 27,115 in sales, putting him at 226,210 total. If "Blessed," or perhaps another Grande-assisted single, get some more traction, he could be looking at a gold record pretty soon.
7) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Nicki re-gains some of the ground she lost last week, reclaiming 3 spots and landing at 16. Her sales are still coming in primarily as streams, with 7,160 copies purchased, and 24,408 including streaming. The Pinkprint has sold 579,450 copies thus far.
8) Various—Furious 7: The glory days of all-original hip hop movie soundtracks are behind us, but you wouldn't know it with the star-studded guest list on the Furious 7 OST. With the film pulling in big numbers, the disc has continued to sell, but falls from 12 to 17 this week, with 24,347, mainly in streams.
9) J. Cole—Forest Hills Drive: Despite reports that claimed otherwise, J. Cole's third studio album did not reach platinum status this week. He's on his way though, selling a modest 16,971 copies this week, adding to his total tally of 848,642.
Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" continues to do huge numbers on the Hot 100, moving from 8 to 6 this week, while The Weeknd's "Fifty Shades Of Grey" theme, "Earned It," also ascends one spot to 5. Meanwhile, the DJ Mustard/Nic Nac RnBass sound isn't going anywhere soon, with Chris Brown and Tyga's "Ayo," and Omarion's "Post To Be" respectively occupying the number 22 and 23 spots. Rihanna made her "BBHMM" debut at number 23, while "FourFiveSeconds" fell from 5 to 8. We don't see the "fuck you pay me" anthem hitting number one, but then again it is Rihanna, and she's surely got something even bigger up her sleeve. Rae Sremmurd's "Throw Sum Mo" has made a huge leap this week, going from 55 to 31, and proving itself as yet another smash for the duo.