While we had debuts from Jadakiss, Tech N9ne and the Empire soundtrack, this was Adele's week. The UK songwriter moved 3.48 million equivalent units of her third album 25, making it simultaneously the biggest sales week of the year, the biggest selling album of the year, and the biggest sales week of ALL TIME. It replaces N'SYNC's previous record, in which they sold 2.416 million of their sophomore LP Bye Bye Bye in 2000.
Bieber and One Direction, who dominated sales last week, were pushed down to the number 2 and 3 spots respectively, below which we find Jadakiss coming in at an admirable number 4 with Top 5 Dead Or Alive.
Next week we'll have Rick Ross, Curren$y and G-Eazy battling it out, so it should be another interesting cycle.
Check out the full breakdown of rap and R&B releases below.
1) Jadakiss—Top 5 Dead Or Alive: Jadakiss debuts at number 4, which considering his competition (Adele, Justin Bieber, One Direction) is a number one by most artists' standards. T5DOA moves 66,084 units, almost entirely traditionally (60,145 excluding streams), proving that a strong legacy is enough to do numbers.
2) The Weeknd—Beauty Behind The Madness: The Weeknd has proved to be one of the most consistent sellers of the year, staying steady within the top ten at number 5 (up from 8) and moving 63,377 units (32,015 excluing streams) this week. 710,920
3) Fetty Wap—Fetty Wap: Fetty Wap jumps back into the top 10, moving from 11 to 10 this week. He moves 38,467 copies (13,547 excluding streams) of his debut album, putting him at 179,000 total sales.
4) Empire Cast—Season 2 OST Vol. 1: Empire's season one compilation had a consistent presence on the charts earlier this year, and it seems the season 2 collection will also be a chart constant. It debuts at 16 with 29,499 sold (22,319 excluding streams).
5) Jeezy—Church In These Streets: Jeezy defied projections last week, moving over 100k and coming in at the number four spot amid the Bieber and One Direction battle. This week he falls to 18, with 28,989 units moved (24,866 excluding streams). The album now has 123,000 total sales after two weeks.
6) Logic—The Incredible True Story: As often happens with artists with cult-ish fanbases, Logic had a huge first week, but fell considerably in his second cycle, moving from 3 to 21 with 25,780 copies sold (17,523 excluding streams). He's at a total of 134,000 sold thus far.
7) Tech N9ne—Strangeulation Vol. II: Speaking of artists with cult followings, Tech N9ne makes his debut this week, moving 23,969 units of his new collabs album (22,380 excluding streams).
8) Drake & Future—What A Time To Be Alive: Drake and Future fall from 17 to 27 this week, with 23,298 units sold (5,001 excluding streams). They're still on there way to gold status with 482,000 sold.
9) Bryson Tiller—TRAPSOUL: Bryson Tiller has had an impressive presence on the charts for a new artist, but this week he's had a minor stumble, sliding from 20 to 29. TRAPSOUL moves 22,929 units (8,698 excluding streams) with 89,000 sold overall.
10) Drake—IYRTITL: Drake moves up from 42 too 40 this week, and its the first time he can say he doesn't have the highest selling album of the year, thanks to Adele. He moves 17,806 units (7,188 excluding streams) for a total of 1,103,000.
For as many changes as there were on this week's Billboard 200, the Hot 100 remained pretty consistent, at least in the top 10. Adele's "Sorry," Bieber's "Sorry," and Drake's "Hotline Bling" still occupy the top 3 spots respectively. Meanwhile Post Malone's "White Iverson" continues to climb, moving from 28 to 25, and Bryson Tiller's "Don't" is up from 38 to 33. Young Thug's "Best Friend" has made its debut at 98 (it recently went to iTunes) and Future's "Rich Sex" appears at 100, likely to do with the hype around its Blac Chyna-starring video.