We didn't see many debuts this week, but pretty much all the big rap releases of 2015 experienced a considerable push. The most logical explanation would be that many of the most popular rap albums depend on streams to chart, and when Christmas rolled around, physical and iTunes copies were being sold a whole lot more, but it was pop releases like Adele's back catalog that saw the greatest boost. Now, that the surge is over, heavily streamed albums are now back in their rightful positions.
Kid Ink's surprise digital mixtape, Summer In The Winter, was the one rap project that dropped on Christmas day. The gift to fans came in at number 50, just shy of the top 10 hip-hop releases, moving 16,000 units (11,000 excluding streams).
View the breakdown below.
1) Fetty Wap—Fetty Wap: Fetty makes a huge jump this week, as he moves from 21 to 5, edging out The Weeknd for the first time in weeks. He sells 70,434 units (18,517 excluding streams). Since Fetty is still primarily a streamed artist, he's still only at 272,000 total sales despite his consistent chart presence.
2) The Weeknd—Beauty Behind The Madness: Abel is up from 9 to 6 this week, moving 69,153 units of BBTM (24,747 excluding streams), and adding up to a total of 862,427 copies thus far. At this pace he may go platinum within the first quarter of 2016.
3) Chris Brown—Royalty: Chris Brown falls from 3 to 8 in his second week on the charts, as he sells 54,723 copies (36,067 excluding streams) for a total of 198,000 so far.
4) Bryson Tiller—TRAPSOUL: Like many of the other artists who lost ground over Christmas, Bryson Tiller makes a comeback this week, jumping from 33 to 10, now his highest chart position since entering 14 weeks ago. He moves 52,823 units (24,869 excluding streams), nos sitting at 159,000 total sales.
5) G-Eazy—When It's Dark Out: G-Eazy is up from 28 to 13, bringing in 44,712 copies of WIDO (21,925 excluding streams). He's at 161,000 total.
6) Drake & Future—What A Time To Be Alive: Drake and Future make one of the biggest ascensions of the week as WATTBA leaps from 42 to 14, selling 40,544 equivalent units (10,888 excluding streams). The album has no eclipsed half a million copies at 508,000 sold.
7) Future—DS2: Future rises from 46 to 18, moving 34,341 units (13,845 excluding streams). His total sales are 336,000.
8) Drake—IYRTITL: Drake moves from 62 to 29, as he sells 27,670 units (11,227 excluding streams). His total sales are at 1,141,000 so far.
9) J. Cole—2014 Forest Hills Drive: Cole's 2014 offering is still in the mix, moving from 56 to 30 this week. He sells 25,909 units (10,701 excluding streams), moving in on Drake's total sales at 1,093,000.
10) Travis Scott—Rodeo: Scott moves from 92 to 43 this week, as he sells 18,749 equivalent copies of Rodeo (4,741 excluding streams). He's at 134,000 total sales.
The Hot 100's top ten has been so unchanging over the last few weeks it's not even worth discussing at this point. What we should be talking about however, are the singles that look like they could potentially threaten the top spots. Post Malone's "White Iverson" seems determined to do so, moving from 24 to 15, while Drake and Future's "Jumpman" falls one spot from 12 to 13. Travis Scott's "Antidote" is down one at 17, while Bryson Tiller's "Don't" falls from 18 to 21, but we wouldn't count those two out just yet.
Towards the bottom of the chart, 2 Chainz' "Watch Out" has finally made its debut at 85. Also Future's "Stick Talk" may prove to be his next hit, jumping from 99 to 91 after entering the charts last week.