The Billboard 200 Chart shifted considerably over the past week, leaving artists like Tank in the dust as the likes of Rihanna and Kevin Gates rose to take the #1 and #2 positions, respectively. Rihanna's album, which debuted at #27 last week, claimed the #1 position we all expected it to have. The reasoning for the weak debut was on a technicality, but now that the album is properly available, it moved nearly 125,000 units.
Kevin Gates' debut studio full-length took the #2 spot, a huge feat from the Baton Rouge native. He deserves the accolades after all the hard week he poured into the mixtape circuit over the past decade. Bryson Tiller and G-Eazy continue to climb the charts, and both are in the top 10 this week. Meanwhile, The Weeknd and Fetty Wap are slipping just barely. For a full rundown, see below.
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1) Rihanna - ANTI: Rihanna's latest LP debuted at #27 last week, but that was because of a technicality that didn't count her Samsung sales. Now that the record has had time to physically be in record stores, and of course online distributors as well, it jumped to #1 overall. Congratulations to Rihanna for second #1 album ever, and for the 166,322 units sold in the last week (123,815 in pure album sales).
2) Kevin Gates - Islah: This is definitely a rather unexpected one: Kevin Gates has debuted at #2 overall in the Billboard 200. With 90k+ records sold and 112,057 equivalent album units (92,856 in pure album sales), Islah has landed just behind Rihanna in the charts.
3) Bryson Tiller - T R A P S O U L: Tiller continues to rise in the top 10, moving from #10 to #9 this week on the Billboard 200. Album sales are up 30% while his SPS (Sales Plus Streaming) number is up 8% from last week. He moved another 31,843 units (11,996 in pure album sales), and continues to widen his reach as one of r'n'b's most promising talents.
4) G-Eazy - When It's Dark Out: Jumping two spots in the charts, G-Eazy's second studio album has risen from #12 to #10. His pure album sales figure totaled 11,383 units, while his SPS number is at 31,329. It seems that the Oakland-born MC's newest LP still has wheels.
5) The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness: The Weeknd's latest effort slid from #8 to #12 to occupy the spot G-Eazy took last week. He moved 30,385 copies, in sales and streams, last week, with his SPS number down by 5%. Nevertheless, the record has still sold over a million copies worldwide, or rather, two million, since the implementation of the RIAA's new counting method.
6) Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap: The self-titled record from New Jersey's biggest breakout of 2015 has slid from #13 down to #18 this past week. His SPS number reached 22,561 units (4,606 in pure album sales). This moves up his total album sales number to 283,000.
7) Chris Brown - Royalty: Not much has changed in the last week for Chris Brown, whose seventh full-length album remains at the #20 position after sitting there last week. Sales are down just a little bit for C-Breezy, as Royalty moved 19,218 SPS units (10,208 in pure album sales) this past week.
8) J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive: Imagine moving up the charts over a year after your album released! Shout outs to J. Cole for impacting the music industry in such a way that his record still has wheels, despite releasing in December of 2014. It's awesome that he sold 19,000 SPS units (6,258 in pure album sales) this past week, but Cole, if you're reading (hey, you never know), don't think we aren't waiting for that February drop you teased on the "Black Friday" joint! Total album sales are 1,126,000.
9) Flo Rida - My House (EP): Flo Rida's newest EP is up a few spots from last week, making the jump from #24 to #22. The seven-track extended play was released in April of 2015, but continues to ride high with features by Chris Brown, Robin Thicke, and more. However, not many are picking up physical copies-- the pure album sales figure for the past week is 1,784 while he moved 18,916 in SPS units.
10) Drake & Future - What A Time To Be Alive: The descent continues for Drake and Future's joint release. This week the album fell once again from #26 to #28, after moving 17,687 units (2,562 in pure album sales). Their total album sales figure is 524,000.
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While Justin Bieber has two tracks in the top 3 ("Sorry" and "Love Yourself," at #3 and #2 respectively), fellow Canadian Drake is also featured twice in the top 10 songs of the Billboard Hot 100. His Rihanna collaboration "Work" sits at #7, while his own cut "Summer Sixteen" just barely edged it out to debut at #6. G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha's collaboration continues to climb, getting to #10 this week. It's worth noting that Rihanna, Kevin Gates, and Bryson Tiller all have multiple songs in the top 100 due to their super-successful albums.