This week's chart is all about Prince. The icon had a profound impact on hip hop music in many ways, influencing your favorite rapper without a doubt. His impact touched pretty much everyone who makes music, and those who enjoy music were going back into his catalogue quite a bit too. He has three records in the top 10 spots, which pushed things back for a few of the chart's recent mainstays.
Aside from the Purple One, the chart looks pretty familiar in the top 20. Rihanna, Kanye, Kevin Gates, G-Eazy, Fetty Wap, Bryson Tiller, and The Weeknd all show up strong, yet again, with their most recent projects. Beyond that, Royce Da 5'9" debuts at #22 with his new record Layers, Musiq Soulchild comes in at #27 with Life on Earth, and the one and only J Dilla shows up at the #77 for his posthumous vocal album The Diary.
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1) Prince - Very Best of Prince: After passing away last Thursday morning, Prince has been on the tips of everyone's tongues. He's been the subject of many tributes in the music world, and his fans are revisiting his material as well. His Very Best of Prince compilation reaches #1 today, moving 179,206 TAEU (total album equivalent units) and doing 100,174 in pure sales.
2) Prince - Purple Rain: But it doesn't stop there. Prince's studio album Purple Rain hits #2 this week, doing 69,092 TAEU and 62,544 pure sales following the icon's passing.
3) Rihanna - ANTI: Rihanna gets bumped up a notch this week, landing at #4 after last week's stint at #5. Her eighth studio album ANTI moves another 48,375 TAEU and 14,651 in pure sales this week.
4) Prince - The Hits/The B-Sides: Yet another Prince album made it into the top 10 this week: The Hits/The B-Sides compilation. It's wild that the support for Prince was strong enough to land two greatest hits compilations into the top 6 spots of the Billboard 200. This one does 40,711 TAEU and 24,142 sales.
5) Kanye West - The Life of Pablo: After being illegaly downloaded at an insane rate, the TIDAL effect kept The Life of Pablo off the charts until just recently. For its third week on the charts, 'Ye lands at #8, doing 37,089 TAEU and selling only 78 copies? Apparently that's what happens when you're album is super tough to purchase, and since Kanye's album is only available for $20 on his official website, he barely sold anything.
6) Kevin Gates - Islah: Comin' it at #13 is Kevin Gates, whose newest record Islah has been on fire since being released twelve weeks ago. This time, he moves 25,992 TAEU and 8,240 in pure sales.
7) G-Eazy - When It's Dark Out: Last week, G-Eazy was at the #13 spot, and this week he pops in at #17. The California MC does another 21,857 TAEU and 4,346 in pure sales with his sophomore full length When It's Dark Out.
8) Bryson Tiller - T R A P S O U L: Bryson Tiller is one of the big breakout stars of 2015, and that success is carrying over into this year. He's still selling and streaming plenty of copies of his T R A P S O U L record, doing 21,822 TAEU and 4,550 for its thirtieth week on the charts. That lands him at #18 this week, a slide from last week's #12 spot.
9) Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap: The single-studded self-titled record from New Jersey's big 2015 success story lands at #19 this week, after spending last week at #22. Fetty Wap does 20,837 TAEU and 8,084 pure sales this time around.
10) The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness: Abel's sophomore full-length has been greatly successful. Despite slipping from #14 to #20 this week, he still moves 19,777 TAEU and 5,694 pure sales during his thirty-third week on the charts.
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It's the year of the "Panda"! Rihanna and Drake had an epic, nine-week run at #1, but Desiigner's infectious hit was enough to dethrone them this week. After being featured on Kanye West's latest album, the Brooklyn-based artist has had a slow and steady climb to this point, and he's finally reached the climax.
Elsewhere, Drake's "One Dance" pops in at #3, just in front of "Work" at #4. Prince has 6 songs in the top 50, and Future's "Wicked" debuts at #73.