Lil Uzi Vert and XXXTentacion are both young rappers who are enjoying very nice runs when it comes to the streaming numbers and sales figures for their respective new projects. With rabid fan bases and a social media audience that greatly exceeds most of their contemporaries, both rappers have translated those factors into becoming bankable commodities for their record labels. Even better news? According to the latest industry reports on album chart movement, those streaks will continue in earnest for at least another week.
As per HDD, Lil Uzi Vert will see a slight dip in his sales figures and move down one spot on the Billboard 200 chart to No. 2. Uzi will still pull in around 70,000 units in combined sales plus streaming numbers, while XXXTentacion will get approximately 51,000 SPS units in his second, dropping one place on the chart as well from No. 2 to No.3. The only album to best either of them is the new project from LCD Soundsystem, which is expected to move a shade under 85,000 SPS units. Their project, American Dream, will be the third album to top the Billboard 200 chart in as many weeks, making it likely that, if positive word of mouth keeps getting around, that either Uzi or XXXTentacion could reclaim the No. 1 spot on that chart as early as next week. Interestingly, Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. is expected to enjoy a continued late-summer resurgence as well, placing fourth and moving north of 40,000 units again this week. K. Dot saw his latest full-length album top the album charts again in August after thirteen weeks out of that slot.
The positive news for both Uzi and X comes at a time where the public is having their doubts about the latter rapper's treatment of women, following a disturbing bit of testimony from a former girlfriend. According to the information that was made public late last week, XXXTentacion engaged in several violent and abusive incidents, including physically beating the woman, supposedly when she may have been pregnant with their child, and forcibly removed her smartphone, cutting off any communication with the outside world. In spite of this news, his album 17, along with Luv Is Rage 2, continues to sell very well.