Drake’s ‘Views’ Album Is Back At No. 1 On Billboard 200
Drake’s Views enters double-digit territory at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the
album jumps 2-1 to collect a 10th
non consecutive week atop the list. The set
earned another 92,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 14 (down 22 percent), according to Nielsen Music.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based
on multi-metric consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent
albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new July 30-dated chart (where Views is No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, July 19.
Views spent its first nine weeks on the chart at No. 1, then stepped aside a week ago for Blink-182, which opened at No. 1 with California. The latter album slips to No. 3 in its second week with 37,000 units (down 80
percent).
Views is only the 10th album in the last 20
years to spend 10 weeks at No. 1. (See list,
below.)
Albums With 10 Weeks (Or More) at No. 1
on the Billboard 200 in the Last 20 Years: Artist, Title — Weeks at No. 1 — First Week at No. 1
• Adele, 21 – 24 – March 12, 2011
• Soundtrack, Titanic – 16 – Jan. 24, 1998
• Soundtrack, Frozen – 13 – Jan. 18, 2014
• Santana, Supernatural – 12 – Oct. 30, 1999
• Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill – 11 – Oct. 7, 1995 (its last week at No. 1 was on Sept. 7, 1996)
•Taylor Swift, 1989 – 11 – Nov. 15, 2014
• Taylor Swift, Fearless – 11 – Nov. 29, 2008
• Adele, 25 – 10 – Dec. 12, 2015
• Backstreet Boys, Millennium – 10 – June 5,
1999
• Drake, Views – 10 – May 21, 2016
In addition, Views now has the most weeks at
No. 1 for an album by a solo male artist since
Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All wrapped a 17-
week run at No. 1 on Oct. 30, 1992. (Views
surpasses Usher’s nine-week run at No. 1 with
Confessions in 2004.)
Views’ reign at No. 1 is driven mainly by its
strong popularity on streaming services. In the latest tracking frame, 58,000 of its units were powered by SEA (63 percent of the album’s total units for the week).
That said, it’s not as if the album hasn’t sold
well. Views is the highest-selling album
released in 2016, with 1.34 million copies
sold. It’s the second-biggest selling album
overall in 2016, behind Adele’s 25 (which was
released in 2015) with 1.44 million. (25 has
sold 8.88 million overall.)
ScHoolboy Q Paints Introspective Self-
Portrait on ‘Blank Face LP’
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 is
ScHoolboy Q’s debuting Blank Face LP, with 74,000 units (of which 52,000 are in traditional album sales). The set also launches at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, which ranks the top selling albums of the week.
Blank Face LP is ScHoolboy Q’s second top 10
album on the Billboard 200, and follows his
No. 1-debuting Oxymoron effort in 2014. The
latter started with 139,000 copies sold.
Blank Face LP is the fifth album to debut at No. 2 behind the sturdy Views. It follows Red Hot Chili Peppers’ The Getaway, Nick Jonas’ Last Year Was Complicated, Dierks Bentley’s Black and Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman. (The latter four titles all peaked in their debut week, blocked from the top slot by Views.)
Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface rises 5-4 on the
new chart with 36,000 units (down 5 percent),
while the original Broadway cast recording of
Hamilton jumps 8-5 with 35,000 units (up 10
percent). The latter likely gains courtesy of
news coverage generated by the departure of
some of the show’s cast members during the
tracking week. On July 9, Lin-Manuel Miranda,
Leslie Odom, Jr. and Phillipa Soo took their
final bows. The Hamilton album was up in
traditional album sales (both physical and
digital — 31 percent and 3 percent,
respectively), streaming equivalent albums (3
percent), and track equivalent albums (9
percent). In addition, Miranda performed on
NBC’s Today on July 11 with Jennifer Lopez,
singing their charity single “Love Make the
World Go Round” (which is not part of the
Hamilton album).
Rihanna’s Anti is steady at No. 6 with 34,000
units (down 5 percent) and Beyonce’s Lemonade descends 4-7 with 33,000 units
(down 15 percent).
Rock band Chevelle collects its fourth top 10
album as The North Corridor debuts at No. 8
with nearly 33,000 units (of which 31,000 were in pure album sales). It follows the group’s 2014 effort La Gargola, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (the act’s highest charting album ever) with 45,000 copies sold in its opening frame.
The new album is supported by the single
“Joyride (Omen),” which peaked at No. 4 on
the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart — the band’s 14th top 10 single on the tally.
Adele’s 25 moves 7-9 with 32,000 units (down
1 percent), racking up a 29th nonconsecutive
week in the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 is rock act Switchfoot
with its debuting Where the Light Shines
Through at No. 10 (29,000 units; 27,000 in
traditional album sales). It’s the fourth top 10
album for the group, following the Fading West soundtrack (No. 6 in 2014), Vice Verses (No. 8 in 2011) and Nothing Is Sound (No. 3 in 2005).