JAY-Z
JAY-Z has his 14th #1 album on the Billboard 200 as the legendary rapper tops this week’s chart with 4:44. According to Nielsen Music, his new album earned 262,000 equivalent album units, the fourth-largest week of 2017 for any album. Traditional album sales accounted for 174,000 units. JAY-Z continues to build his streak of #1 records, as the next-closest solo artists are Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand, who each have 11. The Beatles have the most #1 albums in Billboard chart history, with 19. Additionally, all 14 of Jay’z albums have debuted at #1, another Billboard record.
Nielsen Music did not receive data for 4:44‘s first week of release as a TIDAL exclusive, so it didn’t debut on the Billboard 200 chart until the current one. As of July 7, 4:44 became widely available as a download, a CD and on most major streaming services.
Rapper 21 Savage debuts at #2 with Issa Album, his first solo studio album. Hip-hop dominates the top four slots this week, as Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is at #3 and DJ Khaled is at #4 with Grateful.
At #5 is Ed Sheeran, with Imagine Dragons at #6. Rock/pop sisters Haim debut at #7 with their long-awaited sophomore record Something to Tell You.
The rest of the top ten is made up of Calvin Harris at #8, the Moana soundtrack at #9 and Drake‘s More Life at #10.
