The soundtrack to Marvel’s smash hit Black Panther tops this week’s Billboard 200 chart, with 154,000 equivalent album units earned according to Nielsen Music, 52,000 of which were in traditional album sales. It is the biggest week for a soundtrack in total units earned since the Suicide Squad soundtrack back in August of 2016.
The Black Panther soundtrack was curated by Kendrick Lamar with Top Dawg Entertainment Founder/CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. Lamar appears on multiple tracks throughout the album, which also features contributions from The Weeknd, Khalid, SZA and many others.
At #2 is Justin Timberlake with Man of the Woods, followed by the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman at #3 and Culture II from Migos at #4.
The second-highest debut of the week also comes from a film, as the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack arrives at #5. The collection features tracks by Liam Payne, Julia Michaels and Sia, among others. According to Billboard‘s data, this is only the second time in the past decade that three soundtracks are in the top five of the chart. The last time was in May of 2015, when Pitch Perfect 2, Fifty Shades of Grey and Furious 7‘s soundtracks were at #1, #3 and #5, respectively.
The rest of the top ten is filled out by the usual suspects of Ed Sheeran (#6), Bruno Mars (#7), Post Malone (#8), Kendrick Lamar (#9) and Camila Cabello (#10).
