Drake
Drake‘s new album Scorpion dominated this week’s Billboard 200 chart, debuting at #1 while setting streaming records. Scorpion opened with the biggest overall week in 2018 with 732,000 equivalent album units, 160,000 of which were in traditional album sales. It is Drake’s eighth #1 in a row as only his debut EP So Far Gone is his only release not to hit #1 in his career.
Scorpion also earned the largest streaming week for an album ever. According to Nielsen Music‘s data, Scorpion generated 745.92 million on-demand audio streams, shattering Post Malone‘s record less than two months ago of 431.3 million for beerbongs & bentleys. Additionally, Drake now has four of the ten largest streaming weeks for an album ever.
Meanwhile, at #2 is a debut from Florence + The Machine, with the new album High as Hope earning 84,000 units (74,000 of which in traditional album sales). The aforementioned beerbongs & bentleys lands at #3. The Now Now, the newest album from animated band Gorillaz, debuts at #4 with 63,000 total units.
At #5 is the late XXXTentacion with ?, followed by Cardi B at #6, Juice WRLD at #7 and The Carters at #8. Last week’s #1 album Pray for the Wicked by Panic! at the Disco slips to #9.
The top ten is rounded out by the deluxe edition of Guns N’ Roses‘ classic record Appetite for Destruction. Billboard notes that data for all different editions and versions of the re-issue were combined, as it was released in a number of formats. Appetite for Destruction last appeared in the Billboard 200’s top ten almost three decades ago, back in April of 1989.
