The Weeknd
Unsurprisingly, The Weeknd had a strong debut on the album chart this week as Starboy debuted at #1 with 348,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the third-largest debut of 2016, behind only Drake’s Views (1.04 million units) and Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000). As for The Weeknd’s overall sales, 209,000 were in traditional album sales and 117,000 of the total sum was driven by streaming units. That marks the second-largest debut streaming week ever, following Drake’s Views once again, which clocked 163,000 streaming units in its opening week, according to Billboard.
However, on a global scale, Starboy shattered the worldwide streaming record with over 400 million cumulative streams in one week, 270 million coming from Apple alone, according to a press release from Republic Records. The Weeknd also set new all-time Spotify World Records for “The Most Streamed Artist in a Single Day” with over 40 million streams, and “The Most Streamed Album First Week” both Globally (Over 223 million streams) and in the U.S. (over 124 million streams).
Meanwhile, back on the album chart, at #2 this week is Pentatonix with A Pentatonix Christmas, moving 131,000 units. Last week’s #1 debut, Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, is #3 this week with 75,000, and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic is #4 with 73,000 units. The Moana film soundtrack is #5 with 66,000 units.
In the back half of the Top 10, another animated film soundtrack, Trolls, holds steady at #6 with 53,000 units. Yet another Pentatonix holiday title, That’s Christmas to Me, occupies the #7 slot with 40,000 units, and Michael Buble’s Christmas is #8 with slightly less than 36,000 units. Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings is #9 this week with 36,000 units, and the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton is #10 with 34,000.
