Post Malone Scores Second No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 with ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’

Post Malone snares 2019’s second-biggest week for an album. Plus: Melanie Martinez and The Highwomen debut in top 10.

Post Malone charges in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with Hollywood’s Bleeding. The set opens with 489,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 12 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music — the second-biggest week of 2019 for any album. Of that total unit sum, 200,000 were in album sales.

Further, the album racked up 365.4 million on-demand audio streams for its tracks in its first week, delivering 2019’s biggest streaming week for an album.

Hollywood’s Bleeding is Post Malone’s second No. 1, following 2018’s beerbongs & bentleys, which debuted with 461,000 units (of which 153,000 were in album sales). The new album was released on Sept. 6 via Republic Records.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Sept. 21-dated chart, where Hollywood’s Bleeding debuts at No. 1, will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Sept. 17.

Hollywood’s Bleeding was preceded by four smash singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” with Swae Lee (No. 1), “Wow.” (No. 2), “Goodbyes,” featuring Young Thug (No. 3) and “Circles” (No. 7, through the most recently published chart, dated Sept. 14).

2019’s Biggest Streaming Week: Of Hollywood’s Bleeding’s total debut of 489,000 units, album sales contributed 200,000, while TEA units were 11,000 and SEA units equaled 278,000. The latter sum translates to 365.4 million on-demand audio streams of the album’s 17 songs during the tracking week. As noted earlier, that sum is the biggest streaming week for an album in 2019. (The previous biggest streaming week of the year belonged to the debut frame of Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next, with 307.1 million racked up in the week ending Feb. 14.)

The Year’s Second-Biggest Week for an Album in Total Units: Hollywood’s Bleeding’s total unit start logs the second-largest frame of 2019, trailing only the debut week of Taylor Swift’s Lover (867,000 on the chart dated Sept. 7).

Republic Rules: Notably, both Hollywood’s Bleeding and Lover were released via Republic Records. Republic now holds the four biggest weeks of 2019 for an album: the debut frames of Lover (867,000), Hollywood’s Bleeding (489,000), Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins (414,000; chart dated June 22) and Grande’s Thank U, Next (360,000; chart dated Feb. 23).

Sturdy Sales: Of Hollywood’s Bleeding total unit start, album sales comprised 200,000. That’s the biggest sales week yet for Post Malone, surpassing the 153,000 start of beerbongs & bentleys. The new album’s sales were boosted by a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with Post Malone’s tour, as well as an array of merchandise/album bundles sold via the artist’s official webstore.

Hooray for Hollywood: Hollywood’s Bleeding is the second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with the word Hollywood in its title. Previously, Wiz Khalifa’s Blacc Hollywood topped the list for one week on Sept. 6, 2014.

Back on the new Billboard 200, Taylor Swift’s Lover holds in the runner-up slot for a second week, with 104,000 equivalent album units earned (down 42%). Lover is in its third week on the list, and bowed at No. 1 with 867,000. Thus, Lover has earned over 100,000 in its first three weeks on the list, making it just the second album to tally 100,000-plus units in three weeks in 2019 after Grande’s Thank U, Next (which claimed 100,000-plus in its first three weeks as well).

Melanie Martinez earns her second top 10 album and highest charting set yet, as K-12 debuts at No. 3 on the new Billboard 200 with 57,000 equivalent album units (with 30,000 of that sum in album sales). K-12 is Martinez’s second full-length studio set, following 2015’s Cry Baby, which debuted and peaked at No. 6 on the Sept. 5, 2015-dated list with 40,000 units in its first week (32,000 in album sales). Cry Baby went on to earn 1.4 million units, and collecting 1.1 billion on-demand audio streams for its tracks.

Young Thug’s former No. 1 So Much Fun rises one spot to No. 4 on the new Billboard 200, with 53,000 equivalent album units (down 14%). Lil Tecca’s We Love You Tecca dips 4-5 with 49,000 units (down 28%) and Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You is steady at No. 6 with 39,000 units (down 14%).

Tool’s Fear Inoculum falls from No. 1 to No. 7 in its second week, with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (down 86%).

Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? descends 7-8 with 37,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%). The album debuted at No. 1 six months ago, and has yet to depart the top 10.

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! falls 3-9 in its second week, with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (down 66%).

Lastly, all-star quartet The Highwomen sees their self-titled debut album bow at No. 10 with 34,000 equivalent album units (with 29,000 of that sum in album sales). The four-member act comprises Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires. Combined, the four performers have individually tallied 12 top 20-charting albums across the Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts.

Source: billboard.com