Harry Styles’ ‘Fine Line’ Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Harry Styles’ Fine Line album leads the Billboard 200 chart for a second week, as the set earned 89,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 26, according to Nielsen Music. That’s down 81% compared to its debut a week earlier, when it blasted in atop the tally with 478,000 units.

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 comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 4, 2020-dated chart (where Fine Line holds at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Dec. 31.

Of Fine Line’s overall second-week unit sum, album sales comprise 47,000 of that figure — down 88% compared to its first-week sales figure of 346,000.

Fine Line is the first pop album to spend two weeks at No. 1 since Ed Sheeran​’s No.6 Collaborations Project set also spent its first two weeks in charge, on the charts dated July 27 and Aug. 3, 2019. (Pop albums are those that did not chart on a genre-specific tally such as Alternative Albums or Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, etc.) Additionally, Fine Line, which is Styles’ second No. 1, has now surpassed the one-week reign of his self-titled debut.

Michael Bublé​’s Christmas climbs 6-2 on the new Billboard 200 (77,000 equivalent album units; up 34%), marking the album’s highest rank since it closed out a five-week run at No. 1 on the Jan. 7, 2012-dated list. Christmas, which was released in October of 2011, has revisited the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in every Christmas season since its initial reign. Until this week, the album’s highest rank after its initial run at No. 1 was No. 3. It achieved that placing during both the 2012-13 and 2018-19 seasons (on the charts dated Dec. 29, 2012 and Jan. 5, 2019).

Bublé’s Christmas is one of four holiday albums in the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 — the most Christmas titles in the region in six years. The last time the top 10 was so festive was on the Dec. 21, 2013-dated list. That week, there were a whopping five seasonal sets in the region: Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red (No. 3), The Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas (No. 5), Pentatonix​’s PTXmas (EP), Bublé’s Christmas (No. 8) and Mary J. Blige​’s A Mary Christmas (No. 10).

It’s not surprising that the top of the new Billboard 200 chart is so holiday-heavy, as the latest tracking week ended on Dec. 26, so the frame captured the last five days leading up to Christmas, as well as the Christmas holiday itself on Dec. 25.

Pausing for a moment on the seasonal merriment, rapper Roddy Ricch sees his former No. 1 album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial hold at No. 3 on the new Billboard 200 in its third week. The set earned 73,000 equivalent album units (down 10%).

Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas album jingles 8-4 on the Billboard 200, tallying 71,000 equivalent album units (up 40%). The set — the second of four holiday titles in the new top 10 — revisits the top five of the chart for the first time since 1994, when it peaked at No. 3 (Dec. 17, 1994-dated chart). Merry Christmas includes Carey’s evergreen favorite “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which spent its second week at No. 1 on the most recently published Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (dated Dec. 28), after it reached the top for the first time two weeks ago.

Billie Eilish​’s former No. 1 When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? rises 9-5 on the new Billboard 200, earning 64,000 equivalent album units (up 31%), and Post Malone’s former leader Hollywood’s Bleeding dips 4-6 with 63,000 units (though up less than 1%). Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas — the third of the week’s holiday albums in the top 10 — is a non-mover at No. 7 with 62,000 units (up 12%).

Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song closes out the quartet of holiday titles in the top 10, as it surges 11-8 with 60,000 equivalent album units (up 45%). The jump is fueled by streaming activity of the set’s familiar favorites such as its title track, “O Holy Night,” “Caroling, Caroling” and “Silent Night.” The album has so far peaked at No. 7 on the Jan. 5, 2019-dated chart.

Rounding out the new top 10 are a pair of former No. 1s: the Frozen II soundtrack slides 5-9 with 57,000 equivalent album units (down 6%), while Young Thug’s So Much Fun rallies 36-10 with 53,000 units (up 136%). The latter album was reissued on Dec. 20 with additional tracks, spurring its surge up the list.

Source: billboard.com