The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours’ Scores Third Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Plus: Rod Wave and Sam Hunt debut in the top 10.

The Weeknd’s After Hours scores a third straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first album to lead for three consecutive weeks since Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding also spent its first three weeks atop the tally last year (Sept. 21-Oct. 5, 2019-dated charts), of a total of five non-consecutive frames at No. 1.

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 April 18-dated chart, where After Hours holds at No. 1, will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 14.

After Hours earned 90,000 equivalent album units (down 35%) in the U.S. in the week ending April 9, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 64,000 are in SEA units (down 26%, equaling 89.4 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 23,000 are in album sales (down 51%) and 3,000 are in TEA units (down 31%).

The album continues to benefit from sales of merchandise/album bundles the artist has been releasing on a consistent basis since After Hours premiered on March 20.

After Hours’ total unit sum for the week is the smallest total for a No. 1 album in a tracking week in 2020. It’s the lowest for an album at No. 1 since Harry Styles’ Fine Line tallied 89,000 units in its second week at No. 1, on the Jan. 4, 2020-dated chart, which reflected the tracking week ending Dec. 26, 2019.

Beyond consecutive-week reigns, the last album to spend more than three weeks at No. 1 was Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, which accumulated four non-consecutive weeks atop the list (Dec. 21, 2019, and then three weeks in 2020: Jan. 18, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22).

Coming in at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 is singer-rapper Rod Wave with his second album, Pray 4 Love. The set starts with 72,000 equivalent album units. Of that sum, 69,000 are in SEA units (equating to 105.8 million on-demand streams of the sets songs), while just 2,000 are in album sales, and less than 1,000 are TEA units.

With 69,000 SEA units and 105.8 million in on-demand streams for its 14 songs, Pray 4 Love is the most streamed album of the week. It edges out Lil Uzi Vert’s 32-song Eternal Atake (68,000 SEA units, 105.6 million streams).

Pray 4 Love easily marks Rod Wave’s best week ever on the Billboard 200, surpassing his previous peak of No. 10 with his debut set, Ghetto Gospel. The latter debuted and peaked on the Nov. 23, 2019-dated list.

A pair of former No. 1s round out the top four, as Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake holds at No. 3 (69,000 units; down 19%) and Lil Baby’s My Turn rises 6-4 (48,000 units, down 10%).

Sam Hunt jumps in at No. 5 with Southside, his sophomore studio effort and first studio set in over five years. Southside launches with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (28,000 in SEA units, equaling 36.8 million on-demand streams of its songs; 16,000 in album sales and 3,000 in TEA units).

Southside bows with the third-largest streaming week ever for a country album, and the second-biggest debut frame for a country set.

The biggest streaming week for any country effort is the debut frame of Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get, which started with 74 million clicks (Nov. 23, 2019 chart). The second-largest streaming week overall for a country set is owned by Gene Autry’s 2003 holiday hits collection Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics. It earned 43.71 million streams for its tracks on the Jan. 5, 2019-dated list thanks to big Christmastime plays of the album’s holiday favorites “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Southside is Hunt’s second top 10 album, following his first studio effort, Montevallo, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (Nov. 15, 2014 chart).

Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG rises one rung to No. 6 (43,000 units; down 15%), Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial ascends 9-7 (38,000 units; down 6%) and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia slips 4-8 in its second week (nearly 38,000 units; down 43%).

Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding returns to the top 10, lifting 11-9 (37,000 units; down 2%) and Jhené Aiko’s Chilombo also rebounds to the top 10, bumping 12-10 (27,000 units; down 12%).

Source: billboard.com