The Weeknd makes it a Month at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Plus: Tory Lanez and The Strokes debut in top 10.

The Weeknd makes it a full month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as his After Hours album holds atop the tally for a fourth straight week. It has refused to budge from the top spot since its debut at No. 1 a month ago. It’s the first album to notch four consecutive weeks at No. 1 since Drake’s Scorpion spent its first five weeks at No. 1 in 2018 (July 13-Aug. 11).

After Hours is now one of five albums to spend at least four total weeks at No. 1 since 2018. The last album to land four weeks in total 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).

After Hours earned 75,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 16 (down 18%), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Media.

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 25-dated chart (where After Hours is No. 1 for a fourth week) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 21.

Of After Hours’ 75,000 equivalent album units in the most recent tracking week, 52,000 are in SEA units (down 19%, equaling 73.7 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 20,000 are in album sales (down 16%) and 3,000 are in TEA units (down 7%).

The album continues to benefit from strong streaming numbers, as well as sales of popular merchandise/album bundles sold via The Weeknd’s website. The artist has dropped more than 100 different bundles on a mostly consistent basis since the album’s release. (Bundles pair an artist- or album-branded piece of merchandise, usually clothing, with a copy of the album. Merchandise in each bundle is also available separately, for a lower price, without the album.)

Tory Lanez captures his fifth consecutive top five-charting album, as The New Toronto 3 jumps in at No. 2. The set earned 64,000 equivalent album units, with 58,000 of that sum in SEA units (equaling 76.1 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 5,000 in album sales and 1,000 in TEA units.

The New Toronto 3 matches Lanez’s previous high-water mark on the list, as his last album, Chixtape 5, debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Nov. 30, 2019-dated chart. All of Lanez’s charting albums have reached the top five, as The New Toronto 3 and Chixtape 5 are joined by Love Me Now? (No. 4 in 2018), Memories Don’t Die (No. 3, 2018) and I Told You (No. 4, 2016).

Lil Uzi Vert’s former No. 1 Eternal Atake holds steady at No. 3 on the new Billboard 200, with 61,000 equivalent album units (down 12%), while Lil Baby’s previous chart-topper My Turn is also a non-mover at No. 4 with 44,000 units (down 7%).

Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG rises one spot to No. 5 with 39,000 equivalent album units (down 10%), Post Malone’s former No. 1 Hollywood’s Bleeding climbs 9-6 with 36,000 units (down 2%) and Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial is stationary at No. 7 with just under 36,000 units (down 6%).

The Strokes land their fifth top 10 album, as The New Abnormal opens at No. 8 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 23,000 are in album sales, 11,000 are in SEA units and less than 1,000 are in TEA units.

The Strokes previously hit the top 10 with Comedown Machine (No. 10, 2013), Angles (No. 4, 2011), First Impressions of Earth (No. 4, 2006), Room On Fire (No. 4, 2003). The group’s only charting album to miss the top 10 was its debut full-length set, Is This It? (No. 33, 2002).

Rounding out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 are Rod Wave’s Pray 4 Love, which falls from No. 2 to No. 9 in its second week (34,000 equivalent album units; down 53%) and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, dipping 8-10 in its third week (30,000 units; down 20%).

Future Nostalgia, which opened at No. 4, is the first Warner Records album to spend its first three weeks inside the top 10 in nearly five years. The last Warner set to do so was Josh Groban’s Stages, which opened at No. 2 on the May 16, 2015 chart, and then held at No. 2 for its second week, and then fell to No. 8 in its third frame before departing the top 10. The last album by a woman on Warner Records to spend its first three weeks in the top 10 was Jill Scott’s The Light of the Sun in 2011 (it opened at No. 1 on the July 9, 2011 chart, and then went then moved to No. 5 and to No. 7, before falling out of the top 10).

The last Warner Records album to notch its first four weeks in the top 10 was Michael Bublé’s To Be Loved in 2013. It debuted at No. 1 on the May 11, 2013 list, and then moved 2-4-8 in its second, third and fourth weeks, before leaving the top 10. The last Warner Records set by a woman to spend its first four weeks in the top 10 was Madonna’s Hard Candy, which bowed at No. 1 on the May 17, 2008 list, and moved 3-8-9 before departing the top 10.

Source: billboard.com