Luke Combs’ ‘What You See Is What You Get’ Back at No. 1 on Billboard 200, Sets New Streaming Record

The set’s deluxe reissue prompts its 21-1 jump back to the top. Plus: Bruce Springsteen and Ty Dolla $ign start in the top five.

Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get album vaults back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for a second total week, following its deluxe reissue on Oct. 23 — and sets a new weekly streaming record for a country album.

The set, which debuted atop the list dated Nov. 23, 2019, zooms from No. 21 to No. 1 with 109,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 29 (up 399 percent), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The album was reissued on Oct. 23 with a handful of additional songs, bringing its total song count to 23.

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). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 7-dated chart (where What You See Is What You Get returns to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Nov. 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of What You See Is What You Get’s 109,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Oct. 29, SEA units comprise 76,000 (up 289 percent; equaling 102.26 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 22,000 comprise album sales (up 1,734 percent) and 11,000 comprise TEA units (up 904 percent).

What You See Is What You Get’s streaming total of 102.26 million weekly streams for its songs breaks its own record for the largest streaming week for a country album. It first set the record in its debut week (ending Nov. 14, 2019 – chart dated Nov. 23), when it racked up 74 million streams. (Note: Since January, streams on the Billboard 200 now include both on-demand audio and video streams. Before that, streams were audio only. That said, even counting just audio streams for What You See in the latest week, it would still have the biggest week country streaming week ever.)

What You See Is What You Get is also only the second country album to reach No. 1 in 2020 (following Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now on May 16).

Among the new cuts added to the tracklist of What You See Is What You Get are the hit songs “Six Feet Apart” (No. 10 peak on Hot Country Songs in May) and “Without You” (No. 15 on Hot Country Songs). Also included is the new song “Forever After All,” which is expected to make a high debut on both Hot Country Songs and the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Nov. 7.

Notably, the 11-month and 15-day gap between weeks at No. 1 for What You See is the longest wait since early 2018, when Bon Jovi’s This House Is Not a Home returned to No. 1 after 15 months.

Bruce Springsteen’s new album Letter to You debuts at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, as he becomes the first act with new top five-charting albums in each of the last six decades (1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and the ‘20s). Letter to You is Springsteen’s 20th studio effort. Further, Letter to You is the top selling album of the week, debuts at No. 1 on the Album Sales chart and launches with Springsteen’s biggest sales week for any album since 2014.

Letter to You bows with 96,000 equivalent album units earned (Springsteen’s largest week, in terms of units, since the Billboard 200 began measuring in consumption units in December 2014). Of that sum, 92,000 comprise album sales, 4,000 comprise SEA units (totaling 5.37 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs) and less than 1,000 comprise TEA units.

Letter to You’s sales start of 92,000 is Springsteen’s best sales week since High Hopes debuted at No. 1 with 99,000 copies sold on the chart dated Feb. 1, 2014.

All told, Letter to You is Springsteen’s 21st top 10 and top five-charting album. (All 21 of his top 10 efforts also reached the top five.)

Springsteen logged two top five sets in the 1970s (Born to Run, No. 3 in 1975 and Darkness on the Edge of Town, No. 5 in 1978), five in the ‘80s (The River, No. 1 in 1980; Nebraska, No. 3 in 1982; Born in the U.S.A., No. 1 in 1984; the live album Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 1975-1985, No. 1 in 1986; and Tunnel of Love, No. 1 in 1987), three in the 1990s (Human Touch, No. 3 in 1992; Lucky Town, No. 3 in 1992; and Greatest Hits, No. 1 in 1995), six in the ‘00s (Live in New York City, No. 5 in 2001; The Rising, No. 1 in 2002; Devils & Dust, No. 1 in 2005; We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, No. 3 in 2006; Magic, No. 1 in 2007; and Working On a Dream, No. 1 in 2009), four in the ‘10s (Wrecking Ball, No. 1 in 2012; High Hopes, No. 1 in 2014; Chapter and Verse, No. 5 in 2016; and Western Stars, No. 2 in 2019) and now one in the ‘20s (Letter to You, No. 2 in 2020).

Letter to You sold well on vinyl, with 18,000 of its sales coming from the format — the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album in 2020 (trailing only to the debut week of Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush, with 26,000 sold; chart dated Feb. 29). Letter to You was also a hot seller with independent record stores, as it moved 16,000 of its total 92,000 via indie stores.

Letter to You launches at No. 1 both the Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Albums charts. The latter list ranks the top selling albums of the week at indie and small chain record stores.

Letter to You was led by its title track, which has risen to No. 2 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart (through the most recently published chart dated Oct. 31).

Back on the new Billboard 200 chart, Pop Smoke’s former No. 1 Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon falls 2-3 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8 percent).

Ty Dolla $ign scores his highest charting album ever and first top 10, as Featuring Ty Dolla $ign bows at No. 4 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 39,000 comprise SEA units (totaling 50.83 million on-demand streams of its songs), 4,000 comprise album sales and 1,000 comprise TEA units. He previously peaked as high as No. 11 with Beach House 3 in 2017.

A trio of former No. 1s are next up on the new Billboard 200, as Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die falls 4-5 (42,000 equivalent album units earned; down 6 percent), 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II slips 3-6 (36,000; down 24 percent) and Lil Baby’s My Turn is a non-mover at No. 7 (35,000 units; down 4 percent).

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical is steady at No. 8 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned (down 9 percent), while Machine Gun Kelly’s previous leader Tickets to My Downfall holds at No. 9 with 28,000 units (down 6 percent).

Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Fine Line returns to the top 10, climbing from No. 20 to No. 10, following the Oct. 26 release of the set’s new video for the song “Golden.” The album earned 27,000 equivalent album units (up 20 percent).

Source: billboard.com