![03-feature-morgan-wallen-01-billboard-eric-ryan-anderson-1548-1612206244-compressed[1]](https://musicnow.iprorecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/03-feature-morgan-wallen-01-billboard-eric-ryan-anderson-1548-1612206244-compressed1.jpg)
Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous’ Spends Fourth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart
Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for a fourth consecutive week. The set earned 149,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 4 (up 14%), according to MRC Data. The album arrived atop the list three weeks ago, on the chart dated Jan. 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 Feb. 13, 2021-dated chart (where Dangerous holds at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 9. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Dangerous’ 149,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Feb. 4, SEA units comprise 118,000 (up 3%, equaling 159.76 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 25,000 (up 102%) and TEA units comprise 6,000 (up 67%).
The album’s across-the-board gains came during the same tracking week in which TMZ published a video showing Wallen using a racial slur. As previously reported, TMZ posted a video on Feb. 2 of Wallen, who was positioned to be the next global country star, yelling expletives, including the N-word. He subsequently issued an apology, while his record label, Big Loud Records, suspended his recording contract indefinitely. The news broke with two full days left in the chart’s tracking week (which ended on Feb. 4).
On Feb. 6, Billboard reported that Wallen’s airplay had collapsed to a nominal amount through Feb. 5, after multiple radio groups dropped his music. Concurrently, his songs were removed from over 30 influential playlists across Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora (though his music remained available on all services). Also, though Big Loud suspended Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely, his music was not removed from any digital retailers (like iTunes), and remains available in brick-and-mortar retail stores.
With Dangerous having spent its first four weeks at No. 1, it’s the first country album to do so since January 2003.
The last album to log its first four weeks at No. 1 that also appeared on the Top Country Albums chart was Shania Twain’s Up! It spent its first five (and total) weeks at No. 1 (Dec. 7, 2002 through Jan. 4, 2003). The last album by a male artist to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 that also appeared on Top Country Albums was Garth Brooks’ Double Live in late 1998 and early 1999, which spend its first five (and total) weeks at No. 1 (Dec. 5, 1998 – Jan. 2, 1999).
The last country album to spend at least four total weeks at No. 1 was Taylor Swift’s Red, with seven nonconsecutive weeks in the lead in late 2012 and early 2013. Red spent its first three weeks at No. 1 (Nov. 10-24, 2012), then stepped away from the top slot for three weeks and then returned for four more weeks in a row (Dec. 22, 2012 – Jan. 12, 2013). The last country album by a male artist to spend at least four total weeks at No. 1 was Alan Jackson’s Drive, which notched four nonconsecutive weeks in the lead (Feb. 2-16, and March 2, 2002).
Back on the new Billboard 200, Lil Durk’s The Voice jumps 5-2, matching its peak first reached four weeks ago, following its deluxe reissue on Jan. 29 with 14 additional tracks. The set, originally released Dec. 24, earned 86,000 equivalent album units (up 167%) in the week ending Feb. 4. All versions of the album, new and old, are combined for tracking purposes.
The next eight albums on the chart are all former No. 1s. Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon dips 2-3 (43,000 equivalent album units earned; down 4%), The Weeknd’s After Hours is a non-mover at No. 4 (34,000; down 1%) and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die rises 6-5 (just over 30,000; down 3%).
Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get pushes 8-6 (30,000 equivalent album units earned; down 2%), Taylor Swift’s Evermore falls 3-7 (29,500; down 15%), Lil Baby’s My Turn rises 9-8 (29,000; down 3%) and Ariana Grande’s Positions dips 7-9 (28,000; down 9%).
Closing the Billboard 200’s top tier, Megan Thee Stallion’s No. 2-peaking Good News bumps back into the top 10 (12-10) with 26,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).
Source: billboard.com