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Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous’ No. 1 for Fifth Week on Billboard 200 while ‘If I Know Me’ Hits Top 10 for First Time
Plus: The Weeknd, Foo Fighters and Pooh Shiesty debut in top 10.
Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album continues to rule the Billboard 200 chart for a fifth straight week, while Wallen’s previous set, 2018’s If I Know Me, reaches the top 10 for the first time.
Dangerous earned 150,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 11 (up 1%), according to MRC Data. Dangerous bowed atop the list four weeks ago, on the chart dated Jan. 23. It’s just the third album to spend five weeks at No. 1 in the last 12 months, following Taylor Swift’s Folklore (eight weeks) and Lil Baby’s My Turn (five weeks). My Turn and Folklore were also the two most popular albums of 2020, according to MRC Data.
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. 20, 2021-dated chart (where Dangerous is steady at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 17 (one day later than usual, owed to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. on Feb. 15). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Dangerous’ 150,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Feb. 11, SEA units comprise 107,000 (down 9%, equaling 146.38 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 37,000 (up 49%) and TEA units comprise 5,000 (down 6%).
During the new chart’s tracking week, on Feb. 10, Wallen issued a five-minute video via social media addressing the Feb. 2 emergence of an earlier video showing him using the N-word. Reaction to the Feb. 2 clip was swift – he was “suspended” from his recording contract with Big Loud Records, his music was removed from dozens of high profile playlists on streamers such as Apple Music and Spotify, and multiple radio groups dropped his music. In the tracking week that captured the initial fallout from the Feb. 2 video, Dangerous spent a fourth week at No. 1 (with a 14% gain in units earned in the week ending Feb. 4).
Among albums that charted on both Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200, the last to notch five total weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was Taylor Swift’s Red, with seven nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in 2012-13. The last country set to log its first five weeks at No. 1 was Shania Twain’s Up (Dec. 7, 2002 through Jan. 4, 2003). The last country album by a male artist to score five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – and its first five weeks in the lead – was Garth Brooks’ Double Live in late 1998 and early 1999, which spent its first five (and total) weeks at No. 1 (Dec. 5, 1998 – Jan. 2, 1999).
While Dangerous remains at No. 1, Wallen’s previous album, 2018’s If I Know Me, reaches the top 10 for the first time, as it climbs 17-10 – surpassing its previous high of No. 13 (reached on the chart dated Aug. 20, 2020). If I Know Me rises with 29,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 11 (up 33%) – which also marks the album’s best weeks, in terms of units earned.
Of If I Know Me’s 29,000-unit sum, 17,000 comprise SEA units (up 12%, equaling 24.95 million on-demand streams of the songs), 10,000 comprise album sales (up 101%, the album’s best sales week yet) and 2,000 comprise TEA units (up 16%).
Back up near the top of the chart, The Weeknd’s new 18-song retrospective compilation The Highlights debuts at No. 2 (89,000 equivalent album units earned) — the highest charting greatest hits set in over a year. The last best-of to see such great heights on the chart was Blake Shelton’s Fully Loaded: God’s Country, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Dec. 28, 2019-dated list.
The Highlights was released on Feb. 5, two days before The Weeknd played the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 7.
Of The Highlights’ 89,000-unit sum, 70,000 comprise SEA units (equaling 101.94 million on-demand streams of the songs), 10,000 comprise album sales and 9,000 comprise TEA units.
The Highlights boasts 11 of The Weeknd’s 12 top 10-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Among the album’s songs are two that are also on his most recent studio album, 2020’s After Hours: “Blinding Lights” and “Save Your Tears.” The TEA and SEA units for both songs contribute to The Highlights on the chart as a song’s activity is assigned to the artist’s album with the most sales in a week. (After Hours sold 6,000 copies in the latest tracking week, while The Highlights sold 10,000. Due to the track reassignment, After Hours moves 4-37 on the Billboard 200, with 15,000 units earned – down 57%.)
In total, The Highlights is The Weeknd’s seventh top 10 album, the entirety of his charting efforts – and all of them have reached the top five of the list.
Foo Fighters fly in at No. 3 with the band’s new studio album Medicine at Midnight, marking the group’s ninth top 10. The set launches with 70,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 64,000 comprise album sales (it’s the No. 1-selling album of the week), 6,000 comprise SEA units (equaling 7.66 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs) and a negligible number comprise TEA units.
The third and final debut in the top 10 is Pooh Shiesty’s Shiesty Season, which bows at No. 4 with 62,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the rapper’s first album release, and was led by his first Hot 100 hit, the top 40-charting “Back in Blood,” featuring Lil Durk. The 21-year-old Pooh Shiesty was previously named as one of Billboard’s 2021 Artists to Watch, and also deemed February’s Hip-Hop and R&B Rookie of the Month.
Lil Durk’s The Voice falls 2-5 with 49,000 equivalent album units earned (down 43%), while Pop Smoke’s former leader Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon dips 3-6 with 41,000 units (down 4%). Three more previous chart-toppers are next in the top 10, as Ariana Grande’s Positions climbs 9-7 with 32,000 units (up 14%), Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die descends 5-8 with 30,000 units (down 2%) and Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get drops 6-9 with nearly 30,000 units (down 1%).
As previously noted, Wallen’s If I Know Me closes out the top 10, jumping 17-10 with 29,000 units (up 33%).
Source: billboard.com