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Lil Durk Scores Second No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart with ‘7220’
Plus: Ghost, Rex Orange County and for KING & COUNTRY debut in top 10.
Lil Durk scores his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart (dated March 26) as 7220 debuts in the top slot. The rapper previously topped the list with The Voice of the Heroes, a collaborative set with Lil Baby, for one week in 2021.
7220 launches with 120,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 17, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data – Lil Durk’s best week for a non-collaborative project. 7220 was released on March 11 via Alamo Records.
After eight weeks in a row at No. 1 – and nine weeks in total on top – the Encanto soundtrack is pushed down to No. 3 with 64,000 units (down 12%).
Also in the top 10, Ghost debuts at a career-high No. 2 with Impera – which launches with the largest sales week of any album in 2022 – while Rex Orange County collects his second top five effort with the debut of Who Cares? and for KING & COUNTRY lands its second top 10 with What Are We Waiting For?
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, compiled by Luminate. 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 March 26, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 22. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of 7220’s 120,500 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 117,500 (equaling 164.81 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 2,500 and TEA units comprise 500.
7220 is Lil Durk’s fifth top 10 album – and all of them have reached the top five. The set opens with Lil Durk’s largest week, by units, for a non-collaborative album. His previous solo best was logged when The Voice jumped 5-2 with 86,000 units on the Feb. 13, 2021 chart, after the album was reissued with 14 additional tracks.
7220 also lands the third-largest week for an album in the 2022 tracking year. Only the debut frames of Gunna’s DS4Ever (105,300; week ending Jan. 13) and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM (148,000; the same week) posted larger weeks in 2022.
7220 is the third No. 1 for Alamo Records, and first since Sony Music Entertainment acquired the company last June.
Ghost lands a career-high placing on the Billboard 200, as the rock band’s new album Impera debuts at No. 2. The set also earns the group its biggest week both in terms of equivalent album units earned (70,000) and traditional album sales (62,500). The set additionally logs the largest sales week of any album in 2022, bolstered by its availability across multiple vinyl LP variants, as well as CD, cassette and digital download. Impera was released on March 11 via Loma Vista/Concord.
Impera is the first new full-length studio album from Ghost since Prequelle, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the June 16, 2018 tally (the band’s previous chart high). All told, Impera marks the third top 10 album – and fifth top 40-charting set – for the act.
Of Impera’s 70,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 62,500; SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500. The band’s previous biggest week, both in units earned and album sales, was the opening frame of Prequelle (66,000 units, of which 61,500 were album sales).
Impera is the highest-charting rock album on the Billboard 200 in nearly eight months, since John Mayer’s Sob Rock debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the July 31, 2021-dated list. Impera is the highest-charting hard rock set in a year and four months, since AC/DC’s Power Up spent a week at No. 1, debuting atop the list dated Nov. 28, 2020. (Rock and hard rock albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums chart, respectively.)
Impera also lands the largest week, by units, for a rock album since Sob Rock’s debut week (84,000) and the biggest for a hard rock set in over a year, since the opening week of Foo Fighters’ Medicine at Midnight (70,000; Feb. 20, 2021, chart).
Impera has the biggest week, by album sales, for any album in the 2022 tracking year so far, surpassing the 37,000 copies sold of The Weeknd’s Dawn FM after its CD was released (week ending Feb. 3). Further, Impera has the largest sales week for a rock or hard rock album since the debut of Medicine at Midnight (64,000).
The Encanto soundtrack falls from No. 1 to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 after eight straight weeks on top, and a total of nine nonconsecutive weeks in the lead. It earned 64,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking week (down 12%).
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album falls 3-4 on the Billboard 200 with 46,000 equivalent album units (though up 1%).
Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 61 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It ties Celine Dion’s Falling Into You (1996-97) for the third-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums released since 1990. Ahead of them are only Adele’s 21, with 84 weeks in the top 10 (2011-16), and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, with 72 weeks in the top 10 (1995-97).
Rex Orange County notches his second top five-charting album, as Who Cares? bows at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 20,000; SEA units comprise 15,000 (equaling 19.61 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The artist (born Alexander James O’Connor) previously visited the top 10 with Pony, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (Nov. 9, 2019 chart).
The Weeknd’s compilation The Highlights is a non-mover at No. 6 with 34,000 equivalent album units (up 4%).
for KING & COUNTRY lands its second top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as the duo’s latest release, What Are We Waiting For?, bows at No. 7 with nearly 32,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 28,000; SEA units comprise 3,500 (equaling 5.08 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500. The act (brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone) previously visited the top 10 with 2018’s Burn the Ships, which debuted and peaked at No. 7 (Oct. 20, 2018, chart).
Gunna’s chart-topping DS4Ever falls 5-8 with 31,500 units (down 9%), Drake’s former leader Certified Lover Boy is steady at No. 9 with 31,000 equivalent album units (up less than 1%) and Doja Cat’s Planet Her is stationary at No. 10 with 30,000 units (up 1%).
Source: billboard.com