DJ Khaled’s ‘Grateful’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Plus, Imagine Dragons’ ‘Evolve’ arrives at No. 2 and Prince and the Revolution’s reissued ‘Purple Rain’ soundtrack returns at No. 4.

DJ Khaled lands his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as his latest release, Grateful, bows atop the list. The set — which was released on June 23 through We the Best/Epic Records — earned 149,000 equivalent album units in the week ending June 29, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 50,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new July 15, 2017-dated chart (where DJ Khaled debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, July 4.

Grateful follows DJ Khaled’s first No. 1, earned a little less than a year ago, when Major Key launched in the penthouse (on the list dated Aug. 20, 2016) with 95,000 units. Of that starting-week sum, 59,000 were in traditional album sales. (Notably, during Major Key’s first week of release, it was exclusively available to stream through Apple Music, and for sale as a download through the iTunes Store. Grateful, however, was widely available at all streaming services and retailers.)

In total, Grateful marks DJ Khaled’s seventh top 10-charting effort, stretching back to 2007’s We the Best, which debuted and peaked at No. 8.

The new album is powered by streams, as it logged a robust 81,000 SEA units — the largest SEA haul for an album since the May 27-dated list, when Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. tallied 86,000 SEA units in its fourth week on the list. (Grateful’s81,000 SEA units equates to 121.19 million on-demand audio streams for the collected tracks on the album during the tracking week.)

The rest of Grateful’s debut frame is comprised of TEA units (a little under 19,000).

Grateful was ushered in by a pair of top five-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, “I’m the One” (his first No. 1 on the list), featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne, and “Wild Thoughts,” featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller. DJ Khaled’s star-packed Grateful album also boasts guests such as Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Drake, Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj and Calvin Harris.

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Imagine Dragons’ new Evolve arrives with 147,000 units and the biggest week of the year for a rock album. Its starting sum is the biggest frame for a rock effort since Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self-Destructlaunched at No. 1 with 282,000 units on the list dated Dec. 20, 2016.

Further, Evolve sold 109,000 in traditional album sales — earning the rock group the top-selling album of the week, as it launches at No. 1 on the Top Album Saleschart. Evolve logs the third-largest sales week for a rock set this year, following the debuts of John Mayer’s The Search for Everything (120,000) and Gorillaz’s Humanz(115,000).

The new album’s debut frame is comprised mostly of album sales, while its SEA and TEA units trail far behind comparatively (just under 23,000 and 15,000, respectively).

Evolve, Imagine Dragons’ third full-length studio effort, is the quartet’s third top 10 album on the Billboard 200, following Smoke + Mirrors (No. 1 in 2015) and Night Visions (No. 2 in 2012). Smoke started with 195,000 units (172,000 in album sales). The new album sports the hit single “Believer,” which has racked up 16 weeks (and counting) at No. 1 on the Hot Rock Songs chart. The song also spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the airplay-based Alternative Songs chart — the longest run at No. 1 for any song since the band’s own “Radioactive” spent 13 weeks atop the list in 2013.

At No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Kendrick Lamar’s former No. 1 DAMN. holds its position, earning 59,000 units (down 16 percent).

Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain soundtrack, first released in 1984, re-enters the list straight in at No. 4, following its deluxe remastered reissue on June 23. The album — combining all versions of Purple Rain, past and present — earned 52,000 units in the tracking frame (of which 48,000 were in traditional album sales). The set collected a 3,633 percent gain in units for the week, and a 4,767 percent leap in album sales.

The former No. 1 — which spent 24 weeks atop the list in 1984 — is Prince’s first album to get get the remastered-and-deluxed treatment. Its redux was announced in 2014, when Prince signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Records. According to a press release from the label, the remaster of the original album was “overseen and sanctioned” by the late artist (who died in 2016).

Purple Rain was reissued in a variety of formats, including a 20-track deluxe edition with unreleased bonus tracks and a 35-track expanded edition with additional B-sides, rarities and a live DVD of the Purple Rain Tour from 1985.

2 Chainz’s Pretty Girls Like Trap Music slides from No. 2 to No. 5 in its second week on the Billboard 200, earning 43,000 units (down 59 percent).

Alternative rock band 311 claims its 10th top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as MOSAIC debuts at No. 6 with 39,000 units (37,000 in traditional album sales). The group last hit the top 10 in 2014 with Stereolithic, which also launched at No. 6 (with 41,000 in sales — before the chart transitioned to a consumption-ranked tally later that year).

Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) stays steady at No. 7 on the new Billboard 200 (36,000 units; down 5 percent), and Drake’s More Life descends 6-8 (34,000 units; down 18 percent); the sets ruled for two and three weeks, respectively. Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic climbs 10-9 (32,000 units; up 5 percent).

Closing out the top 10 is the soundtrack to Moana, which rises 15-10 with 29,000 units (up 21 percent), of which 13,000 are in traditional album sales (up 15 percent). The album’s rise is likely owed to its parent film’s June 20 arrival to Netflix. The film was released in theaters last November, and then issued on home video in March.

Source: billboard.com