Skins

Plus: Gucci Mane & John Mellencamp bow in the top 10.

XXXTentacion’s first posthumously released album, Skins, debuts at No. 1 the Billboard 200 chart. The set, which was released on Dec. 7 via Bad Vibes Forever/EMPIRE, is XXXTentacion’s second No. 1, and it earned 132,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 13, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 52,000 were in album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Dec. 22-dated chart (where Skins bows at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Skins is the first posthumous No. 1 album since Prince’s The Very Best of Prince re-entered the chart dated May 6, 2016 at No. 1, following his death on April 21 of that year.

Skins’ debut week was largely driven by streaming activity of the album, as it tallied 78,000 SEA units, which equals 121.8 million on-demand audio streams of the set’s tracks.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack climbs 7-4 with 55,000 units. The album has spent its first 10 weeks on the chart inside the top 10, never ranking lower than No. 7.

Gucci Mane scores his fifth top 10 album on the Billboard 200, as Evil Genius arrives at No. 5, earning 51,000 units (5,000 in album sales). In total, Evil is Gucci Mane’s 21st charting effort, stretching back to 2005’s Trap House.

Travis Scott’s former No. 1 Astroworld rises 8-6 with a little more than 44,000 units (down 5 percent).

XXXTentacion (real name: Jahseh Onfroy) died on June 18, 2018. Before his death, he notched a pair of top 10 albums with Skins’ predecessor, ?, which opened at No. 1 on the list dated March 31, 2018. His first top 10 came with 17, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Sept. 16, 2017 chart. At the time of his death, XXXTentacion was awaiting trial on more than a dozen felony charges and allegations of domestic violence against his then-pregnant girlfriend.

Meek Mill’s Championships slips from No. 1 to No. 2 in its second week, as the set earned 129,000 units (down 43 percent).

Michael Bublé’s resilient Christmas album rises 5-3 (57,000 units; up 3 percent) for its highest rank in six years. The set was released in 2011 and spent five weeks atop the list between Dec. 10, 2011 and Jan. 7, 2012. Christmas was last in the top 3 on the Dec. 29, 2012-dated tally, when it also placed at No. 3. The album has revisited the top 10 of the chart in every holiday season following its 2011 release.

John Mellencamp returns to the top 10 with his highest-charting album in 10 years, as Other People’s Stuff debuts at No. 7 (44,000 units, nearly all from album sales). The 10-song covers collection, which marks his 11th top album, brings together previously released tracks Mellencamp recorded between 1993 and 2018. Mellencamp was last in the top 10 with the No. 10-peaking No Better Than This. Other People’s Stuff is Mellencamp’s highest-charting album since Life Death Love and Freedom also hit No. 7 on Aug. 2, 2008. Other People’s Stuff’s first-week sales were bolstered by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with Mellencamp’s upcoming U.S. tour.

Rounding out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200: 6ix9ine’s Dummy Boy falls 3-8 (43,000 units; down 49 percent), Lil Baby’s Street Gossip slips 2-9 (a little more than 42,000 units; down 52 percent) and Drake’s Scorpion climbs 11-10 (42,000 units; up 8 percent).

Source: billboard.com