Brockhampton’s ‘Iridescence’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Hip-hop collective Brockhampton bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with its fourth studio album, Iridescence. The set, which was released on Sept. 21 via Question Everything/RCA Records, launches with 101,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 27, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 79,000 were in album sales.

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 are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Oct. 6-dated chart (where Iridescence debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

Of Iridescence’s 101,000 units, most were in album sales: 79,000, as noted above. The remainder was comprised of SEA units (22,000) and TEA units (a negligible figure).

Iridescence is Brockhampton’s first release for RCA after issuing three earlier albums via EMPIRE Recordings. The buzzed-about 14-member group, which has described itself as a “boy band,” signed a $15 million deal with RCA in March. The act has yet to land a song on any of Billboard’s charts (through the Sept. 26-dated lists), though its Saturation II and Saturation III albums both reached the Billboard 200 (peaking at Nos. 57 and 15, respectively, in September 2017 and January 2018). The first Saturation album missed the Billboard 200, but peaked at No. 38 on the sales-ranked Independent Albums list in July of 2017.

Through Sept. 20, the act’s catalog of tunes had generated 540 million on-demand streams in the U.S., of which 486.8 million were in on-demand audio clicks, while 53.6 million were in on-demand video streams. Radio has so far not picked up on Brockhampton, as the act’s songs have only tallied about 1,500 plays across all monitored formats of radio.

Iridescence’s first-week sales were supported heavily by an array of merchandise/album bundles sold via Brockhampton’s official website. Streaming also aided the set, as its 22,000 SEA units translated to 28.8 million on-demand audio streams of the album’s songs during release week. That makes the set the 13th most-streamed album of the week on the current Billboard 200 chart. Drake’s Scorpion is the week’s most-streamed album, with 81 million streams for its songs in its 13th week of release.

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Josh Groban arrives with his new studio album, Bridges. It starts with 96,000 units, of which 94,000 are in traditional album sales. Bridges is the top-selling album of the week. Bridges garnered just 1,000 SEA units (equaling 1.5 million on-demand audio streams for its songs) and a little more than 1,000 TEA units.

Bridges’ entry is supported by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer for Groban’s upcoming tour, as well as old-fashioned album sales via Target, Walmart, the iTunes Store, Amazon and the like.

In total, Bridges is Groban’s ninth top 10 album. It follows his last studio effort, 2015’s Stages, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 with 180,000 units in its first week (176,000 in album sales).

Eminem’s former No. 1, Kamikaze, dips 2-3 in its fourth week on the Billboard 200, earning 65,000 units (down 27 percent). Drake’s Scorpion is steady at No. 4 with 63,000 units (down 6 percent), Travis Scott’s Astroworld is a non-mover at No. 5 with 57,000 units (down 8 percent) and Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys is also stationary at No. 6 with 45,000 units (down 5 percent).

Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty tumbles 1-7 in its second week with 36,000 units (down 86 percent), while Juice WRLD’s Goodbye & Good Riddance climbs 10-8 with 35,000 units (down 4 percent).

Lauren Daigle’s Look Up Child jumps 16-9 with 34,000 units (up 18 percent), of which 21,000 are in traditional album sales (up 11 percent). The set debuted at No. 3 two weeks earlier. Daigle benefits in part from some support by Selena Gomez, who shared her love of Daigle’s music via an Instagram story during the tracking week.

Closing out the new top 10 is Ariana Grande’s Sweetener, which falls 7-10 with 34,000 units (down 11 percent).

Source: billboard.com