NAV Nets First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ‘Bad Habits’

Plus, Rich the Kid and Motley Crue debut in top 10.

Rapper NAV captures his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as his second studio effort, Bad Habits, debuts atop the tally. The set was released on March 22 via XO/Republic Records, and earned 82,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 28, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 24,000 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 April 6-dated chart (where Bad Habits bows at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on April 2.

Bad Habits is the second full-length studio album for the 29-year-old NAV. The Toronto-born rapper, who signed to fellow Toronto native The Weeknd’s XO imprint in 2017, earlier logged three entries on the Billboard 200 chart. NAV (real name: Navraj Singh Goraya) previously visited the top 10 with his debut studio set, Reckless, which debuted and peaked at No. 8 on the June 2, 2018-dated chart. He also logged entries with the collaborative mixtape Perfect Timing with Metro Boomin (No. 13 on Aug. 12, 2017) and his self-titled mixtape (No. 24 on March 18, 2017).

Bad Habits was powered by streaming activity, as it collected 57,000 SEA units in its opening frame. That sum equates to 79.08 million on-demand audio streams for the album’s songs in its first week, making the set the most-streamed album of the week.

Bad Habits also starts with about 1,000 in TEA units, and 24,000 in album sales. The latter figure was boosted by an array of merchandise/album bundles sold via NAV’s official webstore, all of which included pre-sale access to purchase tickets to NAV’s upcoming tour.

Late in the tracking week, NAV reissued some previously sold-out bundles, along with new bundles that included a pass that gives customers priority entry to his upcoming tour. Bad Habits also was aided by the mid-week release of a deluxe edition of the album, which sports eight bonus tracks. The deluxe edition arrived on Tuesday, March 26.

While NAV has yet to score a top 20 hit song on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs or all-genre Billboard Hot 100 charts, he has accumulated 1.4 billion on-demand audio streams for his catalog of songs (through March 21) in the U.S. His first studio album, Reckless, has earned 387,000 equivalent album units, while its songs have collected over a half-billion on-demand streams.

Bad Habits is the fourth No. 1 album for XO, following three earlier chart-toppers for The Weeknd: Beauty Behind the Madness (in 2015), Starboy (2016) and My Dear Melancholy (2018).

On the new Billboard 200, Bad Habits is followed by another Republic Records release, as Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next holds at No. 2 (62,000 units; down 7 percent). Since debuting at No. 1 on the Feb. 23-dated chart seven weeks ago, Thank U, Next has yet to leave the top two positions. The last time an album managed that feat (of spending its first seven chart weeks inside the top two) happened back in 2016, when another Republic album, Drake’s chart-topping Views, spent its first 17 weeks between Nos. 1 and 2 (May 21-Sept. 10, 2016).

Back on the new chart, Juice WRLD’s former leader Death Race for Love dips 1-3 in its third week (54,000 units; down 27 percent).

Rapper Rich the Kid earns his second top 10 album on the Billboard 200, as The World Is Yours 2 bows at No. 4. The set launches with 42,000 units (2,000 of that sum were in album sales). The artist previously scored a No. 2-charting album when The World Is Yours opened in the runner-up slot on the April 14, 2018-dated chart.

XXXTentacion’s former No. 1, ?, bolts back up the list, rising 27-5 with 40,000 units (up 132 percent). The ? album’s jump is owed to its reissue with bonus tracks, and also within a number of merchandise/album bundles, commemorating the set’s one-year anniversary.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack descends 3-6 on the new Billboard 200 with 35,000 units (down 13 percent), while A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s Hoodie SZN dips 4-7 with 32,000 units (down 4 percent). Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys shifts 6-8 with 31,000 units (down less than 1 percent) and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack slips 5-9 with 30,000 units (down 10 percent).

Closing out the new top 10 is Mötley Crüe’s soundtrack to The Dirt, bowing at No. 10 with nearly 30,000 units (of which 15,000 were in album sales). It’s the first top 10 set for the rock band in more than a decade, and the act’s ninth top 10 effort overall. The group last visited in the top 10 with their most recent studio effort, Saints of Los Angeles, which debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the July 12, 2008-dated chart.

The Dirt is the companion album to the film of the same name, which is based on the band’s 2006 autobiography The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band. The film The Dirt premiered on Netflix on March 22.

The Dirt album features familiar hits from the band’s catalog (including the top 40-charting Hot 100 singles “Girls, Girls, Girls,” “Dr. Feelgood” and “Home Sweet Home”) along with four new recordings. Among the new tracks are “The Dirt (Est. 1981),” featuring Machine Gun Kelly (who plays the band’s Tommy Lee in The Dirt), and a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.”

Source: billboard.com