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Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘Luv Is Rage 2’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart
Rapper Lil Uzi Vert bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with his debut studio album, Luv Is Rage 2, starting with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 31, according to Nielsen Music. The album was released on Aug. 25 through Generation Now/Atlantic Records, and follows two earlier charting efforts for the artist.
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 Sept. 16-dated chart (where Luv Is Rage 2 debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Wednesday (Sept. 6) — one day later than usual, due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday on Sept. 4.
Of Luv Is Rage 2’s total debut units, 28,000 are in traditional album sales. The album is powered mostly by SEA units: 100,000 — translating to 150.6 million on-demand audio streams of the tracks on the album. The rest of the album’s starting figure is 7,000 TEA units.
Luv Is Rage 2’s streaming sum of 100,000 SEA units is the largest for an album in nearly four months (since Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. tallied 105,000 units in its third chart week; May 20) and the third-largest streaming debut of 2017 (behind Drake’s More Life, with 257,000 SEA units on the April 8 chart, and DAMN.’s debut of 227,000 SEA units on the May 6 chart).
Luv is Rage 2 features the top 10-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit “XO TOUR Llif3,” which peaked at No. 7 in June.
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, another rapper debuts, as XXXTentacion debuts with his first full-length studio effort 17. It arrives with 87,000 units. Of that sum, 18,000 are in traditional album sales, 67,000 are in SEA units and 3,000 are in TEA units. Earlier in 2017, he notched a pair of Hot 100 hits with “Look at Me!” (peaking at No. 34) and “Roll In Peace” (Kodak Black featuring XXXTentacion, No. 53).
XXXTentacion charted one previous set on the Billboard 200 with the Revengemixtape, hitting No. 44 in June.
Rock band Queens of the Stone Age earns its fifth top 40-charting album as Villainsstarts at No. 3 with 73,000 units (69,000 in traditional album sales). The group previously hit the top 10 with its last album, …Like Clockwork (No. 1 in 2013) and 2005’s Lullabies to Paralyze (No. 5).
Villains is also the best selling album of the week, as it starts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.
Pop vocal group Fifth Harmony claims its fourth top 10 effort on the Billboard 200, as its new self-titled album bows at No. 4 with 46,000 units (32,000 in traditional album sales). The girl group’s last album, 7/27, also debuted and peaked at No. 4 in 2016 (74,000 in units and 49,000 in sales). Before 7/27, the group collected top 10s with Reflection (No. 5 in 2015) and the Better Together EP (No. 6 in 2013).
With four top 10 albums, Fifth Harmony equals the number of top 10 sets from fellow all-female acts Destiny’s Child and Dixie Chicks. Among all-female groups, only The Supremes have more, with eight top 10s logged between 1965 and 1969.
Kendrick Lamar’s former No. 1 DAMN. slips from No. 3 to No. 5 with 45,000 units (though it’s up 11 percent). The set spends its 20th consecutive week in the top five, since debuting at No. 1 on the May 6-dated chart.
Rap collective A$AP Mob follows up its No. 13-peaking Cozy Tapes, Vol. 1: Friendswith the new Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2: Too Cozy, which launches at No. 6. The new effort bows with 41,000 units (7,000 in traditional album sales) and is mostly powered by streams (32,000 SEA units). The first Cozy Tapes effort started with 21,000 units back on the Nov. 19, 2016-dated list.
Trailing A$AP Mob by a small margin, country group Old Dominion debuts at No. 7 on the new Billboard 200 with its second-full length studio album Happy Endings(41,000 units; 31,000 in album sales), granting the act its highest charting effort yet. The album was led by the single “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart,” which reached No. 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart. Old Dominion previously reached the Billboard 200 with its first studio set, Meat and Candy (No. 16 in 2015) and its self-titled EP (No. 148 in 2015).
Khalid’s American Teen moves 6-8 with 33,000 units (up 15 percent) while Kodak Black’s Project Baby Two falls 2-9 in its second week with just under 33,000 units (down 34 percent).
Rock band The War on Drugs lands its first top 10 effort as its fourth studio album, A Deeper Understanding, starts at No. 10 with 31,000 units (28,000 in traditional album sales). The group’s last release, Lost In the Dream, debuted and peaked at No. 26 in 2014.
A total of seven albums debut in the top 10, giving the chart the most new arrivals in the region since the Nov. 12, 2016-dated tally, when seven albums also launched in the top 10 (led by Lady Gaga’s No. 1 bow with Joanne).
Source: billboard.com