{"id":3273,"date":"2022-05-22T19:09:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T19:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2022-05-22T19:09:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T19:09:54","slug":"kendrick-lamars-mr-morale-the-big-steppers-debuts-at-no-1-on-the-billboard-200-albums-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/?p=3273","title":{"rendered":"Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u2018Mr. Morale &#038; The Big Steppers\u2019 Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums\u00a0Chart"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<script>\r\nif( document.getElementById( \"builder-styles-css\" ) ) document.getElementById( \"builder-styles-css\" ).insertAdjacentHTML( \"beforebegin\", \"<link rel='stylesheet' href='https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/wp-content\/themes\/themify-music\/themify\/themify-builder\/css\/themify-builder-style.css' type='text\/css' \/>\" );\r\n<\/script>\r\n\t\t\t\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plus: TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Florence + The Machine &amp; The Black Keys bow in top 10.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>&nbsp;lands his fourth No. 1 album on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/billboard-200\/\">Billboard 200<\/a>&nbsp;chart as his latest release,&nbsp;<em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>, launches atop the list (dated May 28). He\u2019s debuted at No. 1 with each of his last four albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>\u00a0charges in with 295,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 19, according to Luminate \u2014 the largest week of the year for any album. It\u2019s the third straight week in which that benchmark has been crushed. A week ago,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/bad-bunny\">Bad Bunny<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>\u00a0did the trick with its No. 1 debut of 274,000, and in the week before that,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/future\">Future<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>I Never Liked You<\/em>\u00a0bowed at No. 1 with 222,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>&nbsp;was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-big-steppers-album-1235060370\/\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;on April 18 and released on May 13. It\u2019s Lamar\u2019s first album in just over five years. His last project was&nbsp;<em>DAMN.<\/em>, released in April 2017.&nbsp;<em>DAMN.<\/em>&nbsp;spent four weeks atop the Billboard 200 (his longest run at No. 1), was 2017\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/year-end\/2017\/top-billboard-200-albums\/\">year-end No. 1 album<\/a>&nbsp;on the tally and was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>\u2019 18 tracks are split evenly on the album into two parts, each with nine tracks. The first half is named&nbsp;<em>Big Steppers<\/em>&nbsp;and the second half is named&nbsp;<em>Mr. Morale<\/em>. The album was not preceded by any pre-release singles (though, Lamar did&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/kendrick-lamar-the-heart-part-5-1235068380\/\">drop<\/a>&nbsp;the non-album track \u201cThe Heart Part 5\u201d on May 8, along with an eye-catching music video). Following the album\u2019s arrival, Lamar released the official music&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/kendrick-lamar-n95-music-video-1235071042\/\">video<\/a>&nbsp;for \u201cN95,\u201d a song that is on the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also in the Billboard 200\u2019s new top 10,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/tomorrow-x-together\">TOMORROW X TOGETHER<\/a>&nbsp;notches its highest-charting album yet with the No. 4 debut of&nbsp;<em>Minisode 2: Thursday\u2019s Child<\/em>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/florence-the-machine\">Florence + The Machine<\/a>&nbsp;captures its fourth top 10 album with the No. 7 arrival of&nbsp;<em>Dance Fever<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/the-black-keys\">The Black Keys<\/a>&nbsp;land their sixth top 10 effort with the No. 8 start of&nbsp;<em>Dropout Boogie<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on\u00a0multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid\/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 28, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on\u00a0<em>Billboard<\/em>\u2018s website on May 24. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of&nbsp;<em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>\u2019 295,500 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 258,500 (equating to 343.02 million on-demand official streams of the set\u2019s 18 tracks), album sales comprise 35,500 and TEA units comprise 1,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>&nbsp;claims the biggest week, by equivalent album units, for any album since&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/adele\">Adele<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>30<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/chart-beat\/adele-30-billboard-200-albums-chart-debut-1235003213\/\">debuted<\/a>&nbsp;with 839,000 units in the week ending Nov. 25, 2021 (chart dated Dec. 4, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers&nbsp;<\/em>logs 2022\u2019s largest streaming week for an R&amp;B\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/t\/hip-hop\/\">hip-hop<\/a>&nbsp;album, and the second-biggest streaming week of 2022 for any album. The year\u2019s largest streaming week is currently owned by the debut frame of Bad Bunny\u2019s 23-track&nbsp;<em>Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>: 261,000 SEA units; equating to 356.55 million on-demand official streams of its tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably,&nbsp;<em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>&nbsp;claims the year\u2019s highest weekly equivalent album units total over Bad Bunny\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>, despite having five fewer tracks (18 vs. 23) to contribute to its SEA unit sum. (<em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>\u2019 overall unit total jumped past&nbsp;<em>Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>&nbsp;thanks largely its traditional album sales.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers<\/em>\u2019 starting sales figure of 35,000 came solely from digital album sales, as the set won\u2019t be issued on CD until May 27. That sales sum marks the largest sales week for a digital album in 2022, and the biggest for any album since Adele\u2019s&nbsp;<em>30<\/em>&nbsp;bowed with 205,000 digital albums sold in its first week (chart dated Dec. 4, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Bad Bunny\u2019s\u00a0<em>Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>\u00a0falls from the No. 1 slot in its second week (182,000 equivalent album units earned; down 34%). Future\u2019s former No. 1\u00a0<em>I Never Liked You<\/em>\u00a0slips from No. 2 to No. 3 with 89,500 units (down 23%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TOMORROW X TOGETHER scores its second top 10 album and highest-charting effort yet on the Billboard 200, as&nbsp;<em>Minisode 2: Thursday\u2019s Child<\/em>&nbsp;bows at No. 4. It surpasses the No. 5 debut and peak of&nbsp;<em>The Chaos Chapter: Freeze<\/em>, in June 2021. (In total,&nbsp;<em>Minisode 2: Thursday\u2019s Child<\/em>&nbsp;is the sixth charting effort on the Billboard 200 for the South Korean pop quintet.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Minisode 2: Thursday\u2019s Child<\/em>&nbsp;starts with 68,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 65,500; SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 4.37 million on-demand official streams of the set\u2019s five tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Minisode 2: Thursday\u2019s Child<\/em>&nbsp;enters at No. 1 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/top-album-sales\/\">Top Album Sales<\/a>&nbsp;chart with the third-largest sales week of any album in 2022 \u2014 65,500 sold. Effectively all of that sum was sold through CDs while only about 500 were sold via digital download. The album was not available on any other configuration (such as vinyl LP or cassette).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of the album was issued in collectible packages (eight total, including exclusive versions for Target and Barnes &amp; Noble), each with a standard set of internal paper items and randomized elements (such as photocards and post cards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/morgan-wallen\">Morgan Wallen<\/a>\u2019s chart-topping&nbsp;<em>Dangerous: The Double Album<\/em>&nbsp;is pushed down one spot to No. 5 despite a 5% gain (55,500 equivalent album units earned).&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/jack-harlow\">Jack Harlow<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Come Home the Kids Miss You<\/em>&nbsp;falls three rungs to No. 6 in its second week with 55,000 units (down 51%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florence + The Machine collects its fourth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as\u00a0<em>Dance Fever<\/em>\u00a0debuts at No. 7 with 54,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 42,500, SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 14.5 million on-demand official streams of the set\u2019s 14 tracks) and TEA units comprise 500 units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dance Fever<\/em>&nbsp;was ushered in by single \u201cMy Love,\u201d which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/triple-a\/\">Adult Alternative Airplay<\/a>&nbsp;chart (the group\u2019s sixth No. 1) and climbed into the top 10 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/alternative-airplay\/\">Alternative Airplay<\/a>&nbsp;tally on the most recently published chart (dated May 21). On the latter chart, \u201cMy Love\u201d is the act\u2019s fourth top 10 and first since 2015\u2019s \u201cShip to Wreck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Black Keys round out the week quartet of debuts in the Billboard 200\u2019s top 10, as&nbsp;<em>Dropout Boogie<\/em>&nbsp;bows at No. 8. The set starts with 33,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 27,500; SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 6.5 million on-demand official streams of the set\u2019s 10 tracks) and TEA units comprise 500 units. In total,&nbsp;<em>Dropout Boogie<\/em>&nbsp;is the duo\u2019s sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 and comes only a year after its last release,&nbsp;<em>Delta Kream<\/em>, which debuted and peaked at No. 6 on the May 29, 2021-dated chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dropout Boogie<\/em>&nbsp;was preceded by the single \u201cWild Child,\u201d which topped both the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/triple-a\/\">Adult Alternative Airplay<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/alternative-airplay\/\">Alternative Airplay<\/a>&nbsp;charts, and reached the top 15 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/hot-mainstream-rock-tracks\/\">Mainstream Rock Airplay<\/a>&nbsp;tally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Closing out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 are two former No. 1s:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/olivia-rodrigo\">Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>Sour<\/em>\u00a0falls 5-9 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned (though up less than 1%) and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/lil-durk\">Lil Durk<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>7220<\/em>\u00a0slips 7-10 with 29,000 units (down 7%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: billboard.com<\/p>\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-3273\" data-postid=\"3273\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-3273 themify_builder themify_builder_front\">\r\n\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<!-- \/themify_builder_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plus: TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Florence + The Machine &amp; The Black Keys bow in top 10. Kendrick Lamar&nbsp;lands his fourth No. 1 album on the&nbsp;Billboard 200&nbsp;chart as his latest release,&nbsp;Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers, launches atop the list (dated May 28). He\u2019s debuted at No. 1 with each of his last four albums. Mr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-now","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","no-post-comment","no-post-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Kendrick-Lamar-cr-Renell-Medrano-billboard-15481.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3276,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions\/3276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}