Rare is the week where you don’t know who is going to top the Billboard 200 albums chart. Typically, major artists select their dates carefully, where they have a clear runway to land at No. 1, and usually all of the suspense is about the number of albums sold. This week was no ordinary week though, as three major albums hit retailers and there was no clear front runner for the No. 1 spot. Tyler, The Creator dropped Flower Boy, along with Meek Mill releasing his long-awaited Wins & Losses and Lana Del Rey returning with her remarkable new album Lust For Life.
In the end, it was Lana who claimed the top spot with over 108,000 equivalent album sales, edging out the impressive 106,000 units sold by Tyler, who desperately wanted to top the chart. Meek Mill landed at third place with a respectable 86,000 units and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. still lurking at No. 4 over three months after its release, with 52,000 units sold.
For Lana, it’s her second No. 1 album, along with 2014’s Ultraviolence — her other two albums Born To Die and Honeymoon debuted at No. 2 — and her chart-topper continues a string of chart dominance for women this summer after Lorde, Katy Perry and Halsey made history by going back-to-back-to-back weeks topping the Billboard 200 last month.
