The return of Drake‘s Views to no. 1 on the Billboard 200 was short-lived. The 13-time chart topping album dropped to no. 2 for the week ending September 29 following a big debut by pop star Shawn Mendes.
Hurt by the Billboard 200’s multi-metric tracking calculations, the week’s new releases didn’t make huge debuts on the chart. Ty Dolla $ign‘s Campaign landed at no. 28 while Danny Brown‘s Atrocity Exhibition launched at no. 77 and Mick Jenkins‘ The Healing Component bowed at no. 110. However, the albums fared much better on the sales-based Rap Albums chart. Atrocity Exhibition debuted at no. 3 despite having less than half a week of sales as Campaign finished at no. 5 and The Healing Component at no. 6.
Notably, Maxwell‘s July release, blackSUMMERS‘ Night, suddenly jumped all the way to no. 19 on the Billboard 200 after not making the chart last week. The album’s sudden sales boost, most likely due to increased promotion of the singer’s co-headlining tour with Mary J. Blige, also earned it no. 1 spots on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and R&B Albums charts.
Here are the 10 best-selling hip-hop or R&B albums on the Billboard 200 for the week ending September 29, determined by total equivalent album units. Pure album sales are in parentheses, with total streams in brackets.
2. Drake – Views – 50,389 (7,528) [54,660,360]
3. Suicide Squad: The Album – 41,943 (13,788) [22,581,864]
6. Travi$ Scott – Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight – 26,978 (2,785) [33,680,588]
9. Rihanna – ANTI – 22,840 (4,314) [22,590,363]
16. Beyonce — Lemonade — 18,470 (12,773) [1,501,114]
17. Frank Ocean – Blonde – 17,741 (3,669) [21,108,746]
18 Kanye West – The Life of Pablo – 17,024 (0) [23,059,503]
19. Maxwell — blackSUMMERS‘ Night — 16,496 (16,129) [406,809]
20. Usher – Hard II Love – 16,433 (9,914) [7,376,074]
27. DJ Khaled — Major Key — 15,075 (3,055) [13,832,653]
Looking toward the Hot 100, The Weeknd continues to solidify his possible Illuminati status as his “Starboy” single debuted at no. 3 during its first full week of tracking, earning the singer his fifth Top 10 on the chart. The track also dominated the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop category, topping five charts — most notably Hot R&B songs.
Next week, look out for Solange‘s A Seat at the Table to debut at no. 2 on the Billboard 200.
(Via Billboard 200, Hot 100)
