There were some shake-ups on the Billboard 200 this week. Coasting on a post-Academy Award wave of momentum, A Star is Born swept into the top spot, bringing Ariana Grande and thank you, next‘s two-week reign to an end. There were also a few newcomers. Gunna’s slippery debut album Drip or Drown 2 made its premiere on the chart. Joining it was Offset’s first solo offering Father of 4. The two projects capture the number two and three spots on the chart respectively. However, the competition between hip hop’s resident drip master and the third Migo was closer than ever.
According to numbers obtained by HipHopDX, Drip or Drown 2 outsold Father of 4 by a mere 465 copies. That is, Gunna’s album generate 500 album equivalent units more than Offset’s. To accommodate for streaming — the way most music listeners get their music today — Billboard employs a “multi-metric consumption system” that takes into account individual track sales, song streams, and traditional record purchases to produce its “album sales” numbers. Still, even with all the new-age accuracy these metrics provide, a result as close as Gunna and Offset’s is incredibly unusual.
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On Monday, Gunna took to Instagram to celebrate his narrow victory, thanking his fans and his team for helping his album become the top hip hop album in the country.
