Kanye West’s past nine solo studio albums (all of them except The College Dropout) have topped the Billboard 200 chart. He released his latest LP, Donda 2, last month, and unless something changes, it will break Ye’s No. 1 streak. Not only that, but it’s currently not allowed to appear on the chart at all.
Billboard notes that as of right now, Donda 2 is not eligible to appear on any of their charts. They explain:
“[T]he album is being sold with a device that can be used for other means besides the playing of the album. As such, the Stem [Player]/Donda package would fall within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart-eligible.
Since the Stem Player is a fairly new concept, however, people familiar with the matter from both Billboard and MRC say they plan to continue to monitor its evolution as it relates to chart eligibility.”
Currently, Donda 2 is only officially available via the Stem Player and has not yet appeared on a streaming platform or for sale in any other way. While the first Donda album was released on the Stem Player, it was also made available on streaming services, making it eligible for Billboard chart inclusion.
