Travis Scott’s Utopia scores a third total and consecutive week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Aug. 26), as the album earned 185,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 18 (up 26%), according to Luminate. With three total weeks at No. 1 (the set debuted atop the tally), Utopia has the most weeks at No. 1 for a rap album in nearly two years, since Drake’s Certified Lover Boy spent five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (Sept. 18-Nov. 6, 2021, charts). Plus, Scott ties his longest Billboard 200 reign, among his three No. 1s; Astroworld led for three weeks in 2018.
Also in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, Karol G logs her second top five-charting set of 2023 (and of her career), as Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) launches at No. 3. The new effort follows the similarly titled Mañana Será Bonito, which debuted at No. 1 on the March 11-dated list. (Though they have nearly the same title, the albums’ tracklists are different.)
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-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 Aug. 26, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 22. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Utopia’s 185,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 17, album sales comprise 99,000 (up 169%), SEA units comprise 86,000 (down 22%, equaling 124.13 million on-demand official streams of the streaming set’s 19 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (down 38%).
Utopia’s album sales grew in the set’s third week thanks in part to a promotional offer in Scott’s official webstore, which discounted the Utopia vinyl LP from $50 to only $5 for a limited time. Of Utopia’s 99,000 sales for the week, vinyl accounted for 93,000. That sum marks Utopia’s best week on vinyl yet, the seventh-largest sales week on vinyl for any album since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, and the biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop or rap album on vinyl in that same period.
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, with 94,000 equivalent album units earned (up 2%).
Karol G collects her second top five-charting album of 2023, as Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) debuts at No. 3 with 67,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 49,000 (equaling 68.26 million on-demand official streams of the streaming set’s 10 tracks), album sales comprise 17,000 (it was available as a digital download album, CD and vinyl LP) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
The Barbie soundtrack dips 3-4 on the Billboard 200 with 65,000 equivalent album units earned (down 12%).
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) falls 4-5 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%). It’s the first of four Swift albums in the top 10. It’s joined by former leaders Midnights (5-6 with 58,000; up 3%), Lover (6-7 with 54,000; up 6%) and 1989 (13-9 with 45,000; up 13%). The lattermost album, which debuted at No. 1 in 2014, returns to the top 10 for the first time since early 2016. It surges up the list thanks to publicity and consumption generated by Swift’s announcement on Aug. 9 that 1989 would be her next re-recorded album, and that it will be released on Oct. 27. Swift holds four albums in the top 10 for a fourth time, having become the first living artist to achieve the feat in nearly 60 years last month.
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Peso Pluma’s Génesis is stationary at No. 8 (46,000 units; down 1%), while Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album sits still at No. 10 (nearly 44,000 units; up 2%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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