SZA’s long-awaited CTRL project has made its entrance onto the Billboard 200 chart, sitting pretty in the #3 slot. The long-delayed project was apparently worth the wait, earning the Top Dawg Entertainment artist her first Top 10 album. While Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. continues to hold down its #2 slot for the third week in a row, it’s Katy Perry’s latest endeavor that nabbed the crown.
Whether a fan or not, anything attached to the pop princess’ name is likely to strike gold. Case in point, her new album Witness debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, pulling in 162,071 pure album sales and 19,189,631 album streams for the week ending June 15. The album has some rap elements to it too, with features from Nicki Minaj and Migos.
Elsewhere on the chart, Lil Yachty continues to sink along with Bryson Tiller and Gucci Mane, while Khalid and Playboi Carti keep climbing.
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SZA Fans Show Up
After months of waiting for SZA’s debut album, CTRL, to see the light of day, the project was officially unveiled on June 9. With 49,519,362 album streams and 24,637 pure albums sold, it marks the New Jersey native’s first Top 10 placement. Until CTRL, her highest charting project was 2014’s Z, which debuted at #39 before dropping off completely the following week.
Katy Perry’s Hip Hop Dinner Party Works
When Katy Perry dropped her “Bon Appétit” single with Migos back in April, the cover art featured her head served on a platter alongside a cornucopia of fruit. Although many Perry fans were upset she was working with the Atlanta trio (and by her dance moves on Saturday Night Live), the song is now in the #59 spot on the Hot 100. The formula appears to have worked again with her full-length album, Witness, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200. While Perry has plenty of star power of her own, Nicki Minaj and Migos’ contributions probably didn’t hurt. The album follows Perry’s two earlier chart-toppers: 2013’s Prism and 2010’s Teenage Dream.
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Lil Yachty, Bryson Tiller & Gucci Mane Continue To Decline
Although Bryson Tiller’s True To Selfentered the chart at #1, it’s now landed with a thud at #22 in its third week, which is nine slots lower than the previous week. Lil Yachty’s Teenage Emotions also plummets from #29 to #54 while Gucci Mane’s DropTopWoptakes a dive to #48.
Playboi Carti & Khalid Get A Lifeline
Playboi Carti’s self-titled project makes a slight jump from #27 to #24, raking in 26,153,301 album streams and 465 pure album sales. Khalid’s American Teen climbs six spots landing at #15, clocking in at 28,316,111 album streams and 23,281 total album equivalent units sold. The El Paso, Texas crooner has been on the chart for 15 weeks.
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Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 6/15/2017
Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard’s new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.
- Kendrick Lamar — DAMN. — #2 — 69,401 (15,125) [70,194,736]
- SZA — CTRL— #3 — 59,549 (24,637) [49,519,632]
- Drake — More Life — #5 — 41,292 (2,037) [54,012,570]
- Bruno Mars — 24K Magic — #8 — 32,988 (12,882) [9,432,020]
- Post Malone — Stoney — #10 — 29,304 (1,751) [34,021,312]
- Migos — Culture — #12 — 25,805 (1,859) [31,959,961]
- Khalid — American Teen — #15 — 23,281 (2,552) [28,316,111]
- Future — Future — #18 — 22,547 (751) [28,815,238]
- The Weeknd — Starboy — #20 — 20,302 (2,722) [22,845,910]
- Bryson Tiller — True To Self — 19,558 (1,652) [25,951,332]
