Drake’s ‘Views’ Back at No. 1 on Billboard 200 for 10th Week

Drake’s Views enters double-digit territory at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the album jumps 2-1 to collect a 10th nonconsecutive week atop the list. The set earned another 92,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 14 (down 22 percent), according to Nielsen Music.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new July 30-dated chart (where Views is No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, July 19.

Views spent its first nine weeks on the chart at No. 1, then stepped aside a week ago for Blink-182, which opened at No. 1 with California. The latter album slips to No. 3 in its second week with 37,000 units (down 80 percent).

Views is only the 10^th album in the last 20 years to spend 10 weeks at No. 1. (See list, below.)

Albums With 10 Weeks (Or More) at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the Last 20 Years:

Artist, Title — Weeks at No. 1 — First Week at No. 1

Adele, 21 – 24 – March 12, 2011
Soundtrack, Titanic – 16 – Jan. 24, 1998
Soundtrack, Frozen – 13 – Jan. 18, 2014
Santana, Supernatural – 12 – Oct. 30, 1999
​Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill – 11 – Oct. 7, 1995 (its last week at No. 1 was on Sept. 7, 1996)
Taylor Swift, 1989 – 11 – Nov. 15, 2014
​Taylor Swift, Fearless – 11 – Nov. 29, 2008
Adele, 25 – 10 – Dec. 12, 2015
Backstreet Boys, Millennium – 10 – June 5, 1999
Drake, Views – 10 – May 21, 2016

In addition, Views now has the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a solo male artist since Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All wrapped a 17-week run at No. 1 on Oct. 30, 1992. (Views surpasses Usher’s nine-week run at No. 1 with Confessions in 2004.)

Views’ reign at No. 1 is driven mainly by its strong popularity on streaming services. In the latest tracking frame, 58,000 of its units were powered by SEA (63 percent of the album’s total units for the week).

That said, it’s not as if the album hasn’t sold well. Views is the highest-selling album released in 2016, with 1.34 million copies sold. It’s the second-biggest selling album overall in 2016, behind Adele’s 25 (which was released in 2015) with 1.44 million. (25has sold 8.88 million overall.)

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 is ScHoolboy Q’s debuting Blank Face LP, with 74,000 units (of which 52,000 are in traditional album sales). The set also launches at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, which ranks the top selling albums of the week.

Blank Face LP is ScHoolboy Q’s second top 10 album on the Billboard 200, and follows his No. 1-debuting Oxymoron effort in 2014. The latter started with 139,000 copies sold.

Blank Face LP is the fifth album to debut at No. 2 behind the sturdy Views. It followsRed Hot Chili Peppers’ The Getaway, Nick Jonas’ Last Year Was Complicated, Dierks Bentley’s Black and Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman. (The latter four titles all peaked in their debut week, blocked from the top slot by Views.)

Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface rises 5-4 on the new chart with 36,000 units (down 5 percent), while the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton jumps 8-5 with 35,000 units (up 10 percent). The latter likely gains courtesy of news coverage generated by the departure of some of the show’s cast members during the tracking week. On July 9, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Phillipa Soo took their final bows. TheHamilton album was up in traditional album sales (both physical and digital — 31 percent and 3 percent, respectively), streaming equivalent albums (3 percent), and track equivalent albums (9 percent). In addition, Miranda performed on NBC’s Today on July 11 with Jennifer Lopez, singing their charity single “Love Make the World Go Round” (which is not part of the Hamilton album).

Rihanna’s Anti is steady at No. 6 with 34,000 units (down 5 percent) and Beyonce’sLemonade descends 4-7 with 33,000 units (down 15 percent).

Rock band Chevelle collects its fourth top 10 album as The North Corridor debuts at No. 8 with nearly 33,000 units (of which 31,000 were in pure album sales). It follows the group’s 2014 effort La Gargola, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (the act’s highest charting album ever) with 45,000 copies sold in its opening frame.

The new album is supported by the single “Joyride (Omen),” which peaked at No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart — the band’s 14^th top 10 single on the tally.

Adele’s 25 moves 7-9 with 32,000 units (down 1 percent), racking up a 29th nonconsecutive week in the top 10.

Rounding out the top 10 is rock act Switchfoot with its debuting Where the Light Shines Through at No. 10 (29,000 units; 27,000 in traditional album sales). It’s the fourth top 10 album for the group, following the Fading West soundtrack (No. 6 in 2014), Vice Verses(No. 8 in 2011) and Nothing Is Sound (No. 3 in 2005).

Source: billboard.com