SZA’s ‘SOS’ Spends Fifth Straight Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200
Written by djfrosty on January 15, 2023
SZA’s SOS spends a fifth consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 21). It earned 125,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 12 (down less than 1%), according to Luminate.
Only four albums have spent at least five weeks at No. 1 since the start of 2022: in order from most recent, SOS, Taylor Swift’s Midnights (five), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (13) and the Encanto soundtrack (nine).
SOS is the first album to spend its first five weeks at No. 1 since Adele’s 30 ruled the list for its first six weeks (its total run at No. 1) from Dec. 4, 2021-Jan. 8, 2022.
The last R&B album by a solo woman with five weeks at No. 1 was Mariah Carey’s Daydream, which notched six nonconsecutive weeks from Oct. 21, 1995, to Jan. 13, 1996 (although, the last R&B album by an all-female act to have five weeks at No. 1 was FanMail by the trio TLC, with five nonconsecutive weeks in charge in 1999 [March 13-May 8]).
And, the last R&B album by a woman to spend its first five weeks at No. 1 was Janet Jackson’s janet., which topped the list for its first six frames (June 5-July 10, 1993). (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)
Also in the new Billboard 200’s top 10, YoungBoy Never Broke Again collects his 13th top 10-charting effort, as his first release for Motown, I Rest My Case, debuts at No. 9.
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 Jan. 21, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 18 – one day later than usual, due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in the U.S. on Jan. 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Five former No. 1s rank at Nos. 2-6 on the new Billboard 200 – and all are non-movers as compared to a week ago. Taylor Swift’s Midnights is No. 2 (81,000 equivalent album units earned; down 31%), followed by Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains (57,000; up 1%), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss (51,000; down 3%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (45,000; down 10%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (43,000; up 2%).
Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak climbs 8-7 with 33,000 equivalent album units earned (down less than 1%), and Lil Baby’s chart-topping It’s Only Me rises 9-8 with 31,000 (down 1%).
YoungBoy Never Broke Again notches his 13th top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200, as I Rest My Case starts at No. 9 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 27,000 (equaling 39.59 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 19 tracks) and album sales and TEA units comprise 1,000 each.
I Rest My Case is the rapper’s first release for Motown after a prolific run with Atlantic, including a dozen top 10 efforts (five of which were in 2022). In total, I Rest My Case is the artist’s 28th charting title on the Billboard 200 since his debut on the list in August of 2017.
Rounding out the new top 10 is Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House, which is stationary at No. 10 with 26,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%).
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.