Taylor Swift Notches Ninth Week Atop Billboard 200 With ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department notches its ninth consecutive and total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated June 29). It earned 126,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending June 20 (down 1%), according to Luminate.

Of Swift’s 14 No. 1s on the Billboard 200, Poets now has the second-most weeks at No. 1; only 1989 and Fearless, each with 11, have more weeks at No. 1.

Swift adds her 78th career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists. (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67.) The total encompasses her 14 leaders. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Don Toliver nets his fourth top 10 effort, and best week by units earned, with the No. 3 debut of Hardstone Psycho; $uicideboy$ score their highest-charting album ever, and best weekly units sum, as New World Depression launches at No. 5; Luke Combs nabs his sixth top 10 with the No. 6 bow of Fathers & Sons; and NAYEON achieves her second top 10 with NA’s start at No. 7.

With four debuts in the top 10, the region has the most new entries since a little over a year ago, when six albums debuted in the top 10 on the June 17, 2023-dated list.

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 June 29, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on June 25. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of The Tortured Poets Department’s 126,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 93,000 (down 11% — it’s No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums for a ninth week; its SEA units equal 121.32 million on-demand official streams of the deluxe edition’s 31 songs), album sales comprise 33,000 (up 42%) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 (down 11%). The album’s sales grew 42% in the tracking week thanks largely to two new CD variants of the set that shipped to customers. The two CDs, which were sold exclusively in Swift’s webstore, were briefly available to pre-order in early June. Both CDs contain the standard album’s 16 songs and an acoustic bonus track (one includes “Down Bad” and one includes “Guilty as Sin?”).

Notably, as The Tortured Poets Department has spent its first nine weeks at No. 1, it joins just five other albums that have achieved that same feat: Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (first 12 weeks at No. 1, of its total 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2023-24); Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (all 10 of its weeks at No. 1 were from its debut atop the chart, 2021); Drake’s Views (first nine weeks at No. 1, of its total 13 weeks at No. 1 in 2016); Whitney Houston’s Whitney (all 11 of its weeks at No. 1 were from its debut atop the chart, 1987); and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (first 13 weeks at No. 1, of its total 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1976). (For context, today, it’s common for albums to debut at No. 1. However, before 1991, when the Billboard 200 began utilizing Luminate’s electronically monitored tracking information, only six albums debuted at No. 1, including Whitney and Songs In the Key of Life.)

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is a non-mover, with 84,000 equivalent album units earned (down 20%).

Don Toliver’s Hardstone Psycho debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 76,500 equivalent album units earned, his best week by units. Hardstone marks the hip-hop artist’s fourth consecutive top 10, the entirety of his charting releases. Of the 76,500 earned by the album in its opening week, SEA units comprise 57,000 (equaling 75.98 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 16 songs on its streaming edition; that marks his largest streaming week ever), album sales comprise 19,500 (his best sales week yet, all from digital download album purchases) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Hardstone Psycho was announced on May 22 and features guest turns from Cash Cobain, Future, Kodak Black, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott, Teezo Touchdown and Charlie Wilson. The set’s release was preceded by a trio of songs, all of which reached the top 40 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart: the Toliver-solo cuts “Bandit” and “Deep in the Water,” and “Attitude,” featuring Wilson and Cash Cobain.

The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by a mid-week release of a deluxe digital download album, sold exclusively through Toliver’s webstore, for $5, containing four additional bonus tracks exclusive to this download version and features from Lil Uzi Vert and Yeat.

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time holds at No. 4 on the new Billboard 200 with 73,000 equivalent album units (up 2%).

$uicideboy$ clock their highest-charting album and biggest week by units earned as New World Depression debuts at No. 5 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the fourth top 10-charting effort for the hip-hop duo (comprising cousins $crim and Ruby da Cherry) and first to reach the top five.

Of the album’s 66,000 units earned in its first week, SEA units comprise 46,000 (equaling 62.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 songs, marking the act’s biggest streaming week), album sales comprise 20,000 (with 16,000 of that sum on vinyl, bolstered by its availability across six variants — it’s the top-selling vinyl album of the week and the act’s best-ever sales week on vinyl) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was announced in early March and its release was preceded by the release of the song “Us Vs. Them,” which become the act’s first charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Luke Combs collects his sixth top 10 on the Billboard 200 as his new Fathers & Sons bows at No. 6 with 60,000 equivalent album units earned. The set was released on June 14 with little warning, as the country star announced the effort on June 6 alongside the release of its first cut, “The Man He Sees in Me.” The track debuted at No. 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated June 22.

Fathers & Sons is a thematic album “about being a dad” and was issued June 14, two days before the Father’s Day holiday. Combs has two sons, both under the age of 2.

Of the 60,000 units earned in Fathers & Sons’ first week, SEA units comprise 45,000 (equaling 58.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs), album sales comprise 14,000 (it was widely available as a digital download album; it had just one CD and one vinyl LP, both sold exclusively via Combs’ webstore) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

NAYEON nets her second top 10-charting title on the Billboard 200 as the TWICE member’s second solo album, NA, enters at No. 7 with 47,000 equivalent album units earned. The set was announced in May and not preceded by any pre-release songs. (The set’s first single is “ABCD,” released simultaneously with the album on June 14.) Of the album’s 47,000 units earned, album sales comprise 43,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.41 million on-demand official streams of the set’s seven songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 15 CD variants and two vinyl variants, all containing branded paper merchandise.

Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess continues to climb the chart, as the buzzy artist’s album steps 10-8 (a new peak) with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (up 19%, the set’s best week yet). With a gain of nearly 7,500 units in the tracking week, the album also scores the week’s Greatest Gainer trophy, indicating the chart’s biggest unit gain of the week. During the tracking week ending June 20, Roan played the Bonnaroo Music & Artist Festival (June 16). Her interview and performance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (which aired early in the morning of June 21, and garnered wide attention through its social media clips that day) will impact next week’s chart (dated July 6).

Rounding out the top 10 are Charli XCX’s Brat (falling 3-9 in its second week with 45,000 units earned; down 42%) and Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album (dipping 7-10 with 44,000; up less than 1%).

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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