Billboard
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On this week’s TikTok Billboard Top 50, we have Taylor Swift coming in hot in the top 5, with Phoebe Bridgers and Shaboozey in the top 10, but who’s at No. 1? Watch to find out more! Tetris Kelly:Lay Bankz holds strong while three big names debut in the top 10. Lay Bankz’s “Tell Ur […]
With Dua Lipa’s new album Radical Optimism coming out this Friday, we take a look back at her chart accomplishments, including debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 and breaking records with songs such as “Levitating.” Dua Lipa:Throughout the whole record, there’s this idea of chaos happening around, and me trying to push through it in […]
Billboard cover star singer-songwriter T-Pain shares the stories behind some of his biggest hits “Buy U a Drank,” “Bartender,” “I’m Sprung” and “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper),” to his iconic features with Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — (“Good Life”), Flo Rida (“Low”), DJ Khaled (“All I Do Is Win”), Chris Brown […]
It’s Wednesday, May 1st, and Drake possibly responded to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “euphoria.” Drake joined Nicki Minaj during the Toronto stop of her tour, and although he didn’t respond to the diss track on the stage, he may have made a reference to it on his Instagram Story with a monologue from Julia Stiles’ […]
Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila are partnering to find the Get Up Anthems of select cities, and the first stop is Houston, Texas. In conversation with Rocsi Diaz, Houston natives Bun B and Chase B sat with Billboard’s Damien Scott and Cat Johnson to curate their top 10 Get Up Anthems for Houston. The list includes songs that inspired and energized their city, by Houston artists, presented by Tres Generaciones Tequila.Bun B:All right, look, I’m gonna just, I’m gonna just throw it out there because somebody’s got to say, this is No. 1.
Cat Johnson:One?
Bun B:I’m gonna let y’all argue this with me. I’m gonna let you argue this, but there is no record in Houston, I think, in 2024 that more people will agree represent Houston.
Rosci Diaz:Hi, I’m Rosci Diaz, and I’m on a journey with Billboard and Tres Generaciones Tequila to celebrate and toast the power music has to inspire us. Together, we’re setting out to curate the official Get Up Anthems for cities across the country. We’re going to be crowning those iconic tracks which have inspired, captivated and energized each city’s essence. And first up, The Bayou City, Houston, Texas. Thanks, Cliff.
Joining me is none other than the legendary rapper and entrepreneur, Bun B, whose lyrics have shaped the very essence of Houston’s rap scene. Alongside him we have acclaimed DJ and music producer Chase B, whose electrifying sets have ignited stages worldwide. And let’s not forget Billboard‘s very own Damien Scott and Cat Johnson, whose editorial insight and passion for music have illuminated countless narratives within the industry.
So a few weeks ago, we all met up to start the process of identifying the city’s official Get Up Anthems. We started using Billboard‘s charts and the data that they have and use it as a springboard to narrow … Watch the full video above!
Billboard spends the day with its latest cover star and Latin superstar Myke Towers, who takes us around Miami to share his gym routine and leads us behind the scenes of his Billboard cover shoot, how he works in the recording studio and more! Myke TowersHi my people, this is the Young King, Myke Towers […]
It’s Monday, April 29th, and Taylor Swift hits another record on the Billboard 200 with the release of her double album ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ She makes a huge debut at No. 1, securing her 14th chart topping album. The Hot 100 is in, who takes the cake? Keep watching to find out. Rihanna is […]
Jess Glynne shares stories behind her photo with the Spice Girl, photos in the studio, performing on stage and more in this episode of Behind the Photo with Billboard. Jess GlynneHey, I’m Jess Glynne and this is behind the photo with Billboard. This picture was taken in Rack studios in North London, where I’ve recorded […]
Pearl Jam debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated May 4) with its latest studio album, Dark Matter, marking the 13th top 10-charting effort for the band. The set launches with a little over 59,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 25, according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, as earlier reported, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department makes a milestone debut atop the list, with 2.61 million equivalent album units earned in its first week.
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 May 4, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 30. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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Of Dark Matter’s first-week sum of 59,000 units, album sales comprise 52,000, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 11 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Notably, of its 52,000 sales sum, vinyl sales comprise a little over 24,000, enhanced by its availability across 12 different color vinyl variants.
The new album was led by the set’s title track, which hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in March (the group’s fourth No. 1 and first since 1998) and has reached the top 10 on Alternative Airplay (the act’s 20th top 10 hit).
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Future and Metro Boomin’s former leader We Don’t Trust You rises one spot with 69,000 equivalent album units earned (down 17%). Beyoncé’s chart-topping Cowboy Carter slips 2-3 with 66,000 (down 33%), and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 4 with 64,000 (down 11%).
Future and Metro Boomin’s We Still Don’t Trust You falls 1-6 with 54,000 equivalent album units earned (down 57%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 5-7 with 45,000 units (down 11%) and Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 7-8 with 40,000 units (down 8%). Rounding out the top 10 is a pair of former No. 1s: SZA’s SOS dips 8-9 with 39,000 units (down 2%) and Swift’s Lover climbs 11-10 with 37,000 (down 6%).
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.
The Tortured Poets Department sold 1.914 million copies in traditional album sales in its first week (purchases of digital downloads, CDs, vinyl LPs and cassette tapes). That marks the third-largest sales week for an album in the modern era — since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991.
The Tortured Poets Department’s sales were bolstered by its availability across 19 different physical configurations (nine CDs, six vinyl LPs and four cassettes, with four of the physical configurations exclusively sold by Target stores) and two digital download offerings (the standard 16-song album, and a surprise deluxe 31-song edition that was released two hours after the original album bowed). All of the variants are itemized later in this story.
Of The Tortured Poets Department’s first-week sales of 1.914 million, physical sales comprise 1.64 million (859,000 vinyl LPs — a modern-era single week record for an album on vinyl, 759,500 CDs and a little over 21,500 cassettes) and digital downloads comprise 274,000.
The Tortured Poets Department is the seventh Swift album to have sold at least 1 million copies in a single week, following the debuts of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Midnights, reputation, the original 1989, Red and Speak Now. She is the only act with seven different albums to each sell at least 1 million copies in a single week in the modern era. In total, there have been 26 instances — by 24 different albums — in which an album has sold at least 1 million copies in a week in the modern era. One of those albums, Adele’s 25, sold more than 1 million in three separate weeks.
Six of the top 10 million-selling weeks occurred in the early 2000s, in the pre-digital and pre-streaming heyday of the CD — when essentially the only way to listen to music on-demand was by purchasing an album. The year 2000 was the high-water mark in the modern era for album sales, when 785 million albums were sold in the U.S. Comparably, in 2023, there were 105.32 million albums sold, and Swift sold the most of any act — accounting for 6% of all U.S. album sales in 2023. (Popular streaming services Spotify and Apple Music did not launch in the U.S. until 2011 and 2015, respectively.)
Here’s a recap of the top 10 biggest-selling weeks by albums in the modern era (1991-present), ranked in order by sales volume.
Rank, Artist, Title, Sales, Chart Date1, Adele, 25, 3.378 million, Dec. 12, 20152, *NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 2.416 million, April 8, 20003, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 1.914 million, May 4, 20244, *NSYNC, Celebrity, 1.88 million, Aug. 11, 20015, Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 1.76 million, June 10, 20006, Backstreet Boys, Black & Blue, 1.591 million, Dec. 9, 20007, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 1.359 million, Nov. 11, 20238, Eminem, The Eminem Show, 1.322 million, June 15, 2002*9, Britney Spears, Oops! …I Did It Again, 1.319 million, June 3, 200010, Taylor Swift, 1989, 1.287 million, Nov. 15, 2014(Sales source: Luminate. *All weeks are debuts, except for The Eminem Show, which debuted on the chart dated June 8, 2002, from a partial week of sales due to an off-cycle early release. The June 15, 2002, chart reflected the album’s first week of availability.)