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Katy Perry lands her sixth top 10-charting set on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Oct. 5), as her latest studio album, 143, debuts at No. 2 with 38,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 26 – her best sales week since 2017.
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She previously visited the top 10 with her five earlier major label full-length studio releases: Smile (No. 3 in 2020), Witness (No. 1, 2017), Prism (No. 1, 2013), Teenage Dream (No. 1, 2010) and One of the Boys (No. 9, 2008).
Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, Chappell Roan lands her biggest sales week yet – and first week at No. 1 – as The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess jumps 6-1. Meanwhile, the latest releases from P1Harmony, Lil Tecca, Keith Urban, Future, Grateful Dead and Seether arrive in the region.
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Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Perry’s first-week sales were aided by 143’s availability across eight vinyl variants (including a signed edition), four CD variants (including a signed edition), a cassette tape and multiple digital download variants (including two exclusive to her webstore, each with bonus tracks).
As for Roan at No. 1, her album garnered a 328% week-over-week sales increase, selling 56,000 copies. The growth is owed to the release of four new vinyl variants and a cassette tape in celebration of the album’s first anniversary on Sept. 22. Of the album’s sales, vinyl comprises 50,000 – easily Roan’s best week on vinyl and the sixth-largest week for any vinyl album in 2024.
P1Harmony collects its best sales week yet, as Sad Song starts at No. 3 with 28,000 copies sold. It’s also the third top 10-charting set for the pop ensemble. The first-week sales were helped by the album’s availability across 24 collectible CD variants, a vinyl edition and a cassette. All variants contain branded paper ephemera like photocards and postcards.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet rises one spot to No. 4 with 15,000 sold (up 1%).
Lil Tecca nabs his best sales week ever, and first top 10, as his new album Plan A arrives at No. 5 with 13,000 sold. Previously, the rapper had never sold more than 4,500 copies of an album in a week. The new set’s sales were encouraged by two CD variants (including a signed edition) and multiple digital download variants (including three exclusive to the artist’s webstore, two of which included bonus tracks).
Keith Urban clocks his ninth top 10 on Top Album Sales as High bows at No. 6 with 12,000 sold. Its first week was helped by four vinyl variants, three CD variants – with some retail-exclusives containing branded paper ephemera.
Future’s Mixtape Pluto enters at No. 7 with 10,000 sold – his best sales week since 2020. Nearly 7,500 of that sum was driven by vinyl sales – aided by three vinyl variants. The set was also available on CD and as a digital download. The album was issued as an 11-song standard album (on vinyl, CD and download) and as an expanded 17-song set (on download).
Stray Kids’ former No. 1 ATE rises one rung to No. 8 with nearly 8,000 sold (down 13%).
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart are debuts from the Grateful Dead’s expansive archival live boxed sets, Friend of the Devils: April 1978, which starts at No. 9 (7,500) and Seether’s The Surface Seems So Far at No. 10 (just over 7,000).
The Dead package – sold exclusively via the band’s official webstore – captures eight concerts staged in April 1978 and is available either as a digital download or 19-CD boxed set, with pricing ranging from $159.98 to $199.98.
For Seether, the new Surface marks the band’s ninth studio album and seventh top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales.
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Kyle Denis, and Damien Scott dissect J. Cole’s features on Tee Grizzley’s “BLOW FOR BLOW” and Daylyt’s “A Plate of Collard Greens,” as well as his best features overall. The team also gives their predictions for who could receive a 2025 Grammy nomination, discusses Ye’s […]
A celebratory mood usually prevails on Grammy night. Artists dance to their fellow stars’ rousing performances; epic speeches abound; cameras catch meme-worthy moments. And when it comes to the songs most likely to win trophies, diss tracks aren’t what come to mind.
But this year, there’s Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — the savage climax of his epic beef this spring with Drake, which despite its barbed bars became an ebullient summer anthem, blaring through car speakers and soundtracking block parties and barbecues. It’s also a contender for song and record of the year nominations — and if it wins on Grammy night, it could well bring that same energy to the evening’s festivities.
Recording Academy president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. admitted as much in June, a few weeks after the song was released. “It’s a hot record,” he told TMZ. “It’s amazing artistry, great writing. The talent on that record is incredible. And you got artists that have been nominated before, and Kendrick has been successful with the organization, so I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t be.”
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A lyrical masterpiece, “Not Like Us” shattered streaming records and became Lamar’s fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. And notwithstanding its severe allegations against Drake (“Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor”), it is indeed Grammy-eligible.
“I think the voting members of the academy appreciate greatness,” Mason added in June. “They appreciate what’s hot, what’s going on. That’s a relevant record that’s impacting on so many levels. So much creativity and talent. I like to believe that the academy members recognize that and vote appropriately.”
If “Not Like Us” earns major nominations, it certainly wouldn’t be without precedent. In 2015, Drake’s “Back to Back,” a diss track aimed at Meek Mill, was nominated for best rap performance (in a now-ironic turn of events, he lost to Lamar’s “Alright”). In 1992, LL COOL J and Kool Moe Dee engaged in a heated battle, with the former emerging victorious after he released “Mama Said Knock You Out” — which then won the Grammy for best rap solo performance.
The Grammys have rewarded artists from outside hip-hop for their subtle (or not-so-subtle) digs, too. In late 2002, Justin Timberlake released his second solo single, “Cry Me a River,” a pointed chronicle of a breakup calling out an ex for cheating, with a music video starring a dead ringer for Timberlake’s own high-profile ex, Britney Spears. (In her 2023 memoir, Spears finally told her side of the story, accusing him of cheating on her multiple times.) At the 2004 ceremony, “Cry Me a River” won Timberlake the Grammy for best male pop vocal performance, edging out veteran competitors like Sting and Michael McDonald.
In some cases, pop smashes that clearly signal their diss intentions in their titles have also garnered Grammy attention. Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit “Bad Blood” — whose remix happened to feature Lamar — was allegedly inspired by her fractured friendship with Katy Perry. The song topped the Hot 100 and won best music video at the 2016 Grammys. Gwen Stefani has said that when Courtney Love called her a “cheerleader” in a 2004 interview, it inspired her classic “Hollaback Girl,” which was then nominated for best female pop vocal performance, though it ultimately lost to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.”
While “Not Like Us” proved decisive in Lamar and Drake’s long-winded feud, and seems the likeliest award contender of the four dis tracks he released within one month, sources tell Billboard it might not be the only one to garner Grammy attention: The rap categories may also recognize his “Euphoria.” For Lamar — a 17-time Grammy winner who has had years where he has won multiple awards in one night — it doesn’t seem out of the question. As for Drake — who himself has five Grammys, including for wins where he bested Lamar — the rapper has had a fraught relationship with the awards of late, even famously boycotting the Grammys following The Weeknd’s snub in 2022. And cultural momentum appears to be on Lamar’s side — meaning that come February, Compton could enjoy yet another victory lap.
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
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Shaboozey:
What’s up, Billboard, you’re here with Shaboozey. Welcome to the ‘Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going’ Tour. Let’s rock it out. This is the boring part where we pull suitcases out.
Team Member:
Do you need any of your bags from your room?
Shaboozey:
I need all of the bags. Got this beautiful little J-45 situation in here, you know? But by the good folks at Gibson, you know what I mean? Sounds really good. This little sunburst — is this sunburst or rosewood? I’m not too sure. But yeah that’s my baby right now, getting me through the tour, you know? Stephen — toes out, huh?
Stephen Musselman:
Toes out, beers out.
Shaboozey:
That’s our pedal steel player, Stephen right here. Musselman.
Team Member:
The greatest pedal steel player, you will ever come across.
Shaboozey:
West of the Mississippi, we say. What’s up, boy, is that beer? I’m playing, it’s definitely beer. All right, y’all.
Jared Cotter:
We’re so excited to be here. You know, this is a culmination of years of work. You know, Shaboozey’s first headline tour. It’s sold out. You know, this particular stop is in Brooklyn, which is near and dear to my heart. Being from New York, I’m just so proud of Shaboozey and where he’s at, and, in turn, where the team is at. It’s just amazing. We had a show here.
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