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Rimas Entertainment, home to Bad Bunny and the No. 1 label on Billboard‘s 2024 year-end Top Independent Labels chart, has acquired a “significant” stake in Dale Play Records, the maverick Argentine label that’s home to DJ Bizarrap, Rels B and rapper Duki, Billboard can reveal.
The partnership includes Sony Music Latin Iberia, which continues to own a stake in the label. Helping bring the deal to fruition were Rob Stringer, Sony Music Group chairman and Sony Music Entertainment CEO; Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin America, Spain and Portugal; and Brad Navin and Jason Pascal of The Orchard.
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Fede Lauria, the Argentine executive who founded Dale Play out of Argentina and grew the label to its current stature, will retain a smaller percentage of the company and continue as CEO. The Orchard will also continue to distribute Dale Play as it has for years. The company’s other business verticals, which include booking and management — including the management of Duki, Nicki Nicole and Bizarrap — are not part of the deal and will remain solely under Lauria.
The partnership brings together two indie companies that have redefined the way Latin music is made and promoted on a global scale, with both developing and capitalizing on a new wave of urban music in Spanish — one centered in Puerto Rico (Rimas) and the other in Argentina (Dale Play) — with international ambitions. Rimas has already expanded its roster beyond Puerto Rico, signing Spain’s Quevedo and Mexico’s Latin Mafia.
“From day one, our mission has been to support and develop artists with authenticity and respect for their identity,” said Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad in a statement. “With Federico and Dale Play, we’ve built a relationship founded on trust and mutual admiration. This alliance will allow us to break new boundaries and create opportunities for our artists and teams.”
In an earlier conversation with Billboard, Assad noted that this is Rimas’ first major acquisition and that it follows a longstanding friendship and years of business dealings between him and Lauria.
“We’re working hand in hand and all we’re doing is adding more value to each other, him to me and me to him,” he said. “The collaboration already existed. We’re formalizing something that was already happening.”
Lauria was already an established concert promoter in Argentina with the company Dale Play (which currently sells over 1 million tickets per year, mostly in Argentina) when he created the label portion of his business, Dale Play Records, in 2017, focusing on a previously untapped rap and trap music scene bubbling out of Argentina. Sony Music came in as a partner in 2020.
“Afo and I have had a long-standing friendship for many years, united by a mission to elevate Latin music to the highest level,” said Lauria in a statement. The new partnership with Rimas, he told Billboard earlier, “reflects a journey we have been on for many years with Noah, Jomy and the RIMAS team. We share the same vision and values. Our companies are 360 companies with similar philosophies and origins. They’re rare in the global market. We do management, booking, label, publishing. The potential that these two ecosystems have together and the mutual collaboration that our artists and businesses can have is huge.”
Fede Lauria, Noah Assad and Afo Verde.
Afo Verde/Sony Music Latin Iberia
Added Verde in a statement: “I have great admiration for the achievements of both Fede and Noah. They epitomize the new generation of executives and label leaders, characterized by their independent spirit and innovative approach. It is a privilege to continue our partnership with them, and I love that they wanted to work together.”
Assad and Lauria’s working relationship dates back to Bad Bunny’s early days as an artist playing small venues in Buenos Aires, which Lauria booked. Today, he still promotes Bunny’s Argentina stadium and arena dates. The two have since worked together on multiple artist collaborations and started discussing a possible partnership three years ago, with conversations solidifying last year.
“This alliance is key to expanding our global reach and connecting with talent wherever it may be,” said Jonathan “Jomy” Miranda, president of Rimas Entertainment, in a statement. “We have always been at the forefront of discovering new artists, and now, through this partnership, we will have ears in more corners of the world to support and develop the next generation of stars.”
“Rimas is still Rimas and Dale Play is still Dale Play,” said Lauria during his conversation with Billboard, when asked about the future management of the respective labels. But, he adds, both labels have been “an essential part of the development of a cultural movement, and we’re in the process of shaping artists in Spain and Mexico that aren’t Argentine or Puerto Rican. Being together gives us huge power.”
Everything aligned to make the partnership come together now, said Assad. “We want a partner that has a clear vision, knows what they want and knows their destination,” he adds. “Culturally speaking, we share a lot of the same culture, and that’s why we’re doing this strategic alliance.”
Create Music Group has acquired the deadmau5 catalog in addition to the catalog of the electronic producer’s longstanding label, mau5trap.
The deal is valued at $55 million and includes the master recordings and publishing of more than 4,000 songs. The partnership also includes the formation of a joint venture to release future recordings from deadmau5 and mau5trap.
“I have worked closely with Jonathan, Alex and Create for nearly two decades now, building my own career as well as the artists on mau5trap,” said Deadmau5 (born Joel Zimmerman) in a statement. “We didn’t need to look far when we were considering a partner to help get it all to the next level. With Create, I feel the music is going to reach more.”
As part of the partnership, Create Music Group will remaster and re-release key catalog pieces, launch exclusive new content and work to introduce “the mau5trap legacy” to new generations of fans, according to a press release. The collaboration will also explore licensing opportunities and brand partnerships and continue to focus on media such as gaming, virtual reality and live-streaming to drive additional revenue streams.
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Founded in 2015, Create Music Group functions as a record label, distribution company and entertainment network. Eric Nguyen, senior vp of global corporate development and M&A at Create Music Group, played a key role in the deal. Paul Hastings LLP served as legal advisors to Create Music Group while LaPolt Law P.C. served as legal advisors to deadmau5 and mau5trap.
“From the earliest days of Create Music Group, [co-founder and COO] Alexandre Williams and I had the privilege of working alongside Joel and his business partner Dean Wilson, witnessing firsthand the evolution of an icon,” added Jonathan Strauss, co-founder/CEO of Create Music Group. “Now, as the stewards of deadmau5 and mau5trap’s legendary catalog, we inherit a legacy that changed music forever. Joel’s influence reaches far beyond sound — his mastery bridges music, gaming, and technology, inspiring a new generation to think bigger. This is more than an acquisition; it’s a responsibility.”
“Over the last 20 years, fueled by Joel’s creative and entrepreneurial ambitions, we have built one of the strongest brand names in electronic music,” adds Wilson, deadmau5’s longtime manager. “To have partnered with Create, who have worked so closely with us over the years on our journey, ensures that the next two decades will be every bit as exciting for Joel and everyone on the mau5trap team as we work to expand our legacy even further.”
Tate McRae scores her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as her third full-length studio set, So Close to What, debuts atop the list dated March 8. It arrives with 177,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 27, according to Luminate — marking the biggest debut week, by units, for a studio album by a woman in five months.
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It’s the second top 10-charting effort for the singer-songwriter, who previously visited the region with the No. 4-peaking Think Later in December 2023. The album generated a trio of charted songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 3-peaking “Greedy.”
So Close to What was announced in November 2024 and its release was preceded by three charted titles on the Hot 100, including a pair of top 40 hits: “It’s OK I’m OK” (No. 20, September 2024) and “Sports Car” (No. 21 in February).
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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 March 8, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 4. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of So Close to What’s 177,000 first-week equivalent album units, SEA units comprise 105,000 (equaling 137.30 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; McRae’s biggest streaming week ever, and it debuts at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 71,000 (her best sales week ever, it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
With So Close to What’s launch of 177,000 equivalent album units, the set tallies the biggest debut week for a studio album by a woman since Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet bowed at No. 1 with 362,000 units on the Sept. 7, 2024-dated chart.
So Close to What’s streaming activity was led by the tracks “Sports Car,” “Revolving Door,” “It’s OK I’m OK” and “Dear God,” which collectively comprise a little more than a third of the album’s total streams for the week.
So Close to What was released across an array of permutations and variants. It was issued as a standard 11-song digital download album, a 13-song physical set (on CD, cassette and vinyl), a 15-song digital download and streaming edition, a 16-song digital download and streaming set, and an 18-song digital download sold exclusively in McRae’s webstore. Each variation of the album beyond the 11-song set contained the core 11 songs found on the standard edition, as well as additional tracks (which varied depending on the version).
The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across four download variants (three widely available, and one exclusive to the artist’s webstore), three CD variants (including one signed), seven vinyl variants (including two signed editions) and a cassette.
McRae ushered in the release of the new album with an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, along with interviews with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, iHeartRadio and Allure, among other outlets. The performer’s Miss Possessive Tour kicks off on March 18 in Mexico City and has dates scheduled through Nov. 8 in Inglewood, Calif. McRae will play more than 80 dates in over 20 countries on three continents.
As for the rest of the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 chart, it’s a quiet week, as McRae’s set is the lone new arrival in the region. PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U falls to No. 2 in its second week, earning 119,000 equivalent album units (down 52%). The next five titles on the Billboard 200 are all former No. 1s: Kendrick Lamar’s GNX holds at No. 3 (106,000 units; down 22%); SZA’s SOS is a non-mover at No. 4 (82,000; down 13%); Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet slips 2-5 (76,000; down 51%); Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos falls 5-6 (63,000; down 6%); and The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow drops 6-7 (50,000; down 14%).
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess dips 7-8 (46,000 equivalent album units; down 5%), Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is stationary at No. 9 (41,000; up 4%), and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls 8-10 (nearly 41,000; down 11%).
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.
ASCAP, the only not-for-profit performance rights organization in the U.S., which — after covering its overhead — shells out all of its collections to songwriters and publishers, reports revenue increased 5.7% to 1.835 billion from the prior year’s total of $1.737 billion. What’s more the PRO said the amount of its collections available for distribution totaled $1.696 billion, or a 6.5% increase over 2023’s total of $1.592 billion.
Out of that collected revenue, domestic royalties totaled $1.397 billion, up 5.3% from the 2023’s total of 1.327 billion; while foreign receipts grew 6.8% to $438 million, up 6.8% from the prior year’s total of $410 million. Put another way, domestic revenue comprised 76.1% of collections while foreign receipts comprised 23.9%.
ASCAP said its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total revenue for the 10 years leading up to 2024 was 7%, and that the CAGR for total distributions over the same time period was 8%. Its overhead expense structure remains at about 10%.
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“For songwriters, composers and publishers, ASCAP provides the best return on their performance royalties because they get 90 cents of every dollar we collect,’ ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement. “It’s that simple. We are the only US PRO that does not take a profit and the only one that can credibly say we put creators first in everything we do.”
In 2023, BMI, ASCAP’s main competitor and the only other U.S. PRO operating under a U.S. Dept. of Justice consent decree, abandoned its not-for-profit status in order to sell to a private equity firm, which occurred in 2024 when New Mountain Capital acquired the collection society. Besides BMI, both SESAC and GMR, aka Global Music Rights, are both for-profit performance rights organizations.
Breaking out its total $1.696 billion available for distributions, ASCAP reported that $1.284 billion was due to domestic songwriters and publishers while $438 million was available for foreign distributions. Overall, its domestic collections available distribution increased 5.5% from the prior year’s total of $1.217 billion, while foreign distribution availability increased 9.8% from $375 million in 2023.
Looking at its activities over the last year, ASCAP reported that signings and renewals include Katy Perry, Timbaland, Kacey Musgraves, Jack White, Justin Tranter, Neil Young, Graham Nash, Def Leppard, Sexyy Red, Max Martin, Hans Zimmer and Tate McRae; along with with the estates of Tom Petty and Jimi Hendrix.
ASCAP said it was active in helping to shape the U.S. Copyright’s Office recommendations on legal and policy issues related to copyright and AI; and formed a strategic alliance with SACEM, France’s collection management organization, to leverage their investments in infrastructure. Finally, ASCAP reported that it moved quickly to launch a $1 million emergency relief fund to assist Los Angeles-based ASCAP songwriter affected by the LA wildfires.
“ASCAP is committed to innovating, growing and evolving in ways that benefit our members, because music creators drive every decision we make,” ASCAP president and chairman of the board Paul Williams said in a statement. “Protecting the livelihoods of songwriters and composers and defending the value of music is a mission we take seriously. For us, this is more than just business – it’s personal, and that’s what sets ASCAP apart from any other PRO.”
PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s first collaborative album, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, debuts atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated March 1), earning 246,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 20, according to Luminate. It’s the first leader for PARTYNEXTDOOR and fourth top 10 charting set. It’s 14th No. 1 for Drake among 17 top 10s. Drake now ties JAY-Z and Taylor Swift for the most No. 1s among soloists in the nearly-69-year history of the chart. Overall, only The Beatles, with 19 No. 1s, have more.
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A collaborative project from PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake had been teased for months, but was only officially announced on Feb. 3, in advance of its release on Feb. 14.
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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 March 1, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 25. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of $ome $exy $ongs 4 U’s 246,000 first-week equivalent album units, SEA units comprise 219,000 (equaling 287.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 25,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 2,000.
With 287.04 million on-demand official streams generated of its songs, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U nets the largest streaming week for an album in 2025. It’s the largest streaming week for any album since Kendrick Lamar’s GNX debuted at No. 1 on the Dec. 7, 2024, chart with 379.72 million.
Speaking of Lamar, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is Drake’s first album since the feud between him and Lamar escalated in March 2024 with the release of “Like That” by Future, Metro Boomin and Lamar. A flurry of diss tracks followed from each artist, with Lamar’s “Not Like Us” finding the most commercial success, spending three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (including a return to the top a week ago after he performed the track during his Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Feb. 9).
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U replaces Lamar’s GNX atop the Billboard 200, as the latter falls to No. 3 after returning to No. 1 a week ago in the wake of the halftime show. It’s the first time Lamar and Drake have swapped the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200. This is also only the third time Lamar and Drake have been in the top three at the same time on the Billboard 200. They previously shared space in the top three on the May 13, 2017, chart, when Lamar’s DAMN. was in its second week at No. 1 and Drake’s former leader More Life was No. 2, and on the May 6, 2017, chart, when DAMN. debuted at No. 1 and More Life was No. 3. (DAMN. spent four nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in May-August 2017 and More Life had three weeks at No. 1, consecutively, in April 2017.)
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U is the first collaborative No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2025. There were three collab No. 1s in 2024, none in 2023, one in 2022, one in 2021 and one in 2020. Of Drake’s 14 leaders, three are collaborative sets. He previously led with the collab projects Her Loss (with 21 Savage in 2022) and What a Time to Be Alive (with Future in 2015).
On the new Billboard 200 chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet surges 7-2 with 156,000 equivalent album units earned (up 208%) following its reissue with five additional tracks on Feb. 14. The set was reissued on streamers, as well as at retail as a digital download, CD, cassette and two vinyl variants. One of the additional cuts on the reissue is a reworked version of Carpenter’s solo No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Please Please Please,” now rerecorded as a collaboration featuring Dolly Parton.
With 156,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, Short n’ Sweet snags its biggest week since it debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated Sept. 7, 2024, with 362,000. Of the album’s 156,000 units earned, SEA units comprise 83,000 (up 108%, equaling 111.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it climbs 7-4 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 71,000 (up 616%; it rises 6-1 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (up 198%).
SZA’s chart-topping SOS falls 2-4 on the Billboard 200 with 93,000 equivalent album units earned (down 14%); Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 Debí Tirar Más Fotos dips 4-5 with 67,000 units (down 14%); and The Weeknd’s chart-topping Hurry Up Tomorrow descends 3-6 with 58,000 units (down 42%).
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess slips 5-7 on the Billboard 200 (49,000 equivalent album units earned; down 17%); Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft drops 6-8 (46,000; down 18%); Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time dips 8-9 (39,000; down 5%); and Lamar’s DAMN. falls 9-10 (33,000; down 14%).
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.
A$AP Rocky (Rakim Mayers) has been found not guilty on both counts in the shooting case involving his former friend and associate A$AP Relli (Terrell Ephron). The verdict, which the jury reached after about three hours, according to The Associated Press, was read in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom at 4 p.m. PT on Tuesday […]
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show (Feb. 9) sparked big gains for the rapper’s catalog of albums, as three of his releases dot the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart dated Feb. 22. GNX returns to No. 1 (rising 4-1) for a second nonconsecutive week (it debuted atop the list in December), 2017’s chart-topping DAMN. jumps 29-9 and 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city vaults 27-10.
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It’s the first time in the nearly 69-year history of the chart that a rap act has placed at least three albums concurrently in the top 10. The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.
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The latest Billboard 200 chart reflects activity generated in the U.S. in the tracking week Feb. 7-13. The Feb. 22-dated Billboard 200 will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 19, one day later than usual, owed to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. on Feb. 17.
Before Lamar, the last act, overall, with at least three albums in the top 10 was Taylor Swift on the Dec. 9, 2023, chart, when she had five in the region.
Before Lamar, the last male artist — or anyone aside from Swift — to have at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time was Prince, following his death, in 2016. That year, on the May 14 chart, he logged five titles in the region; and on the May 7 chart, he had three in the top 10. Prince died on April 21, 2016.
Lamar is the first living male artist to have at least three albums concurrently in the top 10 since Herb Alpert on the Dec. 24, 1966-dated chart, when he, leading the Tijuana Brass, had three titles in the top 10.
Lamar’s GNX returns to No. 1, rising 4-1, for its second week on top. The album was also released on physical formats for the first time (on Feb. 7), helping spark Lamar’s best sales week since 2017. It was previously only available to stream, and to purchase as a digital download album. GNX debuted at No. 1 on the Dec. 7, 2024-dated chart.
Before Lamar, the last time a Super Bowl halftime performer was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the wake of their halftime performance was Justin Timberlake in 2018, when his Man of the Woods album debuted atop the chart dated Feb. 17. The set was released on Feb. 2, 2018 — two days before he headlined Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
There’s more Lamar action on the latest Billboard 200 outside the top 10, as his former leader To Pimp a Butterfly, released in 2015, jumps 167-54 and the chart-topping Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, from 2022, vaults 185-75. Plus, the Lamar-curated Black Panther soundtrack, released in 2018, reenters at No. 42. The former No. 1 album includes a Lamar collaboration with SZA, “All the Stars,” which the pair performed during the halftime show.
Speaking of SZA, her own former No. 1 SOS rises 3-2 on the Billboard 200. This week marks the first time two performers from the year’s Super Bowl halftime show have been Nos. 1 and 2 in the wake of the big game.
Zach Bryan is upping the ante on his touring career with a super-sized concert this fall. On Sept. 27, the country superstar will play the inaugural concert at the University of Michigan’s recently-built Michigan Stadium, which is now the largest stadium in the United States. Bryan will be joined on the bill by John Mayer, […]
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music and the former president at Def Jam Recordings, head of Warner Music Group’s recorded music division and founder of 300 Entertainment, has penned an urgent open letter to Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — imploring him to stop using antisemitic rhetoric and other actions following a […]
The Weeknd lands his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the debut of Hurry Up Tomorrow atop the tally (dated Feb. 15). The set earned 490,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate. That marks the largest week for any album since Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department debuted at No. 1 on the May 4, 2024-dated chart with 2.61 million. Hurry Up Tomorrow logs the biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop album since Travis Scott’s Utopia debuted at No. 1 on the Aug. 12, 2023, chart with 496,000.
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The Weeknd previously topped the chart with After Hours (2020), My Dear Melancholy (2018), Starboy (2016) and Beauty Behind the Madness (2015).
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Also in the latest top 10, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess surges 14-6 following her best new artist win at the Grammy Awards (Feb. 2), while Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft (10-5) also climbs in the wake of Grammy exposure.
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 Feb. 15, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 11. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Hurry Up Tomorrow’s 490,500 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 359,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 130,500 (equaling 171.5 million on-demand official streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the album; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Hurry Up Tomorrow’s launch of 490,500 units marks The Weeknd’s biggest week by units earned (since the chart began measuring in units in December 2014). The set’s sales of 359,000 claim The Weeknd’s largest sales week ever.
The set was released as a nine-song standard album, widely available through digital download retailers. It was alternatively available as an 11-song edition across all of its physical formats (CD, vinyl and cassette) and a 22-track digital download and streaming edition. It was also available in two further digital download editions, both exclusively sold via The Weeknd’s HurryUpTomorrow.Club site. Each sold for $4.99, boasted alternative cover art and had the 22 tracks available on the deluxe digital/streaming edition, but each had at least one additional track. One included “Closing Night,” with Swedish House Mafia. The other included “Runaway” and “Society,” which were also included on all of the physical formats, but not any of the other digital or streaming editions.
In total, the album generated 183,000 in digital album sales; 99,000 in CD sales; 77,000 in vinyl sales (The Weeknd’s best week on vinyl) and 1,000 in cassette sales.
Hurry Up Tomorrow’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across eight vinyl variants (including a signed edition), eight CD variants (including multiple signed editions), a cassette tape, and nine deluxe boxed sets containing a branded piece of clothing and a CD.
The album was preceded by the Billboard Hot 100-charting songs “Timeless” (with Playboi Carti, No. 3 peak last October) and “Sao Paulo” (with Anitta, No. 77 last November).
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos falls 1-2 on the Billboard 200 with 94,000 equivalent album units earned (down 20%). SZA’s chart-topping SOS slips 2-3 with 82,000 (down 6%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX dips 3-4 with 65,000 (though up 9%) and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft jumps 10-5 with 53,000 (up 47%).
Eilish was the first performer on the Feb. 2 Grammy Awards broadcast (on CBS), singing the album’s “Birds of a Feather.” Also on the show: The Weeknd performed (singing his new album’s “Cry for Me” and “Timeless,” with Playboi Carti), while SZA presented the best pop duo/group performance, and Lamar won two on-air trophies (for record of the year, and song of the year, both for “Not Like Us”).
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess surges 14-6 with a 56% gain — to 49,000 equivalent album units earned. The album vaults up the tally following Roan’s win for best new artist at the Grammys, along with her performance of the album’s “Pink Pony Club” on the show (and her buzzy acceptance speech which generated headlines).
Sabrina Carpenter’s former No. 1 Short n’ Sweet gaind 20% (up to 48,000 equivalent album units) but is pushed down a spot to No. 7. On the Grammy Awards, Carpenter won the best pop vocal album award, while also performing a medley of the album’s “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” (She also won best pop solo performance for “Espresso,” but that category was presented before the television broadcast began.)
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time drops 5-8 on the Billboard 200, despite an 11% gain (to 45,000 equivalent album units). Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 The Tortured Poets Department ascends 11-9 with 38,000 equivalent album units (up 8%) — also likely basking in some glow from the Grammy Awards, where the album and its “Fortnight” single were up for six awards (though did not win). Swift was a visible presence throughout the ceremony, cheering on winners and performers, and presented the best country album trophy to Beyoncé (for Cowboy Carter).
Rounding out the latest top 10 on the Billboard 200 is Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us, falling 8-10 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).
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.