Music News

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) logs a second week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Nov. 18), following its blockbuster debut. In the week ending Nov. 9, the set earned 245,000 equivalent album units (down 85%) in the U.S., according to Luminate. The re-recorded effort charged in at No. 1 with 1.653 million units a week ago — marking the largest week for any album in nearly a decade.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Jung Kook’s debut album, Golden, bows at No. 2, while the late Jimmy Buffett’s new studio album, Equal Strain on All Parts, starts at No. 6.

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 Nov. 18, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Nov. 14. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s 245,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 9, album sales comprise 122,000, SEA units comprise 121,500 (equaling 159.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs) and TEA units comprise 1,500. On the final day of the tracking week, Swift introduced a new deluxe digital download edition of the album, exclusively available in her official webstore for one day only. The new version includes one bonus track, “Slut! (Acoustic Version) (Taylor’s Version).”

BTS’ Jung Kook sees his solo debut album, Golden, bow at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 210,200 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 164,800 (it’s the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 29,800 (equaling 41.59 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 10 songs) and TEA units comprise 15,600. Golden’s sales were largely driven by CD purchases, with 128,500 sold, while digital download album contributed 36,300. It was not available to purchase on any other format.

Golden was preceded by a pair of top 10-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, the No. 1 “Seven,” featuring Latto, and the No. 5-peaking “3D,” with Jack Harlow.

Golden is Jung Kook’s first charting album on the Billboard 200, and he becomes the sixth member of BTS (of the seven total members) to have achieved a top 10-charting effort. BTS itself has logged seven top 10s, including six No. 1s.

Golden was issued in 16 collectible CD editions, all with the same tracklist, but alternative packaging and covers, with different merchandise (some randomized) contained inside. Among the variants were retail-exclusive sold through Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart. Golden was also available to purchase across nine different digital download editions: a standard version, one with three music videos, a version with a “digitally signed” cover, two alternative cover versions, and four “voice memo” versions (each of the four came with a different short voice memo recorded by the artist as a bonus track).

A trio of former No. 1s is next on the Billboard 200, as Drake’s For All the Dogs is a non-mover at No. 3 (81,000 equivalent album units; down 15%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At a Time rises 5-4 (65,000; up 2%) and Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana falls 4-5 (60,000; down 19%).

The late Jimmy Buffett debuts at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with the final studio album he completed during his lifetime, Equal Strain on All Parts. The set starts with a little over 53,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 51,000, SEA units comprise a little over 2,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Buffett died on Sept. 1 at the age of 76 of skin cancer.

The new 14-song album, which marks Buffett’s 14th top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200, features contributions from Emmylou Harris, Angelique Kidjo, Lennie Gallant, Will Kimbrough, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Paul McCartney.

Equal Strain on All Parts was issued as a standard digital album, a standard CD and in two vinyl editions — a widely available Key West Blue-colored version, and an indie store exclusive Paradise Blue-colored version that contains a poster inside. Of the album’s 51,000 sold, CD sales comprise 26,000, digital album sales comprise 15,000 and vinyl sales comprise 10,000.

Closing out the new top 10 are four former chart-toppers: Rod Wave’s Nostalgia dips 6-7 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 3%); Zach Bryan’s self-titled set rises 9-8 (nearly 45,000; up 2%); Swift’s Midnights falls 7-9 (43,000; down 3%); and SZA’s SOS is steady at No. 10 (42,000; down 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.