Following up from last week’s overview, here’s a look at the best (and worst) performers in a number of important chart metrics in the following breakdown of the Billboard 200 albums chart for the July 28, 2018 issue (reflecting the tracking week ending July 19, 2018):
Best
Pure Sales
Sales, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
29,400: Drake – Scorpion (1)
16,700: Various Artists – The Greatest Showman: Original (7)
16,600: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – OST (20)
14,000: Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers (2)
10,300: KIDZ BOP Kids – Kidz Bop 38 (47)
Total Streams
Total Weekly Streams, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
290,000,000: Drake – Scorpion (1)
84,000,000: Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers (2)
79,800,000: Post Malone – beerbongs & bentleys (3)
63,300,000: XXXTentacion – ? (4)
60,900,000: Juice Wrld – Goodbye & Good Riddance (6)
Track Sales
Track Sales, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
179,000: Drake – Scorpion (1)
62,000: Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy (5)
61,000: Post Malone – Beerbongs & Bentleys (2)
58,000: Maroon 5 – Red Pill Blues (9)
39,000: Imagine Dragons – Evolve (15)
Top Weekly Increase (%)
% Up, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
131%: 2Pac – Greatest Hits (93)
108%: Fleetwood Mac – The Very Best Of (151)
100%: The Big Chill – OST (138)
79%: Mamma Mia! – OST (89)
41%: ABBA – Gold (86)
Worst
Pure Sales
Sales, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
00: Kanye West – The Life Of Pablo (178)
00: Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book (164)
00: Future – BEASTMODE 2 (11)
17: Famous Dex – Dex Meets Dexter (152)
41: Lil Baby – Too Hard (180)
41: Gunna – Drip Season 3 (110)
Total Streams
Total Weekly Streams, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
197,000: Grateful Dead – Anthem Of The Sun (143)
330,000: Between the Buried and Me – Automata II (65)
377,000: John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once (148)
593,000: Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (111)
810,000: Chelsea Grin – Eternal Nightmare (171)
Track Sales
Track Sales, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
000: Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book (164)
000: Future – BEASTMODE 2 (11)
111: Between the Buried and Me – Automata II (65)
148: John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once (148)
203: Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (111)
Weekly Decline (%)
% Drop, Artist – Album (Billboard 200 Rank)
-56%: Future – BEASTMODE 2 (11)
-56%: Meek Mill – Legends of the Summer EP (41)
-36%: Gorillaz – The Now Now (77)
-30%: Florence + The Machine – High As Hope (79)
-25%: The Beatles – ‘1’ (139)
Chart Notes
- Physicals have value: While ‘Scorpion’ posted the lowest pure sales sum for a #1 album in Billboard 200 history last week, Drake narrowly avoids re-writing the record a second time. As physical versions of the set arrived in stores, ‘Scorpion’ sold 14 more copies this week than it did last week.
- Albums fueled by track sales steady once again: The top five albums in track sales repeat in the same positions they were ranked in last week. None of the five lost more than 3,000 in week to week track sales and all are top 15 on the overall Billboard 200.
- ‘Scorpion’ dominance: Drake’s ‘Scorpion’ shed 100 million streams (vs. last week) and still easily leads the Billboard 200. With ‘Scorpion’ garnering a sum of 290 million streams for the July 28 issue, Drake now has six of the top 10 all-time streaming frames.
- Lasting power: Titles from Post Malone, XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD all retained their ranks from last week’s streaming leaderboard (#3-5). Malone lost less than 2 million streams and the latter two actually increased in streaming consumption.
- Lowest album sellers are consistent: Titles from Chance the Rapper, Future and Kanye West all sold 0 copies once again (reminder: the former two aren’t for purchase while the latter is limited). Meanwhile, Famous Dex again sold about 20 copies and Gunna’s ‘Drip Season 3’ repeated in joint fifth with Lil Baby’s ‘Too Hard’. To be fair, they all once again stayed strong in streams.
- ABBA skyrockets: ABBA’s ‘Gold’ greatest hits package is up 41% and the ‘Mamma Mia!’ soundtrack (2008; featuring ABBA related music) is up 79% as the new ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ soundtrack debuts (#20). ‘Gold’ has sold a massive 5.79 million copies and the original ‘Mamma Mia!’ soundtrack has moved a healthy 2.08 million. Despite the gains, the impact of the new film’s theatrical release hasn’t even been felt yet. Tune in next week.
- ‘Hybrid Theory’ is not the greatest gainer: Addressing a minor Billboard error.
- ‘reputation Tour’ keeps rolling: Taylor Swift’s ‘reputation’ maintains the sales bump it received last week, gaining one spot to #14 on the Billboard 200. With another 8,000 sold this week, the set ups its pure total to 2.1 million.
- Bending the rules still works: Might as well continue to do it.
CHART DATA 