The Hamilton musical continues to make history as The Hamilton Mixtape makes its way to the top of Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart. Childish Gambino’s funk-infused Awaken, My Love! lands in the Top 10 of the list and The Weeknd has a solid second week for Starboy.
“The Hamilton Mixtape” Lands At #1
Lin Manuel-Miranda carries the success of his Broadway musical to the album charts as The Hamilton Mixtape lands at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200. The project sold nearly 187,000 units its first week with more than 168,000 album sales and 21 million streams. The Hamilton Mixtape received a 4.5 rating on HipHopDX with reviewer Aaron McKrell saying “No matter how diverse, the production always fits because it underscores the narrative, whether it’s the wistful piano keys of ‘Dear Theodosia’ or the subdued melancholy of ‘Burn.’ Andra Day’s searing vocals and telling narratives on the latter make the song one of the most outstanding on a project full of gems.”
Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!” Debuts At #5
Childish Gambino’s much-anticipated Awaken, My Love! charts at #5 in its first week. The project, which broke away from the Atlanta rapper’s typical sound, sold more than 101,000 equivalent album units with 41.5 million streams. This is Gambino’s fourth project and highest chart position on the Billboard 200. He landed at #7 with Because the Internet in 2013.
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The Weeknd Stays Strong In Second Week Of “Starboy”
After having one of the biggest debuts of the year, The Weeknd’s Starboy sold six digits yet again with nearly 150,000 equivalent album units in this sales cycle. It was the most-streamed project of the week with 124 million plays. In its first week, all 18 tracks of the album appeared on the Hot 100 chart.
Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 12/08/2016
Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard’s new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.
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#1 Various Artists — The Hamilton Mixtape— 186,995 (168,967) [21,079,880]
#2 The Weeknd — Starboy — 150,756 (54,356) [124,148,499]
#5 Childish Gambino — Awaken, My Love! — 101,338 (71,860) [41,539,763]
#6 Bruno Mars — 24K Magic — 58,144 (37,705) [19,987,899]
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#14 John Legend — Darkness & Light — 38,928 (26,309) [12,556,783]
#17 Drake – VIEWS – 29,840 (5,416) [33,034,820]
#22 Rae Sremmurd — SremmLife 2 — 24,929 (2,069) [22,606,582]
#25 Various Artists – Suicide Squad: The Album – 21,390 (9,578) [11,001,051]
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#28 Mariah Carey — Merry Christmas — 19,533 (9,340) [9,861,745]
#29 Rihanna – ANTI – 19,529 (3,585) [17,354,287]
