Despite sales for JAY-Z’s 13th studio album 4:44 taking a 67 percent plunge on the Billboard 200, it still landed in the #1 spot for the week ending July 20. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar’s double-platinum album DAMN. moves up a spot to #2 and French Montana’s Jungle Rules debuts at #3. Hip Hop albums make up the Top 5 this week, which indicates Nielsen Music’s report that Hip Hop/R&B is now the world’s dominate music genre is spot on.
Not surprisingly, Linkin Park album sales have skyrocketed in the wake of frontman Chester Bennington’s suicide late last week. Numbers for the group’s latest studio album, One More Light, jumped 461 percent, landing at the #17 spot, while Linkin Park’s 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, catapulted 280 percent.
JAY-Z Takes A Blow But Remains Victorious
JAY-Z’s 4:44 remains in the #1 spot for the second week in a row, even though sales plummeted by 67 percent. With 33,676,310 streams, 60,737 pure album sales and 86,529 total album equivalent units sold, it was still enough to secure the crown. There’s been some controversy swirling around the project’s platinum-selling status considering Sprint, who partnered with TIDAL for the album launch, bought one million copies right out the gate.
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French Montana Debuts In The Top 5
Jungle Rules, French Montana’s follow-up to 2016’s problem-causing MC4, enters the chart at #3, boasting 43,167,132 streams, 16,089 pure album sales and 52,066 total album equivalent units sold. Jungle Rules is the New York-based rapper’s second official studio album, following 2013’s Excuse My French, which debuted at #4 with first week sales of 56,000.
Linkin Park Albums Spike After Chester Bennington’s Suicide
Linkin Park, who regularly teamed up with Hip Hop artists like JAY-Z, DJ Rob Swift and the X-Ecutioners, Busta Rhymes and Pusha T, took a devastating blow when frontman Chester Bennington took his own life last Thursday (July 20) at the age of 41. Consequently, the group’s album sales have soared and four out of Linkin Park’s seven LPs are back on the charts. Most notably, the group’s latest album, One More Light, charted the highest at #17.
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Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 7/20/2017
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.
- JAY-Z — 4:44 — #1 — 86,529 (60,737) [33,676,310]
- Kendrick Lamar — DAMN. — #2 — 55,588 (17,839) [49,760,430]
- French Montana — Jungle Rules — #3 — 52,066 (16,089) [43,167,132]
- DJ Khaled — Grateful — #4 — 43,026 (5,613) [43,552,020]
- 21 Savage — Issa Album — #5 — 39,881 (6,275) [47,285,687]
- Khalid — American Teen — #9 — 27,784 (3,552) [30,190,713]
- Bruno Mars — 24K Magic — #10 — 27,651 (11,113) [17,032,577]
- Drake — More Life — #11 — 27,440 (1,050) [36,804,694]
- 2 Chainz — Pretty Girls Like Trap Music — #13 — 25,221 (4,614) [29,102,542]
- Post Malone — Stoney — #14 — 24,934 (1,650) [29,363,595]
