Following the Grammys there was a surge that gave hip hop artists a boost in sales. For example, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly jumped up from #60 to #16 after crushing it at the award show. The Weeknd also jumped from #12 back into the top 10, landing at #6 for his post-Grammy week on the charts.
Future, who held down the #1 spot last week, slid down to #10 with his latest album EVOL. Kevin Gates continues to show up strong, holding down the #11 spot for his studio debut. The usual suspects like G-Eazy, J. Cole, Bryson Tiller, and Fetty Wap continue to enjoy success with their respective projects. It's worth noting that Kanye West's The Life of Pablo, the big release of recent times, is nowhere to be found on the Billboard charts, probably because he isn't actually selling the damn thing.
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1) Rihanna - ANTI: Rihanna sold fewer albums this week than last week, but she stuck at #3 on the charts, with Justin Bieber's Purpose and Adele's 25 sitting above her at #2 and #1 respectively. Moving 34,024 in pure album sales with 79,072 TAEU clocked, Rih's eighth studio album continues to fair well. Her single "Work" with Drake also recently hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her total sales are currently 209,825 total.
2) The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness: Abel's sales are up 46% this week from a Grammy surge that a few different artists are reaping the benefit of. He moved up six spots, from #12 to #6 this week. His sophomore album has earned him arena tours, Grammys, and an additional 25,759 albums sold this week. 50,638 units if we're talking TAEU. His total album sales are nearing 1 million-- 966,793 total.
3) Future - EVOL: Future's latest project has done 39,630 TAEU with 18,068 in pure sales. He slides to #10 from #1 last week, however, as Adele reclaimed the top spot on the charts. His total sales aren't too shabby though, currently at 118,025. It's worth noting that Future has three releases in the Billboard top 200, adding What A Time and DS2 to EVOL.
4) Kevin Gates - ISLAH: Moving down just one spot, from #10 to #11, is Kevin Gates. After shocking everyone with the success of his debut studio record ISLAH, Gates has stuck around the top 10 for a few weeks now. Hopefully it's just the beginning for the Baton Rouge MC who moved 36,298 TAEU this month, with 19,648 in pure sales.
5) G-Eazy - When It's Dark Out: Another rapper that just doesn't want to leave the charts is G-Eazy. Doing another 35,926 TAEU this week for his second studio album means that he holds down the #12 spot on the Billboard Top 200, jumping up from #14 last week with 12,621 in pure sales.
6) Bryson Tiller - T R A P S O U L: Bryson Tiller is enjoying unprecedented success for his debut album. For this week, he remains right where he was last week, at the #13 spot. An extra 35,450 TAEU and 13,467 pure sales will keep the ball rolling as he moves into his twelfth week on the chart.
7) Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly: Who said King Kendrick was done on the charts? With huge wins at the Grammys, the Compton MC jumped way up from #60 to #16 this week, selling another 33,270 TAEU and 24,450 in pure sales for the album that went platinum when the RIAA changed their rules earlier this month. (That's a 219% increase from last week's numbers.)
8) Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap: New Jersey's Fetty Wap continues to move respectable units with his single-filled debut LP. He did 24,847 TAEU and 5,814 in pure sales for his 21st week on the charts, although he did see a slight dip from last week's #18 spot to this week's #20 position.
9) Drake & Future - What A Time To Be Alive: With 23,299 TAEU and 2,160 pure sales, Drake & Future are simply putting icing on the big ol' cake of their current careers. Their album, which was more or less a mixtape, continues to stick on the Billboard charts, registering at #32, down from #24, for its 22nd week on the charts.
10) J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive: J. Cole's latest album has spent - count 'em - 63 weeks on the Billboard charts, and at #33 it seems like it isn't going anywhere any time too soon. Cole does another 22,288 TAEU and 12,877 pure sales for this week.
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Rihanna and Drake's "Work" jumped up from #4 to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, so shout-outs to those two for another #1 hit single. Other than that jump, things look pretty similar to last week, with Drake registering four songs in the top 35, The Weeknd appearing on five songs in the top 100, and G-Eazy and Flo Rida both claiming a top 10 spot.
