Despite three new albums occupying the top three spots, our hip hop faithful showed up strong on the Billboard charts this week. Drake, Frank Ocean, Beyonce, Young Thug, and Rihanna are all in the top 10 this week with their respective releases, while DJ Khaled and Tory Lanez are still rockin' in the top 20. Young Thug's No, My Name is Jeffery and De La Soul's and the Anonymous Nobody lead the pack of new albums at the #8 and #12 spots, respectively, and elsewhere Vince Staples shows up at #50 with his Prima Donna EP, Prophets of Rage debut at #84, and Young Dolph's Rich Crack Baby comes in at #132.
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1) Drake – VIEWS: After a few months at the top spot, Drake's reign appears to be coming to a close, although he's still higher up than most. Drizzy's VIEWS falls to #4 this week, the lowest position it's occupied in recent memory, to be sure. This a two-spot slip from #2 last week, after a very strong 18 weeks on the charts. In between Drake and the #1 position are Barbara Streisand, Florida Georgia Line and Britney Spears. Drake still moved 71,526 TAEU and 18,406 copies when it comes to physical sales. We'll have to see where he heads on the Billboard 200 from here, but it's safe to say he'll be eating for awhile.
2) Frank Ocean – Blonde: Frank Ocean comes in at #5 after scoring the top spot last week with the debut of Blonde. The long-awaited album continues to see success with streams, but also sold big time. Ocean clocks 67,387 TAEU and 44,104 in pure sales, a good 15k+ more than anyone else on the list this week. Will he be able to climb back up next week or is it a descent from here?
3) Various Artists – Suicide Squad: The Album: This soundtrack is star-studded with contributions from Rick Ross, Skrillex, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, and many more. It seemed like it may have been a fluke when it debuted at #1, but it's continued to hang out in the top 10 for a full month now, hitting the #6 spot this week. With 62,908 TAEU and 27,160 in pure sales, the Suicide Squad soundtrack appears to be here to stay.
4) Beyonce — LEMONADE: Maybe her recent birthday had something to do with the spike in position, or maybe it's just Beyonce. Either way, the 35-year old singer jumped from #13 to #7 this week with LEMONADE. The album counts 37,750 TAEU and 25,796 in pure sales this week, which serves as her 19th week on the Billboard 200.
5) Young Thug — No, My Name is Jeffery: Big up Thugger for debuting in the top 10 with No, My Name is Jeffery, specifically, he enters the Billboard 200 at #8. The album has been getting great reviews all over the web, and it has translated into real success for the Atlanta artist, although there is definitely more ground that he could cover. Nonetheless this still isn't his proper studio album yet, it's a commercially-released mixtape. Young Thug Jeffery debuts with 37,342 TAEU and 17,748 sales.
6) Rihanna – ANTI: Rihanna's eighth studio album is in the top 10 during its 32nd week on the charts, which is basically just an average day for the Barbados-bred pop star. The album dropped one spot to #9, and continues to do work (ha), tallying 32,100 TAEU and 6,537 in pure sales.
7) De La Soul — and the Anonymous Nobody: De La Soul's latest album was created with the help of a Kickstarter, and the fans are being equally supportive of the project now that it's released. The latest record from the influential but underground hip hop group has features from Snoop Dogg, Usher, 2 Chainz, and Little Dragon. The album has managed an impressive debut at #12, in addition to moving 23,202 TAEU and 21,332 copies in physical sales.
8) DJ Khaled – Major Key: DJ Khaled falls out of the top 10 this week with Major Key, the huge album from the huge personality that features just about everybody, as Khaled is warrant to do. Despite coming in at #13 this week, Khaled still had a fruitful week with 23,159 TAEU and 5,280 in pure sales.
9) Tory Lanez – I Told You: After debuting on the Billboard 200 at #4 last week, Tory Lanez' I Told You falls to #16 in its second week out. This is the first studio album from the Canadian artist, released via Interscope, and it moves 20,696 TAEU and 7,207 in pure sales.
10) Kanye West - The Life of Pablo: It seems like all of the press surrounding The Life of Pablo and its floating stage have boosted streams for Kanye West. His most recent LP jumps up a few spots, from #24 to #21, this week.
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The Hot 100 looks pretty similar to weeks past, with The Chainsmokers, Major Lazer (with Justin Bieber & MØ), and Twenty One Pilots taking over the top 3 spots. Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's collaborative new single "Side to Side" debuts down at the #31 spot, and we'll likely see it climb in weeks to come. Chris Brown snags the #71 spot with "Grass Ain't Greener" despite more legal troubles. NYC up and comer Young M.A. makes her Hot 100 debut at #85 with the buzzing single "Oooouuu" while Young Thug debuts below her at #87 with his Jeffery cut "Wyclef Jean" (randomly enough). Drake has 9 songs in the Hot 100, while Future and Rihanna have 4 each.
