He did it again, and it wasn't even close. Drake's VIEWS, released at the end of April, has achieved the No. 1 spot for the seventh consecutive week. He's the first male artist to earn seven straight weeks at No. 1 in almost 16 years. The last man to equal or better his current streak was Eminem, whose The Marshall Mathers LP was at the top of the chart for eight weeks in a row from June 10-July 29, 2000.
For the week ending June 16, VIEWS sold 121,000 equivalent album units, reports Nielsen Music. The majority of that sum can be attributed to streaming platforms, as the album was reportedly streamed 110.5 million times, which equates to 74,000 album units. Traditional album sales only accounted for 27,000 of the album's 121,000 units.
Arriving at No. 2 on this week's chart is Nick Jonas' new album, Last Year Was Complicated, which moved 66,000 in equivalent albums and 47,000 in traditional album sales. It's interesting to note that Jonas beat Drake in traditional sales, but was dwarfed once the streaming numbers were factored in.
You may have noticed that we recently reported on the first-week sales projections for YG's new album, Still Brazy, which was officially released on Friday, June 17. Still Brazy has been forecasted to sell between 37-42k equivalent albums (including streaming) for the week ending in June 23. The latest chart, on which Drake goes No. 1, will be unveiled on Tuesday (June 21), and YG will appear on the chart a week after that (June 28). If Drake's numbers hold steady, he'll go No. 1 the next week, too, and his main competition won't be YG but the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their new album, Gateway, is expected to sell 100-105k units including streams, and it will debut at the same time as Still Brazy.
Think Drake can break Em's record?
[via Billboard]
