Last week was a tough break for hip hop records, with new releases by Green Day, Norah Jones, and OneRepublic occupying the top spots. They slipped back though, and now Drake, Travis Scott, the Suicide Squad Soundtrack, and a new record from The Game occupy space in the top 10. Rihanna and Solange stick around in the top 20, while Beyonce, Kanye West, DJ Khaled, and Rae Sremmurd hang out on the top 30. Elsewhere, Gucci Mane's Woptober debuts at #43 in this week's installment of Charts Don't Lie.
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1) Drake – VIEWS: Kings of Leon snagged the #1 spot this week, but Drake is back at #2 behind the rock group's top-selling debut. VIEWS hasn't strayed out of the top 10 since its release 25 weeks ago, and since Drake announced a new project is dropping before the end of the year, it's possible that he'll have two albums in the top 10 come December. For now, VIEWS clocks 39,747 TAEU (total album equivalent units) and 5,236 sales.
2) Various Artists – Suicide Squad: The Album: Just behind Drizzy is the Suicide Squad soundtrack. The compilation has been crushing it since its release 11 weeks ago, when it debuting at #1. It hasn't straying too far since. This time around, 34,660 TAEU and 10,993 sales are logged.
3) The Game — 1992: Big up Game for debuting at the #4 spot with his new record 1992. The California veteran comes with a political tone on this one, and it's enough to come out the gate with 31,708 TAEU and 24,908 sales tallied.
4) Travis Scott – Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight: After getting bumped back into the #12 spot last week, Travis Scott is back in the top 10, coming in at #9. BITTSM appears to be settling nicely with fans of La Flame, and it counts 21,199 TAEU and 1,635 sales in its seventh week on the charts.
5) Rihanna – ANTI: Rihanna made the jump from #15 to #13 with her latest album ANTI, her eighth studio effort. The record debuted at #1, and has hung around the top 10 for the majority of the year. This time around, Rihanna clocks 18,649 TAEU and 3,293 sales.
6) Solange — A Seat at the Table: Solange's A Seat at the Table is a phenomenal neo-soul record. With the help of Raphael Saadiq, Solange has created something that will be mentioned in the same breathe as neo-soul greats like D'Angelo and Frank Ocean. Coming in at #15 in its third week, the album puts 17,969 TAEU and 6,427 sales on the board.
7) Beyonce — LEMONADE: Meanwhile, Solange's sister Beyonce comes in at #22 with her latest LP LEMONADE, which is a lot better than last week's showing at #30. The album does 15,312 TAEU and 10,272 sales in its 26th week on the charts.
8) Kanye West – The Life of Pablo: Kanye West isn't selling many copies of The Life of Pablo, with the past month clocking single-digit sales of the album. That's pretty crazy for a dude who has a number of platinum plaques, but it's what happens when your album is difficult to purchase. At any rate, streams give Yeezy 14,939 TAEU, enough to land him the #23 spot.
9) DJ Khaled — Major Key: In #24 is DJ Khaled with Major Key, his ninth studio record. The entire thing is laced with the hottest members of the hip hop scene, from Jay Z to Kendrick to J. Cole to Bryson Tiller. Khaled's ability to assemble massive lineups brings him 14,608 TAEU and 4,439 sales this time around.
10) Rae Sremmurd — SremmLife 2: Those Rae Sremmurd cats just got a huge boost, jumping from #43 to #26 in just seven days. Their second record, SremmLife2, counts 13,477 TAEU and 2,149 sales during this surge.
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The top four spots look the same as last week: Chainsmokers at #1, The Weeknd at #2, Twenty One Pilots at #3, and DJ Snake with Justin Bieber at #4. D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty climb one more spot, up to #5, with the top rap record in the country, "Broccoli." That happy-go-lucky beat under the two rising stars' bars is infectious, and apparently not going anywhere soon. If you want to give D.R.A.M. a chance at the #1 spot, give it a purchase or stream it like mad!
For other hip hop tracks, you'll see Nicki Minaj at #8 with the Ariana Grande collaboration "Side to Side." Maroon 5, featuring Kendrick Lamar, have a track that just jumped from #56 to #9 in the last week, marking astonishing growth. Drake's "One Dance," which ran at #1 for most of the summer, has slipped back into the #23 spot, but the Toronto star still has 5 songs in the Hot 100 total, the most of any artist.
