Like It Or Not, Kanye is Number 1 Again

10 Jun, 2018

The set — which was released on June 1 via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings — earned 208,000 equivalent album units in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music, and is the fifth-largest week for an album in 2018. Of Ye’s starting sum, 85,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new June 16-dated chart (where West debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Tuesday, June 12.

Kanye West’s Eighth No. 1 Album: West lands his eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Ye. He ties Eminem for the second-most No. 1 albums among hip-hop acts in the history of the chart. Only JAY-Z is ahead of them, as he owns 14 chart-toppers. (Among all acts, The Beatles have the most No. 1s, with 19.)

Record-Tying Eight No. 1s in a Row: West has earned all eight of his No. 1s consecutively. Every single one of West’s chart entries, except for his first album, 2004’s The College Dropout, have debuted at No. 1. (The College Dropout debuted and peaked at No. 2.) He matches Eminem (2000-2018, a still-active streak) and The Beatles (1965-68) as the only acts to tally eight straight No. 1 albums. Eminem also matches West in terms of eight consecutive No. 1 debuts. (The Beatles’ stretch of eight No. 1s in a row in the ’60s did not include any titles that debuted at No. 1.)

Fifth–Biggest Week of 2018: As Ye starts with 208,000 equivalent album units, it logs the fifth-biggest week for an album this year. The only larger frames were earned by the debut weeks of Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys (461,000), J. Cole’s KOD (397,000), Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods (293,000) and Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy (255,000 units).

Seventh–Largest Streaming Debut Week Ever: Of Ye’s first week units, 120,000 were SEA units. That sum equates to 180.1 million on-demand audio streams for the set’s seven songs during the tracking week (as each SEA units equals 1,500 on-demand audio streams). Ye’s streaming launch is the seventh-biggest debut streaming week for an album. That’s a pretty notable feat, considering Ye only has seven songs. Thus, each tune, on average, garnered 25.7 million on-demand audio streams. The only album to tally a larger per-track streaming average was J. Cole’s KOD earlier this year. During its opening frame, the 12-song album earned 322.7 million on-demand audio streams, resulting in a 26.9 million per-track average.

Billboard

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