On the Charts: Rihanna’s ‘Anti’ Takes Long Way to Number One
Despite going platinum upon arrival, Rihanna‘s Anti was held out of the top spot on last week’s Billboard 200 due to a Nielsen SoundScan rule change. In its second official week of release, however, there was nothing to prevent Rihanna from claiming Number One as the singer’s latest LP sold 166,000 copies. Although Anti didn’t technically debut in the top spot – it entered the Billboard 200 at Number 27 last week – by climbing atop the charts, Anti gave Rihanna her second consecutive album to reach Number One, following 2012’s Unapologetic.
Upon Anti‘s release, the album was downloaded for free approximately 1.47 million times by Samsung users and recipients of a Rihanna promo code. While the RIAA recognized the album as platinum, SoundScan did not count those free downloads towards its Billboard 200 total. According to Billboard, the Number 27-to-Number One jump is the biggest leap for a chart-topper since Radiohead’s In Rainbows rose from Number 156 to Number One, the result of some vendors not adhering the album’s physical release date.
Anti‘s second week on the Billboard 200 left Kevin Gates‘ Islah at the biggest debut, with the rapper’s new album opening its run at Number Two and 112,000 copies, a vast improvement over his By Any Means and its Number 17 peak in 2014.
Last week’s chart-topper, Adele’s 25, dropped down to Number Three with another 89,000 copies. Although she abdicated the Billboard 200 throne, the singer’s blockbuster album pushed past 8 million copies this week. Sia‘s This Is Acting debuted Number Four with 81,000 copies. Sales-wise, that’s a career high week for Sia, although her 1000 Forms of Fear peaked at Number One in 2014 with only 52,000 copies.
Justin Bieber’s Purpose finished the week at Number Five while Charlie Puth’s Nine Track Mind was the final new release to crack the Top 10, coming in at Number Six.