On the Charts: Blink-182 End Drake’s Nine-Week Reign
After a nine-week reign, the return of Blink-182 did something that Nick Jonas, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ariana Grande couldn’t do: Knock Drake‘s Views from atop the Billboard 200. The punk group’s California, the band’s first LP since 2011’s Neighborhoods and first album with new guitarist Matt Skiba, sold 186,000 total copies in its debut week to end Drake‘s near-historic run.
California marks Blink-182‘s second Number One album and first since 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Of California‘s 186,000 total copies sold, 172,000 of those came from actual album sales, giving it the year’s third-best-selling week for a rock release behind Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool and David Bowie’s Blackstar, Billboard reports.
Drake’s Views ended its nine-week run at Number One by settling for Number Two with an additional 117,000 copies “sold”; of that total, the vast majority came from accumulated streaming equivalent albums, or SEAs. Drake’s Number One reign placed it third among hip-hop albums for most consecutive weeks at the top spot, behind Vanilla Ice’s 16-week Number One run with To the Extreme and MC Hammer’s incredible 21-week streak with Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em.
Besides Blink-182, one more new release cracked the upper half of the Top 10: Maxwell‘s blackSUMMERS’night, the sequel to 2009’s BLACKsummers’night, bowed in at Number Three and 59,000 total copies. That’s a major decline from its predecessor as BLACKsummers’night debuted at Number One with 316,000 copies upon its release seven years ago.
The rest of the Top 10 were all returnees: Beyoncé’s Lemonade at Number Four, Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface at Five, Rihanna’s Anti at Six, Adele’s 25 at Seven, the Hamilton cast recording at Eight, the Epic AF compilation at Nine and Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest closing things out at Number 10.
Next week, it’s not out of the question for Drake to regain the Number One spot, but the rapper will have to defeat newcomers like Schoolboy Q’s Blank Face and Chevelle’s The North Corridor.