On the Charts: the Weeknd’s ‘Starboy’ Maintains Number One
The Weeknd‘s Starboy maintained its grip atop the Billboard 200 chart, marking its third consecutive week at Number One. Meanwhile, indie-pop trio the xx earned the week’s highest debut entry at Number Two with their hypnotic third album, I See You.
Starboy dominated because of streaming. Album tracks (including hits like “Party Monster” and the Daft Punk-featured “Starboy”) were streamed 57.2 million times during the week ending January 19th, Billboard reports.
The strength of streaming allowed Starboy to outpace six albums that actually sold more physical copies during the same time period, including Run the Jewels‘ Run the Jewels 3 and the Trolls soundtrack, featuring Justin Timberlake’s funk-pop smash “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
The xx‘s I See You also outsold Starboy‘s physical units. But it came second because it lagged on streaming. The xx’s album only garnered 12.3 million streams, according to The New York Times. By comparison, the Weeknd‘s debut week back in November drew 175 million streams.
Rounding out the top five is the soundtrack to Golden Globe-smashing musical La La Land (which falls from Number Two to Three), the soundtrack to Disney’s Moana (Number Four) and Bruno Mars’ 2016 LP, 24K Magic (Number Five).