On the Charts: Drake’s ‘More Life’ Rules Again
As expected, Drake‘s More Life spent a second consecutive week at Number One as the rapper’s “playlist project” sold another 225,000 total copies.
Of that haul, 169,000 were streaming equivalent albums, or SEAs, as streaming continues to breathe life into the suddenly revived music industry.
As Billboard notes, thanks in large part to Views‘ 13 nonconsecutive weeks at Number One, Drake has now occupied the top spot on the Billboard 200 for 20 total weeks over his career. That’s good for third place among rappers, with only Jay Z (23 weeks) and M.C. Hammer (21 weeks) spending more time at Number One. Drake could bypass both those rappers by the time More Life descends the charts.
More Life was aided in part by a week where only one new release cracked the Top 10: Trey Songz‘ Tremaine, which debuted at Number Three and 67,000 total albums. That’s a significant drop from the opening week of the singer’s last LP Trigga in 2014; that album bowed at Number One on the strength of 105,000 copies.
Ed Sheeran’s Divide spent another week at Number Two after pocketing another 98,000 copies. The box office-breaking Beauty and the Beast planted its soundtrack at Number Four for a second straight week, with Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (still aided by a deal pairing copies with WorldWired tour tickets) at Number Five.
The back half of the Top 10 were all returnees: Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic at Number Six, the Moana soundtrack at Number Seven, Rick Ross’ Rather You Than Me at Number Eight, Future’s self-titled LP at Number Nine and the Weeknd’s Starboy closing it out at Number 10.
Drake should remain at Number One for at least one more week before a slate of possible competitors arrive on April 7th.