After notching four earlier top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, rapper Moneybagg Yo earns his first No. 1 as his latest effort, A Gangsta’s Pain, debuts atop the tally.
The 22-track set was released on April 23 via CMG/N-Less/Interscope and earned 110,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 29, according to MRC Data. Nearly all of that total is powered by streaming activity.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 8, 2021-dated chart (where A Gangsta’s Pain debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on May 4. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of A Gangsta’s Pain’s 110,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending April 29, SEA units comprise 106,000 (equaling 147.4 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks), album sales comprise 4,000 and TEA units comprise less than 1,000. The set was previewed by the top 20-charting Hot Rap Songs hits “Time Today” and “Hard for the Next,” the latter with Future.
Moneybagg Yo first hit the Billboard 200 in 2017 with Heartless, which peaked at No. 177. He’s been prolific on the chart since, as A Gangsta’s Pain is his 11th charting effort, and ninth album to reach the top 25. Pain is his fifth top 10 album overall, and fourth consecutive top 10, following Code Red (No. 6 in 2020, with Blac Youngsta), Time Served (No. 3, 2020) and 43VA Heartless (No. 4, 2019). He got his first top 10 with 2017’s Federal 3X (No. 5).
The Slime Language 2 compilation from Young Thug and his Young Stoner Life Records family of artists falls from No. 1 to No. 2 in its second week with 62,000 equivalent album units earned (down 46%). Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 3 with 54,000 units (down 3%).
Eric Church’s Soul debuts at No. 4 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 42,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 10,000 (equaling 13.3 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000. Soul follows Church’s top 10 debut with Heart a week ago (at No. 5), making Church the first act with back-to-back top 10 debuts in successive weeks since 2017, when Future debuted at No. 1 on the March 11, 2017-dated chart with his self-titled album and followed it a week later with another No. 1 debut, HNDRXX (March 18).
Heart was released on April 16 as the first of three new albums from Church, collectively referred to as Heart & Soul. The & album was released on April 20 exclusive to members of Church’s Church Choir fan club, while the Soul album was released on April 23. (The & album debuts at No. 83 on the new Billboard 200 with 11,000 units — all from album sales. Heart falls 5-68 with 12,000 units — down 76%.)
Three former No. 1s are next on the Billboard 200. Justin Bieber’s Justice falls 4-5 with 47,000 equivalent album units (down 12%), while Rod Wave’s SoulFly is steady at No. 6 with 40,000 units (down 13%).
The Weeknd’s After Hours re-enters at No. 7 with 39,000 units (up 711%). Meanwhile, his best-of compilation The Highlights falls 8-22 with 20,000 units (down 49%). The two albums share a pair of songs, “Blinding Lights” and “Save Your Tears.” On the latest chart, the TEA and SEA units for both songs contribute to After Hours, as a song’s activity is assigned to the artist’s album with the most sales in a week. (After Hours sold 1,500 copies in the latest tracking week, while The Highlights sold 1,000.) A week ago, the TEA and SEA for both songs was directed to The Highlights (which in that frame outsold After Hours). In turn, with the songs’ activity reverting back to After Hours, the album rises re-enters at No. 7.
Rounding out the new top 10 are Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, rising 9-8 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (down 1%), Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Fearless (Taylor’s Version), dropping 2-9 with 33,000 units (down 42%), and Pop Smoke’s former leader Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, a non-mover at No. 10 with nearly 33,000 units (down 3%).
