DJ Khaled nets his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as Khaled Khaled debuts atop the list.
The 14-track album was released on April 30 via We the Best/Epic Records and features a galaxy of guest stars, ranging from Drake and Jay-Z to Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber. Khaled Khaled starts with 93,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 6, according to MRC Data.Khaled Khaled follows DJ Khaled’s previous leaders, Grateful (in 2017) and Major Key (2016), both of which also boasted a bevy of A-list collaborators.
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 15-dated chart (where Khaled Khaled debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on May 11. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Khaled Khaled’s 93,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending May 6, SEA units comprise 76,000 (equaling 106.87 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks), album sales comprise 14,000 and TEA units comprise 3,000. Khaled Khaled was preceded by a pair of top 10-charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, both featuring Drake: “Popstar” and “Greece,” which reached Nos. 3 and 8, respectively, on the Aug. 1, 2020-dated chart.
The next five albums on the Billboard 200 are all former No. 1s. Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain slips 1-2 in its second week (70,000 equivalent album units earned; down 37%), Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 3 (53,000; down 2%), Justin Bieber’s Justice rises 5-4 (42,000; down 12%), the Slime Language 2 project led by Young Thug falls 2-5 (40,000; down 34%) and Rod Wave’s SoulFly is steady at No. 6 (a little more than 35,000; down 11%).
Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia rises 8-7 for its 12th straight week in the top 10, earning nearly 35,000 units (down less than 1%). The album debuted at No. 4 on the April 11, 2020-dated chart, then spent two more weeks in the top 10 (April 18-25) before falling out of the region until the Feb. 27, 2021-dated chart, when it began its current top 10 streak.
Future Nostalgia is the only album by a woman in the top 10 this week. It’s just the second time in 2021 where the top 10 has held just one album by a woman. On the Feb. 20-dated list, Ariana Grande’s Positions was the only set by a leading lady in the top 10. (The last time the top 10 did not have an album credited to a woman was the Nov. 7, 2020 chart. It’s worth noting that week’s top 10 did feature the multi-artist original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical, which boasted a number of female performers.)
Pop Smoke’s former No. 1 Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon rises 10-8 on the new Billboard 200 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned (down 2%). The Weeknd’s previous leader After Hours dips 7-9 with nearly 32,000 units (down 18%).
Thomas Rhett rounds out the new top 10 with the No. 10 debut of his latest studio album Country Again (Side A). Of that sum, SEA units comprise 15,000 (equaling 19.34 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks), album sales comprise 14,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. The album was led by the single “What’s Your Country Song?” which marked his 16th No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart (dated March 27) and his second leader on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Country Again (Side A) is the fifth top 10 album for Rhett, all consecutive, from his debut full-length project It Goes Like This in 2013 (which peaked at No. 6).
The 11-track Country Again (Side A) project is the first of a two-part project from Rhett, with Country Again (Side B) set to arrive later this year.
