Rod Wave spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 7) with Nostalgia, after debuting at No. 1 a week ago. The set earned 88,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28 (down 36%) according to Luminate. It’s the first of his three No. 1s to have led for multiple weeks.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Doja Cat’s Scarlet starts at No. 4 while Zach Bryan’s new Boys of Faith bows at No. 8.
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, compiled by Luminate. 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 Oct. 7, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Nostalgia’s 88,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 28, SEA units comprise 87,500 (equaling 124.51 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 18 songs), album sales comprise 500, and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Nostalgia’s 88,000 sum is the smallest total for a No. 1 album in seven months, since SZA’s SOS led the list dated March 4 with 87,000 units.
Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Guts holds at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 (87,500 equivalent album units; down 34%) and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time climbs one rung to No. 3 (73,000; down 3%).
Doja Cat captures her third top 10 album on the Billboard 200, all notched consecutively, as her new studio set Scarlet starts at No. 4 with nearly 72,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 65,000 (equaling 88.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s 17 songs), album sales comprise 6,000 (the set was only available as a digital download, CD and in a deluxe boxed set with a T-shirt and CD) and TEA units comprise 1,000. The digital and streaming edition of the album was available in a standard 15-song edition and a deluxe 17-track version.
Scarlet was preceded by three charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Demons,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Attention.” “Paint the Town Red” became her second No. 1 on the Hot 100 on the Sept. 16-dated chart (following 2020’s “Say So,” featuring Nicki Minaj).
Doja Cat previously hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with Planet Her (No. 2 in 2021) and Hot Pink (No. 9 in 2020).
Zach Bryan’s chart-topping self-titled album falls 3-5 on the new Billboard 200 (66,000 equivalent album units; down 16%), SZA’s SOS dips 5-6 (49,000; down 7%) and Travis Scott’s former leader Utopia descends 6-7 (just over 44,000; down 6%).
A second Bryan album appears in the top 10, as his new five-song Boys of Faith project bows at No. 8 with 43,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,000 (equaling 50.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 4,000 and TEA units comprise 500. Boys of Faith is the third top 10-charting effort for Bryan, and second in 2023, following his self-titled No. 1, which debuted at the summit just four weeks earlier. He has also hit the top 10 with the No. 5-peaking American Heartbreak in 2022.
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is Peso Pluma’s Génesis (moving 7-9 with 43,000 equivalent album units earned; down 7%) and Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights (8-10 with 42,000; up less than 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
