Billboard 200: 12/17: The Weeknd #1 (348k/290k)

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www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7597375/the-weeknd-starboy-billboard-200-no-1

The Weeknd's 'Starboy' Bows at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With Third-Biggest Debut of 2016
12/4/2016 by Keith Caulfield

The Weeknd blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with his new album, Starboy, earning 348,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 1, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the third-largest debut of 2016, behind only the arrivals of Drake’s Views (1.04 million units) and Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000). Of the Weeknd’s overall start, 209,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Dec. 17-dated chart (where The Weeknd bows at No. 1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

Starboy, the Weeknd's second Billboard 200 No. 1, was released on Nov. 25 through XO/Republic Records and is the follow-up to his first leader, Beauty Behind the Madness. The new set was initially released commercially as a download and through streaming services. Its CD release followed three days later on Nov. 28.

Starboy’s debut got a jolt from streaming equivalent album units, as a whopping 117,000 of its total unit sum were driven by streaming units (equaling 175.2 million streams of Starboy’s songs in the week). That’s the second-largest debut streaming week ever, following Drake’s Views, which clocked 163,000 streaming units in its opening frame (equating to 245.1 million streams of songs from the album that week).

Starboy is only the second album to surpass 100,000 streaming equivalent album units in a single week, following Drake’s set. Views actually did it three times: during its debut week, along with its third (124,000) and fourth (111,000) frames.

Previous to Starboy’s release and following its bow, the Weeknd offered some high-profile TV performances on Saturday Night Live (Oct. 1), the MTV Europe Music Awards (Nov. 6), the American Music Awards (Nov. 20), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Nov. 24) and The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Nov. 28). He also sat down for interviews with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 (Nov. 24), The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 2) and The New York Times (Nov. 28). Meanwhile, the set's title-cut lead single has so far peaked at No. 2 (for five weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100 and led the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for six weeks.

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas rises two spots with 131,000 units (up 29 percent). Last week’s No. 1 debut, Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, dips 1-3 with 75,000 units (down 74 percent) and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic slips 2-4 in its second week with 73,000 units (down 68 percent).

The Moana soundtrack vaults 16-5 with 66,000 units (up 153 percent), granting Walt Disney Records its highest charting album since the Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack peaked at No. 5 for one week on the Jan. 9-dated list. Moana’s huge gain is owed to the film’s release in U.S. theaters on Nov. 23, two days before the chart’s latest tracking week began (on Nov. 25).

Another animated film soundtrack, Trolls, holds steady at No. 6 with 53,000 units (down one percent).

Two holiday albums jump back into the top 10, as Pentatonix’s That’s Christmas to Me and Michael Buble’s Christmas return. The former rises 12-7 with 40,000 units (up 38 percent) and the latter vaults 19-8 with slightly less than 36,000 units (up 57 percent). As the two titles join Pentatonix’s latest holiday set at No. 2, there are three Christmas albums in the top 10 for the first time in nearly two years. It last happened on the Dec. 20, 2014-dated list, when That’s Christmas to Me ranked at No. 2, followed by Idina Menzel’s Holiday Wishes at No. 6 and Buble’s Christmas at No. 7.

Rounding out the new top 10 is Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings, which falls 3-9 with 36,000 units (down 73 percent) in its second week and the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton, which dips one rung to No. 10 with 34,000 units (down 11 percent).

[Enigma.]

Hmm a bit disappointing numbers for The Weeknd compared to BBTM (it's close to Xmas after all). But I guess it shows that people have moved on to streaming more and more.

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Drake's "Views" falls out of the Top 10 after 30 consecutive weeks.

and...

2016 SPS Debuts

1. Drake, Views 1.04 million
2. Beyonce, Lemonade 653,000
3. The Weeknd, Starboy 348,000
4. Metallica, Hardwired 291,000
5. Frank Ocean, Blonde 276,000
6. Bruno Mars, 24k Magic 231,000
7. Lady GaGa, Joanne 201,000

2016 Album Sales Debuts

1. Drake Views 852,000
2. Beyonce Lemonade 485,000
3. Metallica Hardwired 282,000
4. Frank Ocean Blonde 232,000
5. The Weeknd, Starboy 209,000

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www.hiphopdx.com/news/id.41544/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-weeknd-scores-sky-high-numbers-with-starboy-as-2nd-1-album

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Weeknd Scores Sky-High Numbers With "Starboy" As 2nd #1 Album
December 5, 2016 | 4:44 AM
by Victoria Hernandez

On this week’s Billboard Top 200 albums chart, The Weeknd rakes in sky-high numbers in the debut week of Starboy. Several Christmas albums start their ascent on the chart as three holiday LPs land in the Top 10, knocking Drake’s VIEWS out of the Top 10 for the first time.

The Weeknd Lands Second #1 Album With “Starboy”

The Weeknd’s Starboy has a stellar debut, taking the top spot on the chart with nearly 348,000 equivalent album units. The LP sold more than 209,000 albums and was streamed 175 million times, clearly matching those “astronomical” projections as it broke Spotify’s record for most streams in one day. The Canadian singer’s last output, Beauty Behind the Madness, lands at #36 this week, a 17 percent jump as people were preparing for Starboy’s release. That album also debuted at #1 upon its September 2015 release and was still in the Top 10 in January.

Drake’s “VIEWS” Falls Out Of Top 10

Drake’s VIEWS has been steadily slipping down the chart these past few weeks and the LP officially exits the Top 10 in its 31st week on the chart, landing at #12 with just under 31,000 sales units. The project was still the second-highest streamed project of the week, getting 31.5 million plays.

Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 12/01/2016

Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard’s new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.

#1 The Weeknd — Starboy — 347,966 (209,466) [175,182,572]

#4 Bruno Mars — 24K Magic — 72,856 (51,932) [21,939,996]

#12 Drake – VIEWS – 30,936 (7,457) [31,493,925]

#15 A Tribe Called Quest — We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service —27,935 (22,291) [7,781,928]

#16 Rae Sremmurd — SremmLife 2 — 27,549 (2,287) [24,284,000]

#18 Various Artists – Suicide Squad: The Album – 25,640 (12,964) [11,197,142]

#27 Rihanna – ANTI – 18,023 (3,291) [16,106,771]

#32 Travis Scott – Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight – 16,772 (3,099) [18,718,011]

#35 Prince — 4ever — 16,223 (13,751) [83,889]

#36 The Weeknd — Beauty Behind the Madness — 16,165 (4,269) [15,478,543]

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12/17 Billboard 200

1 Hot Shot Debut 1 Starboy, The Weeknd 1
2 4 2 6 A Pentatonix Christmas, Pentatonix 2
3 1 – 2 Hardwired...To Self-Destruct, Metallica 1
4 2 – 2 24K Magic, Bruno Mars 2
5 16 – 2 GG Moana, Soundtrack 5
6 6 3 10 Trolls, Soundtrack 3
7 12 18 29 That's Christmas To Me, Pentatonix 2
8 19 32 52 Christmas, Michael Buble 1
9 3 – 2 The Weight Of These Wings, Miranda Lambert 3
10 9 6 62 Hamilton: An American Musical, Original Broadway Cast 3
11 21 112 3 'Tis The Season, Jordan Smith 11
12 10 5 31 Views, Drake 1
13 14 21 6 Joanne, Lady Gaga 1
14 7 11 3 Christmas Together, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood 7
15 5 1 3 We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest 1
16 8 4 16 Sremmlife 2, Rae Sremmurd 4
17 18 15 81 Blurryface, twenty one pilots 1
18 15 10 17 Suicide Squad: The Album, Soundtrack 1
19 11 8 4 Collage (EP), The Chainsmokers 6
20 13 14 28 Dangerous Woman, Ariana Grande 2
21 134 – 2 PS Christmas Together / Gunslinger, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood 21
22 26 28 54 25, Adele 1
23 22 35 14 Dig Your Roots, Florida Georgia Line 2
24 23 16 64 Traveller, Chris Stapleton 1
25 0 New 1 Gunslinger, Garth Brooks 25

26 63 73 13 Adore: Christmas Songs Of Worship, Chris Tomlin 17
27 27 22 45 ANTI, Rihanna 1
28 43 50 82 How Can It Be, Lauren Daigle 28
29 101 117 5 Behold: A Christmas Collection, Lauren Daigle 29
30 34 72 7 Kidz Bop 33, Kidz Bop Kids 30
31 48 62 6 Tennessee Christmas, Amy Grant 31
32 29 19 13 Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight, Travis Scott 1
33 30 24 44 This Is Acting, Sia 4
34 33 26 30 Ripcord, Keith Urban 4
35 80 – 2 4Ever, Prince 35
36 41 45 66 Beauty Behind The Madness, The Weeknd 1
37 24 34 10 Illuminate, Shawn Mendes 1
38 36 25 4 The RCA-List, Vol. 2, Various Artists 23
39 83 144 62 Merry Christmas, Mariah Carey 3
40 79 115 5 Glow, Brett Eldredge 29
41 66 63 6 The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve, Trans-Siberian Orchestra 9
42 35 29 20 Savage Mode, 21 Savage & Metro Boomin 28
43 58 150 6 Never Lose Sight, Chris Tomlin 6
44 31 12 4 NOW 60, Various Artists 7
45 51 57 6 Nobody But Me, Michael Buble 2
46 96 197 54 A Charlie Brown Christmas (Soundtrack), Vince Guaraldi Trio 23
47 39 30 5 Cosmic Hallelujah, Kenny Chesney 2
48 114 145 6 It Must Be Christmas, Chris Young 48
49 20 – 2 Strait Out Of The Box: Part 2, George Strait 20
50 32 – 2 Epic Lit (Version 2), Various Artists 32

51 38 37 35 The Life Of deleted, Kanye West 1
52 92 151 11 The Very Next Thing, Casting Crowns 9
53 102 106 5 I'll Have Another...Christmas Album, Straight No Chaser 53
54 108 116 58 These Are Special Times, Celine Dion 2
55 143 166 70 Noel, Josh Groban 1
56 161 – 3 Wonderland, Sarah McLachlan 56
57 95 130 28 If I'm Honest, Blake Shelton 3
58 56 66 46 Death Of A Bachelor, Panic! At The Disco 1
59 44 20 4 HERE, Alicia Keys 2
60 110 149 4 The Greatest Gift Of All, Rascal Flatts 60
61 55 48 62 Tangled Up, Thomas Rhett 6
62 46 81 118 The Ultimate Hits, Garth Brooks 3
63 53 85 34 Cleopatra, The Lumineers 1
64 61 54 32 Lemonade, Beyonce 1
65 49 40 29 Coloring Book, Chance The Rapper 8
66 137 – 3 To Celebrate Christmas, Jennifer Nettles 66
67 72 65 120 Vessel, twenty one pilots 21
68 57 47 62 T R A P S O U L, Bryson Tiller 8
69 47 27 5 DC4, Meek Mill 3
70 175 105 10 WOW Hits 2017, Various Artists 64
71 145 188 5 Acoustic Christmas, Neil Diamond 71
72 75 59 12 They Don't Know, Jason Aldean 1
73 141 183 28 Christmas Songs By Sinatra, Frank Sinatra 72
74 67 76 58 Storyteller, Carrie Underwood 2
75 59 44 6 Big Baby D.R.A.M., D.R.A.M. 19

76 64 52 55 Know-It-All, Alessia Cara 9
77 151 142 55 It's Christmas Time, Elvis Presley 41
78 40 64 9 A Seat At The Table, Solange 1
79 84 70 104 2014 Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole 1
80 69 75 68 Cry Baby, Melanie Martinez 6
81 65 51 19 The Human Condition, Jon Bellion 5
82 170 – 30 White Christmas, Bing Crosby 82
83 60 61 55 Purpose, Justin Bieber 1
84 99 167 5 'Tis The Season, Jimmy Buffett 50
85 87 114 8 Day Breaks, Norah Jones 2
86 45 9 3 57th & 9th, Sting 9
87 42 7 6 You Want It Darker, Leonard Cohen 7
88 52 53 5 The Stage, Avenged Sevenfold 4
89 50 42 17 Encore, DJ Snake 8
90 182 – 25 The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole 90
91 62 49 27 Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World, Lil Uzi Vert 44
92 78 139 8 Oh My My, OneRepublic 3
93 74 74 66 Badlands, Halsey 2
94 76 109 8 Revolution Radio, Green Day 1
95 70 67 18 Major Key, DJ Khaled 1
96 73 55 44 Islah, Kevin Gates 2
97 109 – 3 A Very Kacey Christmas, Kacey Musgraves 97
98 81 83 52 When It's Dark Out, G-Eazy 5
99 118 156 3 NOW That's What I Call Merry Christmas, Various Artists 99
100 0 Re-Entry 24 The Classic Christmas Album, Elvis Presley 90

101 17 – 2 DNCE, DNCE 17
102 54 38 5 Trap Or Die 3, Jeezy 1
103 0 Re-Entry 23 Wrapped In Red, Kelly Clarkson 3
104 187 – 19 Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration, Johnny Mathis 104
105 165 – 22 PTXmas (EP), Pentatonix 7
106 89 69 196 Take Care, Drake 1
107 97 31 3 Simply Christmas, Leslie Odom, Jr. 31
108 90 71 24 The Getaway, Red Hot Chili Peppers 2
109 103 137 29 Thank You, Meghan Trainor 3
110 135 134 30 You Should Be Here, Cole Swindell 6
111 105 98 302 21, Adele 1
112 91 68 15 Blonde, Frank Ocean 1
113 0 New 1 Red Friday, YG 113
114 197 – 2 Kidz Bop Christmas (2016), Kidz Bop Kids 114
115 0 Re-Entry 32 Once Upon A Christmas, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton 31
116 93 79 95 If You're Reading This It's Too Late, Drake 1
117 106 111 57 Mr. Misunderstood, Eric Church 2
118 0 Re-Entry 8 MercyMe, It's Christmas!, MercyMe 38
119 71 80 11 Hard II Love, Usher 5
120 0 Re-Entry 44 The Essential NOW That's What I Call Christmas, Various Artists 25
121 181 – 31 Under The Mistletoe, Justin Bieber 1
122 0 Re-Entry 22 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Burl Ives 92
123 159 – 15 Kidz Bop 32, Kidz Bop Kids 9
124 169 – 15 Unleashed, Skillet 3
125 107 126 7 Walls, Kings Of Leon 1

126 94 77 16 The Perfect LUV Tape, Lil Uzi Vert 55
127 120 92 214 good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar 2
128 88 99 407 Metallica, Metallica 1
129 100 95 110 Montevallo, Sam Hunt 3
130 171 148 144 Trilogy, The Weeknd 4
131 126 102 69 Kill The Lights, Luke Bryan 1
132 144 124 72 The First Time, Kelsea Ballerini 31
133 186 – 7 Icon Christmas: Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra 65
134 0 Re-Entry 17 Personal Christmas Collection, Andy Williams 131
135 185 185 244 The Legend Of Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash 5
136 112 86 72 DS2, Future 1
137 0 Re-Entry 37 Christmas Portrait, Carpenters 93
138 117 97 296 The Eminem Show, Eminem 1
139 130 101 128 x, Ed Sheeran 1
140 146 91 33 us (EP), gnash 46
141 136 113 8 Sit Still, Look Pretty, Daya 36
142 162 138 4 Strait For The Holidays, George Strait 138
143 133 100 8 Artist, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie 99
144 124 135 27 42578, Fifth Harmony 4
145 122 93 164 Nothing Was The Same, Drake 1
146 157 159 110 1989, Taylor Swift 1
147 0 Re-Entry 12 Love Remains, Hillary Scott & The Scott Family 7
148 0 Re-Entry 21 A Family Christmas, The Piano Guys 20
149 131 129 67 Immortalized, Disturbed 1
150 123 90 52 A Head Full Of Dreams, Coldplay 2

151 0 Re-Entry 38 White Christmas, Martina McBride 64
152 68 – 2 FREE 6LACK, 6LACK 68
153 125 96 63 What A Time To Be Alive, Drake & Future 1
154 0 Re-Entry 42 Peace On Earth, Casting Crowns 15
155 86 82 16 PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 (P3), PARTYNEXTDOOR 3
156 113 88 75 VHS, X Ambassadors 7
157 189 – 25 Pentatonix, Pentatonix 1
158 0 Re-Entry 17 Merry Christmas... Love, Elvis, Elvis Presley 101
159 119 84 15 I Told You, Tory Lanez 4
160 82 17 3 #MYNAMEISJOETHOMAS, Joe 17
161 121 104 62 Fetty Wap, Fetty Wap 1
162 168 153 40 I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It, The 1975 1
163 156 121 129 In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith 2
164 150 140 437 Journey's Greatest Hits, Journey 10
165 111 58 5 Cozy Tapes, Vol. 1: Friends, A$AP Mob 13
166 127 43 4 This House Is Not For Sale, Bon Jovi 1
167 0 Re-Entry 15 NOW 59, Various Artists 5
168 172 – 29 This Is Not A Test, tobyMac 4
169 0 Re-Entry 65 Greatest Hits I II & III: The Platinum Collection, Queen 48
170 140 89 44 Nine Track Mind, Charlie Puth 6
171 132 87 26 Hero, Maren Morris 5
172 139 157 6 The Serenity Of Suffering, Korn 4
173 128 13 3 The Essential Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen 13
174 173 125 446 Legend: The Best Of..., Bob Marley And The Wailers 5

175 155 136 318 Curtain Call: The Hits, Eminem 1
176 0 Re-Entry 192 Abbey Road, The Beatles 1
177 0 Re-Entry 22 Home For Christmas, 'N Sync 7
178 0 Re-Entry 48 Christmas Eve And Other Stories, Trans-Siberian Orchestra 48
179 0 Re-Entry 8 22, A Million, Bon Iver 2
180 0 New 1 You Can't Kill Us, Icon For Hire 180
181 0 New 1 A Farmhouse Christmas, Joey + Rory 181
182 148 107 20 Lil' Boat, Lil Yachty 106
183 138 94 100 SremmLife, Rae Sremmurd 5
184 180 161 27 Black, Dierks Bentley 2
185 104 168 300 Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Bruno Mars 3
186 25 – 2 Glory Days, Little Mix 25
187 184 174 60 Revival, Selena Gomez 1
188 0 Re-Entry 251 1, The Beatles 1
189 0 Re-Entry 21 The Best Of Bing Crosby: 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection, Bing Crosby 100
190 183 143 58 Reloaded: 20 #1 Hits, Blake Shelton 5
191 0 Re-Entry 60 The Lost Christmas Eve, Trans-Siberian Orchestra 26
192 163 163 86 Handwritten, Shawn Mendes 1
193 0 Re-Entry 252 Born To Die, Lana Del Rey 2
194 0 Re-Entry 172 Crash My Party, Luke Bryan 1
195 164 119 151 Beyonce, Beyonce 1
196 167 147 22 California Sunrise, Jon Pardi 11
197 179 131 5 Back From The Edge, James Arthur 126
198 0 Re-Entry 7 Live, Mannheim Steamroller 66
199 160 132 56 Meat And Candy, Old Dominion 16

[Enigma.]

Ouch @ Little Mix and DNCE

[rimetm]

Because the copy-paste missed it:

200 176 111 43 EVOL, Future 1

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www.yahoo.com/music/chart-watch-all-18-songs-from-the-weeknds-starboy-blast-into-the-hot-100-214758977.html

Chart Watch: All 18 Songs From The Weeknd’s ‘Starboy’ Blast Into the Hot 100
By Paul Grein
Yahoo Music
December 5, 2016


The Weeknd lands his second #1 album in a row, as Starboy enters the Billboard 200 in the top spot. Moreover, all 18 songs from Starboy are listed on this week’s Hot 100. Only one other artist has ever had 18 or more songs on the Hot 100 at the same time: In May, Drake charted 20 songs all at once, in the same week that his album Views debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Starboy sold 348K copies in its first week (including 209K in traditional album sales) Just two albums so far this year — the aforementioned Drake’s Views and Beyoncé’s Lemonade — have rung up bigger first-week tallies. Note that all three of these artists are R&B or hip-hop. I’d say all three are African American — but two of them are Canadian! The Weeknd is the third Canadian artist to land a #1 album in 2016, following Drake and Shawn Mendes.

The Weeknd’s previous album, Beauty Behind the Madness, sold 411K copies in its first week (including 326K in traditional album sales). It won a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album.

A whopping 117K of the total units for Starboy were streaming equivalent album units (which translates to 175.2 million streams of the songs from Starboy). Billboard’s Keith Caulfield reports that Starboy is only the second album to surpass 100K in streaming equivalent album units in a single week, following (yes) Drake’s Views. Drake’s album did it three times: during its first (163K), third (124K), and fourth (111K) weeks.

Six of the Weeknd’s 18 charted songs are listed in the top 40. They are “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk), which jumps from #3 to #2; “Party Monster,” which jumps from #39 to #16; “I Feel It Coming” (featuring Daft Punk), which leaps from #48 to #22; “Sidewalks” (featuring Kendrick Lamar), which debuts at #27; “Reminder,” which debuts at #31; and “Six Feet Under,” which debuts at #34. This is a reflection of how important streaming has become on the Hot 100.

Pentatonix and red-hot composer Lin-Manuel Miranda each have two albums in this week’s top 10.

Pentatonix is represented with A Pentatonix Christmas, which rebounds from #4 to #2 in its sixth week, and its 2014 album, That’s Christmas to Me, which rebounds from #12 to #7 in its 29th week on the chart. (It, too, peaked at #2.) It’s #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 11th (cumulative) week.

Miranda is represented with the Moana soundtrack, which leaps from #16 to #5 in its second week, and the Hamilton Broadway cast album, which dips from #9 to #10 in its 62nd week. The latter album peaked at #3 in the wake of the Tony Awards.

Miranda wrote songs for Moana, which has been #1 at the box-office the past two weekends. Disney is pushing two of those songs, “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome,” for Oscar noms. If one of them wins Best Song at the Oscars on Feb. 26, Miranda will become the 13th member of the very exclusive “EGOT” club. Moreover, he would become the youngest person ever to complete the EGOT. Miranda will be 37 at the time by the Oscars — two years younger than the current youngest-ever EGOT winner, Robert Lopez. (Lopez was 39 in 2014 when he completed his awards sweep by winning an Oscar for co-writing “Let It Go” from Frozen). Miranda has won three Tonys, two Grammys, and an Emmy. Will he win an Oscar, too? Stay tuned.

(Miranda may have three albums in next week’s top 10. The Hamilton Mixtape album is likely to debut at #1.)

Top Albums

Last week’s top two albums each drop two notches in their second weeks. Metallica’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct drops from #1 to #3. Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic drops from #2 to #4.

Trolls holds at #6 in its 10th week. The album peaked at #3. It is #1 on Top Soundtracks for the fourth straight week. (How can Trolls be #1 on Top Soundtracks when Moana is ranked higher on the Billboard 200? Because the Top Soundtracks chart is determined solely by sales, while he Billboard 200 factors in streaming and digital track sales.)

Michael Bublé’s Christmas rebounds from #19 to #8 in its 52nd chart week. This is the sixth consecutive Christmas season that this album has appeared in the top 10 — which is a record since the album chart became a weekly feature in 1956. The album will top the 4 million mark in U.S. sales next week. (It’s just 14K away.)

Between the two Pentatonix albums and Bublé, there are three Christmas albums in this week’s top 10. This last happened in December 2014. Two of the same albums (That’s Christmas to Me and Bublé’s Christmas) were involved then. The third album in the top 10 then was Idina Menzel’s Holiday Wishes. (There are 49 Christmas albums on the Billboard 200 this week.)

Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings drops from its #3 peak to #9 in its second week. The album is #1 on Top Country Albums for the second week.

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service drops from #5 to #15. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood’s Christmas Together drops from #7 to #14. Rae Sremmurd’s SremmLife drops from #8 to #16. Drake’s Views drops from #10 to #12, ending a 30-consecutive-week run in the top 10.

Garth Brooks’s Gunslinger debuts at #25. Unless it moves up in a subsequent week (which is rare — albums generally peak in their opening weeks), Gunslinger will become the lowest-charting regular studio album of Brooks’s career. That distinction is currently held by his eponymous debut album, which was released in April 1989 and finally peaked at #13 in February 1992.

Let me hasten to add that Gunslinger is included in two other products, which are plainly cannibalizing its sales. It is included in Brooks’s 10-CD boxed set, The Ultimate Collection, which would have appeared in the top 10 for the third straight week were it not for Billboard‘s policy to bar low-priced albums from the chart in their first four weeks of release. The collection sold 78K copies this week, which would have put it at #3 on the Billboard 200. And Gunslinger is combined with Christmas Together in a special package that zooms from #134 to #21 this week. (If you combined the total activity of Gunslinger and this double package, it would have ranked #7 this week.)

That title, Gunslinger, is a nod to classic “country and western” imagery. The definitive example is Marty Robbins’s 1959 album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs — which spent two months in the top 10 in early 1960. (The album contained Robbins’s #1 hit “El Paso”).

Coming attractions: Look for The Hamilton Mixtape to debut at #1 next week. The Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome, Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!,“ and Grace VanderWaal’s Perfectly Imperfect EP also seem headed for top 10 debuts.

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roughstock.com/news/2016/12/41165-top-10-country-albums-chart-december-7-2016

Top 10 Country Albums Chart: December 7, 2016
Posted By Matt Bjorke on Wednesday December 07, 2016 at 08:53AM PST

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have a handful of projects on this list while Miranda Lambert (pictured) leads the chart for a second week.

CNTRY Artist Album Week Total Scans

1 Miranda Lambert The Weight Of These Wings 30,800 152,600
2 G.Brooks/T.Yearwood Christmas Together 29,600 89,600
3 G.Brooks/T.Yearwood Christmas Together/Gunslinger 22,600 29,100
4 Garth Brooks Gunslinger 18,900 19,900
5 Brett Eldredge Glow 14,300 49,400
6 Chris Stapleton Traveller 13,800 1,690,400
7 Florida Georgia Line Dig Your Roots 13,500 285,800
8 George Strait Strait Out of the Box...PT 2 13,000 34,200
9 Chris Young It Must Be Christmas 11,800 43,200
10 Keith Urban Ripcord 11,300 351,700
11 Kenny Chesney Cosmic Halleujah 11,100 136,900
12 Rascal Flatts Greatest Gift Of All 10,300 32,700
13 Jennifer Nettles To Celebrate Christmas 9,300 26,600
14 Jimmy Buffett Tis The Season (XMas) 8,900 35,600
15 Blake Shelton If I'm Honest 8,200 500,200

-- Kacey Musgraves A Very Kacey Christmas 7,400 23,800
-- Jason Aldean They Don't Know 7,300 264,800
-- Carrie Underwood Storyteller 6,500 697,200
-- George Strait Strait For The Holidays 6,500 24,100
-- Hillary Scott/Scott Family Love Remains 5,700 104,700
-- Thomas Rhett Tangled Up 5,100 500,000
-- Cole Swindell You Should Be Here 5,000 225,300
-- Kelsea Ballerini The First Time 4,500 220,900
-- Eric Church Mr. Misunderstood 4,300 468,700
-- Home Free Full of (Even More) Cheer 4,300 21,300
-- Joey+Rory Hymns 4,000 499,600
-- Loretta Lynn White Christmas Blue 4,000 14,000
-- Dolly Parton Pure & Simple 3,900 88,800
-- Luke Bryan Kill The Lights 3,400 1,075,600
-- Maren Morris Hero 3,200 136,300
-- Reba McEntire My Kind of Christmas 3,000 26,100
-- Dierks Bentley Black 2,700 213,900
-- Tim McGraw Damn County Music 2,300 234,600
-- Jon Pardi Caifornia Sunrise 2,100 84,500
-- Eric Church On The Rocks Live 1,900 16,700
-- Old Dominion Meat And Candy 1,900 166,700
-- Chris Young I'm Comin' Over 1,800 246,000
-- Dan+Shay Obsessed 1,700 73,000
-- Home Free Country Evolution 1,300 48,900
-- Jennifer Nettles Playing With Fire 1,200 92,500
-- Sturgill Simpson A Sailor's Guide To Earth 1,200 142,200
-- Brett Eldredge Illinois 1,000 161,600
-- Margo Price Midwest Farmer's Daughter 900 39,500

The Oak Ridge Boys Celebrate Christmas 900 4,900
Bradley Walker Call Me Old-Fashioned 800 18,700
High Valley Dear Life 800 3,100
Cody Johnson Gotta Be Me 800 34,300
The Cadillac Three Bury Me In My Boots 800 25,800
Vince Gill Down To My Last Bad Habit 700 74,300
Eric Church On The Rocks Live (Vinyl) 700 700

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theawl.com/real-artists-dont-need-christmas-albums-c56a61052d8d#.vtjiph7c8

Soundscan Surprises, Week Ending 12/1
by Silvia Killingsworth

Back-catalog sales numbers of note from Nielsen SoundScan.

The definition of “back catalog” is: “at least 18 months old, have fallen below №100 on the Billboard 200 and do not have an active single on our radio.”

The holiday season is a big time for the back catalog! Garth Brooks outsold Metallica’s black album by a factor of almost two! He and Trisha Yearwood just released Christmas Together, a smashing success that’s boosted sales of all of Brooks’s other current records on the top country charts, as well as sales of his ultimate hits on the back catalog.

So what’s left when you take out all the holiday albums? Pretty much what you’d expect: a lot of Metallica, Adele, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and a few other regulars like Willie Nelson and Nirvana. The real artists don’t have Christmas albums, because they don’t need them. They get by on monster sales, year in and year out. I don’t know what this says about Lana Del Rey, but until she pushes out some mistletoe jams (haha, toe jam), I guess we must concede she is at least too big to fail, if not a true artiste.

21. METALLICA METALLICA 5,211 copies
35. ADELE 21 4,474 copies
38. COHEN*LEONARD ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN 4,320 copies
50. METALLICA MASTER OF PUPPETS 3,751 copies
55. METALLICA AND JUSTICE FOR ALL 3,509 copies
59. METALLICA RIDE THE LIGHTNING 3,278 copies
82. PRINCE VERY BEST OF PRINCE 2,632 copies
86. WINEHOUSE*AMY BACK TO BLACK 2,571 copies
91. SIMON & GARFUNKEL GREATEST HITS 2,536 copies
93. JACKSON*MICHAEL THRILLER 2,518 copies
128. NELSON*WILLIE SUPER HITS 2,099 copies
129. ADELE 19 2,083 copies
130. NIRVANA NEVERMIND 2,075 copies
155 DEL REY*LANA BORN TO DIE 1,812 copies