Billboard 200-1/14 SZA

[Gary]

The Contenders: As Holiday Albums Come Down After Christmas, SZA Still Lights Up Billboard 200
In its fourth week of release, the R&B superstar's 'SOS' still appears to be leading the pack.
www.billboard.com/pro/sza-sos-christmas-albums-number-one-contenders/

BY ANDREW UNTERBERGER


WWelcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Jan. 14): SZA’s SOS kicks off 2023 as the album still to beat, while sets from ATEEZ and Fuerza Regida freshen up the chart.

SZA, SOS (Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA): After five years, SZA’s second album had a blockbuster No. 1 debut in December, with 318,000 equivalent album units. The album, which built on SZA’s accelerating momentum over that layover period (including viral solo hits and appearances on radio smashes from Kendrick Lamar and Doja Cat), is still putting up huge numbers in early 2023, just spending its third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with over 100,000 units. SOS seems likely to spend winter 2023 how Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti spent last summer and Taylor Swift’s Midnights spent last autumn – as the chart’s default No. 1 for any week where there isn’t a major new release to depose it.

When might that first major new release come? Star rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again announced this week that his I Rest My Case album would come out Jan. 6 as the first release from his new Motown home – though releasing seven full-length projects in 2022 seems to have slowed his chart momentum. Still, 2022’s first two major releases (Gunna’s DS4ever and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM, both released Jan. 7) were both announced mere days before release, so the first big bow of 2023 may well be an album we don’t know about yet.

ATEEZ, Spin Off: From the Witness (KQ Entertainment/RCA): Eight-member K-pop boy band ATEEZ scored a major chart breakthrough last summer with The World EP.1: Movement, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. New set Spin Off: From the Witness may follow Movement to the chart’s top tier – boosted, of course, by at least six different collectible CD variants (including one signed by the group), each containing a set of standard branded paper goods and randomly chosen items (like photocards and posters).

Fuerza Regida, Sigan Hablando (Rancho Humilde/Street Mob): Regional Mexican quintet Fuerza Regida landed its first Billboard Hot 100 hit this week with the TikTok-boosted Grupo Frontera collab “Bebe Dame,” which debuts at No. 91. That song is found on the quintet’s latest album, Sigan Hablando (released Dec. 28), which should ride the “Bebe” bump to the group’s first entry on the Billboard 200 – though the band has already reached the Top Latin Albums chart five times and spent 18 weeks atop the Regional Mexican Albums chart in 2022 with Del Barrio Hasta Aqui.

[Gary]

SZA’s ‘SOS’ Makes It a Month at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart
Plus: ATEEZ's 'Spin Off: From the Witness' debuts in top 10.


By Keith Caulfield
www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/sza-sos-billboard-200-albums-chart-month-1235195487/
Keith Caulfield


SZA’s SOS makes it a month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the album spends a fourth straight and total week atop the list (dated Jan. 14). It earned 125,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 5 (down 2%), according to Luminate.

SOS is the first album by a woman to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 in a year, since Adele’s 30 ruled for its first six weeks (Dec. 4, 2021 through Jan. 8, 2022-dated charts) and is the first album by a woman to have four consecutive weeks at No. 1 since 30’s six week-run at No. 1.

SOS is also the first R&B album by a woman to have four weeks at No. 1 since February of 2008, when Alicia Keys’ As I Am notched a fourth and final nonconsecutive week atop the list (Feb. 16, 2008). More strikingly, SOS is the first R&B album by a woman to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 in nearly 30 years, since Janet Jackson’s janet. ruled for its first six frames (June 5-July 10, 1993). (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)

01/08/2023
Also in the top 10: holiday albums vacate the region (and chart) entirely after five dotted the top 10 a week ago, while ATEEZ notches its second top 10-charting album, as Spin Off: From the Witness debuts at No. 7.

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 Jan. 14, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 10. For all chart news, follow billboard and billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of SOS’ 125,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 121,500 (down 4%, equaling 162.42 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 3,000 (up 289%) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 7%). SOS got a sales boost following the release of two new digital album variants of the set, released late on Jan. 5 exclusively in SZA’s Top Dawg Entertainment webstore. The two versions included two bonus tracks (“PSA” and a solo version of the album’s “Open Arms”) and sold for $4.99 each, and one of them boasted alternative cover art. SZA promoted the release on her social media, including her official Twitter.

The rest of the top six on the Billboard 200 consists of former No. 1s. Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 2 (117,000 equivalent album units; up 10%). The set’s album sales grew by 7% for the week (to 58,000) following the release of four new digital album variants in Swift’s webstore for one day only on Jan. 5. Each had alternative cover art, an exclusive bonus track (a short “behind the song” commentary from Swift about one of four different songs on the album) and sold for $4.99 each. The four alternative covers, if combined, would complete a clock face image – similar to the back covers of her CD and vinyl LP variants. Swift promoted the limited-time offer in her Instagram Stories.

Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains rises 4-3 (57,000 equivalent album units; down 2%), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss bumps 6-4 (52,000; up 4%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti climbs 7-5 (50,000; up 4%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album jumps 11-6 (42,000; up 6%).

ATEEZ collect its second top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Spin Off: From the Witness debuts at No. 7. The set starts with 41,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 40,000; SEA units comprise 1,500 (equaling 2.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

CDs comprise a little over 39,000 of Spin Off’s sales for the week, while digital album purchases comprise 1,000. Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of Spin Off was issued in collectible deluxe packages (six), each with a standard set of items and randomized elements (photocards and posters).

ATEEZ previously visited the top 10 with The World EP.1: Movement last June, debuting and peaking at No. 3.

Rounding out the Billboard 200’s new top 10: Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak (22-8 with 33,000 equivalent album units; up 12%), Lil Baby’s chart-topping It’s Only Me (20-9 with 32,000; up 6%) and Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House (19-10 with 29,000; down 4%). Bryan continues to benefit from his guest appearance in the Dec. 18 episode of the hit show Yellowstone, which has prominently featured his music in previous episodes.

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.

[rnb]

let’s goooooo

[Gary]

1. SZA 125,000 (sales 3000)
2. Taylor Swift 117,000 sales 58,000)
3. Metro Boomin 57,000
4. Drake/21 52,0000
5. Bad Bunny 50,000
6. Morgan Wallen 42,000
7. Ateez 41,500 (sales 40,000)
8. Zach Bryan 33,000
9. Lil Baby 32,000
10. Harry Styles 29,000

[rnb]

difference way higher than I thought it would be

[Gary]

Taylor Swift best selling album 11 weeks in a row

[iHype.]

Well I hope the fans who spent $20 on partial YouTube interviews and a new picture are content.

[Taylor.]

Good for SZA. Interesting that it wasn't even really close.

[Caviar]

Taylor wasn’t even close! Seethe.

But WOW at history being made at the first album by a black woman having 4 consecutive weeks at #1 since the janet. album 30 years ago! Incredible.

[Gary]

Weeks in the top 10

101 MORGAN WALLEN
35 BAD BUNNY
30 HARRY STYLES
11 TAYLOR SWIFT
9 DRAKE & 21 SAVAGE
9 ZACH BRYAN
8 LIL BABY
5 METRO BOOMIN
4 SZA

[thegreatdivine]

[Deleted]

We love two winners. SZA takes Billboard and Taylor takes HDD

[Gary]

Albums With Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart (March 24, 1956-onwards)
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10
173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956
109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965
106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962
105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 1960
101, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021
90, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 1958
87, Original Cast, Camelot, 1961
87, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 1956
85, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 1962
84, Adele, 21, 2011
84, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984

[renfield75]

I hope they're getting some vinyls ready for SOS. CTRL has done well on vinyl and there's no reason to think SOS wouldn't as well.

[thegreatdivine]

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Congrats to SZA! Much deserved! Glad to see her continued success. Now we just need that video released so she can score her first #1 single!

[Keelzit]

Safe to say that Taylor is OVER

[85la]

Jan 8, 2023 19:02:56 GMT -5 Keelzit said:

Safe to say that Taylor is OVER

Hardly, but if she could just be content with taking the backseat once in a while and let other artists have the spotlight EVERY SO OFTEN, it would really do her some good.

[wavey.]

#szaszn

[kcdawg13]

SZA sweep let's go!

[Gary]

Jan 8, 2023 15:07:02 GMT -5 Gary said:

Taylor Swift best selling album 11 weeks in a row

[85la]

Um, yeah ok Gary, we get it. Quoting your own post doesn't make Taylor's feat any more impressive or SZA's any less.

[J. Rob]

Jan 8, 2023 19:45:41 GMT -5 85la said:

Jan 8, 2023 19:02:56 GMT -5 Keelzit said:

Safe to say that Taylor is OVER

Hardly, but if she could just be content with taking the backseat once in a while and let other artists have the spotlight EVERY SO OFTEN, it would really do her some good.

I'm not really passionate about album chart position, but this whole situation was pretty sickening to watch

[rnb]

Jan 8, 2023 20:27:17 GMT -5 Gary said:

Jan 8, 2023 15:07:02 GMT -5 Gary said:

Taylor Swift best selling album 11 weeks in a row

we heard you the first time, we’re not 65 like you and need hearing aids

[shayonce]

lol what happened? maybe her sales are filtered a lot?

+
looks like HDD simply overestimated her pure sales.
her initial hdd sales prediction and billboard final has 22k difference which seems right.

[Myth X]

Jan 8, 2023 15:07:05 GMT -5 iHype. said:

Well I hope the fans who spent $20 on partial YouTube interviews and a new picture are content.

This is the best part of this whole desperate scam lol

She must be fuming because she did all that for nothing.

[imbuemyblue]

This thread is so ugly, good lord. Not the chart moralists gloating.

Anyway, I know the charts aren't about who 'deserves' the top, but man do I love this top two. 'SOS' is growing on me more and more with every listen and while it will take a long time for me to discern if it is CTRL's equal, it has already proven to be a worthy successor.

[areyoureadytojump]

[#LisaRinna]

YAS!

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]