Billboard 200 - Morgan Wallen, TWICE, Miley

[Gary]

Will Morgan Wallen Fend Off No. 1 Challenges from Miley Cyrus & TWICE on the Billboard 200?
In this week's The Contenders: Cyrus' Endless Summer Vacation is the highest-profile new release, but a global sensation's new EP might actually have the best shot at dethroning Wallen's juggernaut…


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 charts dated March 25), a longtime stateside household name and a growing global force will compete against Morgan Wallen’s blockbuster in its second week.

Miley Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia): You might expect Miley Cyrus’ new album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Cyrus has been a household name for a decade and a half, and she’s coming off her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit with the six-week No. 1 “Flowers” — and her new album has largely been met with critical acclaim and positive fan response since its Friday release.

Despite her continued stardom, however, Cyrus has not scored a No. 1 album since 2013’s Bangerz, with her most recent effort (2021’s Plastic Hearts) debuting at No. 2 with 60,000 equivalent album units. A number anywhere near that range would probably not be enough to dethrone Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which debuted at No. 1 with 501,000 units on last week’s Billboard 200 (dated March 18). Even if One Thing posts only 40% of that in its second week, that would still be over three times Plastic Hearts’ first-week tally.

Vacation is expected to do better than Hearts, though – helped not only by the continued success of “Flowers” (which holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week) and strong early returns for follow-up single “River,” but also by a variety of physical releases. That includes four vinyl variants (including one exclusive to Target, and two exclusive to her web store) and two deluxe box sets exclusive to her web store — one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD.

TWICE, Ready to Be (JYP/Republic): Though they might not have name recognition as wide as Miley Cyrus in the United States, Korean girl group TWICE might be just as big a threat to Wallen’s place at the top of the Billboard 200 this week. TWICE have reached the chart’s No. 3 spot, well, twice: with 2021 LP Formula of Love: O+T=<3 and 2022 EP Between 1&2. The latter moved over 100,000 units in its first week, thanks largely to robust physical sales numbers that demonstrated the group’s devoted and expanding U.S. fanbase.

TWICE, who received the Breakthrough Artist award at Billboard’s 2023 Women in Music event, could do even better with their first EP of 2023, Ready to Be. The seven-track set includes the group’s second-ever Hot 100 hit, “Moonlight Sunrise,” and is available in a whopping 11 CD variants (including multiple exclusives for Barnes & Noble and the group’s webstore, and one for Target), each with randomized elements like photo cards and folded posters, as well as two vinyl LP variants.

IN THE MIX
Meghan Trainor, Takin’ It Back (Epic): If not for Cyrus, the most noteworthy comeback by a 2010s pop star would be that of bubblegum revivalist Meghan Trainor, whose TikTok-boosted single “Made You Look” became her biggest Hot 100 hit since 2016 when it peaked at No. 11 in February. This week, that single’s album, Takin’ It Back (which debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 last November), could re-enter the chart, thanks to the release of its new deluxe edition, which boasts four new tracks, including the “Mr. Sandman”-sampling follow-up single “Mother.”

[Music Fan]

Mar 15, 2023 13:41:16 GMT -5 Gary said:

IN THE MIX
Meghan Trainor, Takin’ It Back (Epic): If not for Cyrus, the most noteworthy comeback by a 2010s pop star would be that of bubblegum revivalist Meghan Trainor, whose TikTok-boosted single “Made You Look” became her biggest Hot 100 hit since 2016 when it peaked at No. 11 in February. This week, that single’s album, Takin’ It Back (which debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 last November), could re-enter the chart, thanks to the release of its new deluxe edition, which boasts four new tracks, including the “Mr. Sandman”-sampling follow-up single “Mother.”

The inclusion of Meghan here just seems so random.  She hasn't even cracked Spotify or AM's Top 200 with "Mother," has she?  

[Gary]

Morgan Wallen Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘One Thing at a Time’
Plus: TWICE and Miley Cyrus debut in top three.

www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/morgan-wallen-one-thing-at-a-time-second-week-number-one-billboard-200-1235289396/
By Keith Caulfield

03/19/2023


Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 25), as the set earned 259,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending March 16, according to Luminate. That’s down 48% compared to its debut week sum of 501,000 units a week ago.


One Thing at a Time logs the largest second-week for an album since Taylor Swift’s Midnights collected 342,000 units in the week ending Nov. 3, 2022 (chart dated Nov. 12), after debuting a week earlier with 1.578 million units.


One Thing at a Time’s second week is nearly as large as the opening week of Wallen’s last album, Dangerous: The Double Album, which launched with 265,000 units (week ending Jan. 14, 2021, chart dated Jan. 23).

One Thing at a Time is the first album by a male act to spend its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Harry Styles’ Harry’s House tallied its first two weeks atop the list on the charts dated June 4 and 11, 2022. It’s also the first country album to log its first two weeks at No. 1 since Dangerous spent its first 10 weeks at No. 1 (Jan. 21-March 27, 2021 charts). (Country albums are considered those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 albums chart, TWICE and Miley Cyrus debut at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, with their latest efforts, Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation. Both acts earn their largest weeks by units earned since the chart began measuring by units in December 2014.

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 March 25, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 21. For all chart news, follow billboard and billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 259,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 16, SEA units comprise 234,000 (down 39%, equaling 308.06 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 21,000 (down 81%) and TEA units comprise 4,000 (down 53%). Notably, the album’s haul of 308.06 million streams for its songs tallies the second-biggest streaming week ever for a country album, after the set’s debut frame (498.28 million).

TWICE scores a career-high placing on the Billboard 200, as the pop ensemble’s new album Ready to Be debuts at No. 2 with 153,000 equivalent album units earned – the act’s biggest week ever. It’s the fourth top 10-charting effort for the South Korean group. Previously, the act went as high as No. 3 with its last two charting sets, Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album and Formula of Love: O+T=<3, The 3rd Full Album, both in 2021.

Of Ready to Be’s 153,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 145,500, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 10.28 on-demand official streams of the set’s seven tracks) and TEA units comprise 500.

Like many K-pop releases, Ready to Be was issued in collectible physical format packages (11 different CDs [including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target and the group’s official webstore] and two vinyl LPs [one exclusive to Target and one exclusive to the act’s webstore). 86% of the album’s first-week sales came from its CD editions. CD variants of Ready contain a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as a postcards, photo cards, etc.).

Unusually, Ready to Be had a vinyl version of the album available on the same wide release date as the CD edition of the album, as most major K-pop titles in the past were initially available only as a physical album on CD – on no other physical formats (like vinyl or cassette).

TWICE recently scored its second charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, with the new album’s “Moonlight Sunrise,” spending one week on the list at No. 84 (Feb. 4, 2023 dated chart).

Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 119,000 equivalent album units earned – her biggest week since the chart began measuring by units in December of 2014. Endless Summer Vacation marks Cyrus’ 14th top 10-charting effort, including her releases billed to her Disney Channel character Hannah Montana.

Of Endless Summer Vacation’s 119,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 61,000 (equaling 80.61 on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 tracks – Cyrus’ biggest streaming week ever for an album), album sales comprise 55,000, and TEA units comprise 3,000. Aiding first-week sales for Endless Summer Vacation were four vinyl LP variants (including one exclusive to Target and two exclusive to her webstore) and two deluxe boxed sets (one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD) sold exclusively through her webstore. 44% of Endless’ first week sales came from its vinyl editions.

Endless Summer Vacation was ushered in by the smash single “Flowers,” which has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (through the most recently published chart, dated March 18). It marks her second No. 1 on the list, following 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”

As Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation both launch with over 100,000 units, it’s the first time the chart has housed two debuting albums each with over 100,000 units since the Sept. 10, 2022-dated chart – when TWICE also factored in. That week, DJ Khaled’s God Did debuted at No. 1 with 107,000, while TWICE’s Between 1&2 debuted at No. 3 with just over 100,000.

Both Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation arrive with first weeks so significant that had either arrived on the chart in the four weeks before Wallen’s One Thing at a Time debuted (March 18-dated chart), and posted the same opening-numbers, either could have been No. 1. Here are the five weeks at No. 1 leading up to One Thing at a Time’s arrival: March 11-dated chart: 94,000 units (the debut week of Karol G’s Mañana Sera Bonito); March 4: 87,000 (SZA’s 10th week at No. 1 with SOS); Feb. 24: 93,000 (SOS’ ninth week at No. 1) and Feb. 18: 100,000 (SOS’ eighth week at No. 1).

The rest of the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 consists entirely of former No. 1s. SOS falls 2-4 (76,000 equivalent album units earned; down 8%), Mañana dips 3-5 (52,000; down 13%), Midnights descends 5-6 (47,000; down 3%), Dangerous is down a spot to No. 7 (39,000; a decline of 6%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains moves 7-8 (39,000; down 4%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti falls 8-9 (36,000; down 5%) and Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss is a non-mover at No. 10 (34,000; down 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.

[Gary]

1 Morgan Wallen 259,000 sales 21,000
2 TWICE 153,000 sales 145,500
3. Miley Cyrus 119,000 sales 55,000
4. SZA 76,000
5. Karol G 52,000
6. Tayo Swift 47,000
7. Morgan Wallen 39,000
8. Metro Boomin 39,000
9 Bad Bunny 36,000
10 Drake/21 34,000

[Gary]

Weeks in the top 10

Morgan Wallen may be what actually causes Morgan Wallen to eventually slip from the top 10.    39,000 units is the lowest recorded number to date for Dangerous


top 10 ARTIST
111 MORGAN WALLEN
45 BAD BUNNY
21 TAYLOR SWIFT
18 DRAKE & 21 SAVAGE
15 METRO BOOMIN
14 SZA
3 KAROL G
2 MORGAN WALLEN

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

5 of the Top 6 Albums on the Billboard 200 Are by Women

3/21/2023

By Keith Caulfield

It's the first time in more than 12 years that women have held five of the top six albums on the chart.

It’s a big week for women on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 25), as five titles by female acts occupy the Nos. 2-6 slots. It’s the first time the top six has housed five female-led albums in over 12 years, since the Dec. 11, 2010-dated list.

On the latest chart, all-female pop ensemble TWICE debuts at No. 2 with Ready to Be, while Miley Cyrus’ latest effort, Endless Summer Vacation, launches at No. 3. Three former No. 1s are next on the chart, with SZA’s SOS, Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito and Taylor Swift’s Midnights at Nos. 4-6, respectively.

The lone male in the top six is Morgan Wallen, whose One Thing At a Time ranks at No. 1 for a second week.

Women last had five of the top six on the Dec. 11, 2010, chart, where the Nos. 2-6 titles were all from solo women. Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday debuted at No. 2 that week, followed by Susan Boyle’s former leader The Gift (dropping 1-3), Swift’s chart-topping Speak Now (9-4), Jackie Evancho’s O Holy Night (2-5) and Rihanna’s Loud (3-6) at Nos. 3-6, respectively.

Before that week, women last had five of the top six on the Jan. 30, 2010-dated chart, when Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream, Kesha’s Animal, Lady Gaga’s The Fame, Alicia Keys’ The Element of Freedom and Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster were Nos. 2-6 (while Vampire Weekend was No. 1 with Contra).

One might wonder, when was the last time the entire top six were albums by women or women-led acts? That last occurred on the March 1, 1997-dated chart, when the top six were: LeAnn Rimes’ Unchained Melody/The Early Years, Erykah Badu’s Badiuzm, No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom (fronted by Gwen Stefani), Jewel’s Pieces of You, Toni Braxton’s Secrets and Spice Girls’ Spice. For good measure, the entire top eight albums that week were female-led, as Celine Dion’s Falling Into You was No. 7 and the Madonna-led Evita soundtrack was No. 8. At No. 9 that week was the multi-artist Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, while Rimes’ Blue was No. 10, so women almost held the entire top 10 that week.
Four of the Top Five

On the March 18, 2023-dated chart, female artists also had four of the top five, with SOS, Mañana and Midnights at Nos. 2, 3 and 5, while Kali Uchis’ Red Moon in Venus was a debut at No. 4. (Wallen’s One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 that week.) The last time women-led albums claimed four of the top five before that was on the July 16, 2011-dated chart. That week, Beyoncé’s 4 debuted at No. 1 and was followed by Adele’s former leader 21 (3-2), Selena Gomez & The Scene’s When the Sun Goes Down (debuting at No. 4; Gomez was the frontwoman – and only female member – of The Scene) and Jill Scott’s chart-topping The Light of the Sun (1-5). The lone male-led album in the top five that week was Big Sean’s debuting Finally Famous at No. 3.

Top Two Through Eight

While we’re taking a trip down Billboard 200 memory lane, here is a recap of the last time women-led albums held the top two through eight albums on the Billboard 200. (Women-led acts have yet to occupy the top nine or entire top 10 since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956.)

Top Two: March 11, 2023-dated chart (Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonita, SZA’s SOS)

Top Three: March 4, 2023-dated chart (SZA’s SOS, P!nk’s Trustfall, Taylor Swift’s Midnights)

Top Four & Top Five: Jan. 23, 2010-dated chart (Kesha’s Animal, Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream, Lady Gaga’s The Fame, Alicia Keys’ The Element of Freedom, Mary J. Blige’s Stronger With Each Tear)

Top Six, Top Seven & Top Eight: March 1, 1997-dated chart (LeAnn Rimes’ Unchained Melody/The Early Years, Erykah Badu’s Baduizm, No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom [No Doubt is led by Gwen Stefani], Jewel’s Pieces of You, Toni Braxton’s Secrets, Spice Girls’ Spice, Celine Dion’s Falling Into You and the Madonna-led Evita soundtrack)

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Chart Beat TWICE Claim Third No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart With ‘Ready to Be’

3/22/2023

By Keith Caulfield

Plus: Miley Cyrus scores her biggest sales week in nearly a decade & rock band Periphery nets its third top 10.

TWICE claim their third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 25) as Ready to Be: 12th Mini Album debuts atop the list with the act’s best sales week ever. The nine-member South Korean pop act previously led the list with Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album (2022) and Taste of Love: The 10th Mini Album (2021). 

Ready to Be launches with 145,500 copies sold in the United States in the week ending March 16, according to Luminate. That sum also marks the second-largest sales week of 2023 for any act, following the debut week of TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (153,000; chart dated Feb. 11). 

Ready to Be also logs a big week in vinyl album sales (nearly 18,000) – the largest for any all-female group since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991.

Also in the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart, Miley Cyrus achieves her biggest sales week in nearly a decade – and 14th top 10 – as Endless Summer Vacation enters at No. 2 with 55,000 copies sold. Endless also collects Cyrus’ biggest ever sales week on vinyl. Plus, rock band Periphery nets its third top 10 – all consecutive – as Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre debuts at No. 10.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow billboard and billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Ready to Be’s 145,500 copies sold, physical sales comprise 143,000 (125,000 on CD and nearly 18,000 on vinyl) and digital downloads comprise 2,500.

Like many K-pop releases, Ready to Be was issued in collectible physical format packages (11 different CDs [including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target and the group’s official webstore] and two vinyl LPs [one exclusive to Target and one exclusive to the act’s webstore). CD variants of Ready contain a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as a postcards, photo cards, etc.).

Unusually, Ready to Be had a vinyl version of the album available on the same wide release date as the CD edition of the album, as most major K-pop titles in the past were initially available only as a physical album on CD and on no other physical formats (like vinyl or cassette). The vinyl editions of the album did not include randomized items, but were packaged with a lenticular postcard, poster and slipmat. Target’s exclusive LP is marbled orchid-colored, while the act’s webstore exclusive is an ultra-clear vinyl edition.

Ready to Be’s nearly 18,000 vinyl sales marks the largest week for a vinyl album by a female group since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991. It’s also the second-largest sales week on vinyl for any K-pop album, following the debut week of BTS’ Love Yourself: Her earlier in 2023 (18,000; chart dated Jan. 21). Unlike Ready to Be, the Love Yourself: Her vinyl LP arrived to market more than five years after the album’s original release on CD and digital download in 2017.

Beyond the physical editions of the album, TWICE’s U.S. webstore also issued four alternative digital album downloads of Ready to Be – each with a different cover, digital replicas of individual group members’ signatures, and a bonus track (a voice memo from different group members).

Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with her biggest sales week in nearly a decade, as it bows with 55,000 copies sold. Cyrus last had a larger sales week when Bangerz sold a little more than 63,000 during Christmas week of 2013 (reflected on the Top Album Sales chart dated Jan. 11, 2014). Bangerz earlier debuted at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with 270,500 copies sold (Oct. 26, 2013 chart).

Of Endless Summer Vacation’s 55,000 copies sold, physical sales comprise 37,500 (12,500 on CD and 25,000 on vinyl) and digital downloads comprise 17,500. Endless logs Cyrus’ largest sales week for a vinyl album since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. On the Vinyl Albums chart, Endless debuts at No. 1 – her second leader on the list following Plastic Hearts in 2021. 

Endless was released in four vinyl variants: standard black vinyl, a white-colored edition exclusive to Target and two color editions exclusive to Cyrus’ webstore (red and silver). All vinyl LPs came packaged with a poster.

CD sales were also aided by two deluxe boxed sets (one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD) sold exclusively through her webstore.

Endless is Cyrus’ 14th top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales, including those albums credited to her Disney Channel character Hannah Montana.

A trio of former No. 1s is next on Top Album Sales: Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (1-3 in its second week with 21,000; down 81%), TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (6-4 with 11,000; up 5%) and Taylor Swift’s Midnights (7-5 with 10,000; up 3%).

NCT 127’s Ay-Yo: The 4th Album Repackage falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales (9,500; down 67%), P!nk’s former leader Trustfall rises 9-7 (8,500; down 5%), Gorillaz’s chart-topping Cracker Island is a non-mover at No. 8 (6,000; down 37%) and Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT climbs 13-9 (6,000; up 17%).

Closing out the top 10 is rock band Periphery, which scores its third top 10 – all consecutive – as Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre debuts at No. 10 with nearly 6,000 sold. 55% of the sales came from the vinyl edition of the set.

In the week ending March 16, there were 1.961 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 0.9% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.605 million (up 5.3%) and digital albums comprised 355,000 (down 21.9%).

There were 733,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 16 (up 10% week-over-week) and 862,000 vinyl albums sold (up 1.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 6.925 million (up 2.5% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 9.678 million (up 25.4%). 

Overall year-to-date album sales total 20.609 million (up 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 16.705 million (up 14.7%) and digital album sales total 3.904 million (down 13%).