On the Charts: Future Nabs Third Number One LP in Seven Months
For the third time in less than seven months, Future locked up the top spot as the rapper’s Apple Music exclusive EVOL claimed Number One with 134,000 copies sold. Future’s latest chart topper follows his 2015 LP DS2 and his collaborative Drake mixtape What a Time to Be Alive to Number One on the Billboard 200. According to Billboard, only the Glee cast racked up three Number One albums faster than Future, as three of the series’ soundtracks topped the charts in less than two months in 2010.
Future debuted the album on the February 5th episode of DJ Khaled’s new Beats 1 radio show, with the rapper revealing he reached an agreement to release new music and short films streamed exclusively through Apple Music. That same night, EVOL was released as a digital download. EVOL‘s sales were also likely boosted by the use of the album’s “Fly Shit Only” in a Super Bowl 50 ad for Beats by Dre starring Cam Newton.
Adele’s 25 rose one spot to Number Two as the singer’s blockbuster sold another 121,000 copies; her Grammy performance Monday night should result in another sales kick. Rihanna’s Anti, which topped the Billboard 200 last week in its second week of release, dipped to Number Three with 96,000 units; of those, only 24,000 were CD copies, even though Anti had its physical release this week after two weeks of digital-only purchases.
Coldplay reaped the harvest of the Super Bowl 50 halftime show as their A Head Full of Dreams jumped from Number 16 to Number Four following their Beyoncé and Bruno Mars-assisted performance. Sales of the album ballooned nearly 265 percent following the band’s high profile gig on Super Sunday. As Billboard notes, Coldplay’s post-game numbers were also fueled by a Google Play store deal that offered A Head Full of Dreams for 99 cents.
Justin Bieber’s Purpose stuck around at Number Five while a trio of new releases slotted in the next three spots: Wiz Khalifa’s Khalifa (Number Six), Now 57 (Number Seven) and Elton John’s Wonderful Crazy Night (Number Eight). For John, his latest album, which sold 58,000 copies in its debut, was the 19th time he registered a Top 10 LP.
Next week, the scattershot arrival of Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo – which was being sold exclusively through Tidal before West took it down; as press time, it’s streaming only – faces off against the recipients of the inevitable post-Grammy sales surge.