On the Charts: The Weeknd Sends ‘Dear Melancholy’ to Number One

The Weeknd claimed his third straight Number One release as the singer’s surprise My Dear Melancholy opened atop the Billboard 200.

Despite little warning before its March 30th arrival, the six-song mini-album still sold 169,000 total copies in its first week of availability, with the bulk of that total – nearly 100,000 copies – the result of streaming equivalent albums (SEAs), Billboard reports.

My Dear Melancholy marks Abel Tesfaye’s third Number One following 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness and 2016’s Starboy. As Billboard notes, the mini-album is also the shortest, in terms of number of tracks, to top the Billboard 200 since the similarly six-song Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals back in 2010.

Two more newcomers opened inside the Top 10, including Rich the Kid’s debut album The World Is Yours, which sold 59,000 total copies to finish at Number Two. Kacey Musgraves scored country music’s best debut of 2018 as the singer’s standout Golden Hour entered at Number Four and 49,000 total copies.

XXXTentacion’s ? led the returnees by landing at Number Three, followed by The Greatest Showman soundtrack (Number Five), Black Panther: The Album (Six), Migos’ Culture II (Seven), Post Malone’s Stoney (Eight), Ed Sheeran’s Divide (Nine) and Logic’s Bobby Tarantino II (Number 10).

The Weeknd’s tenure at Number One should be short-lived as Cardi B is expected to cruise to Number One with her much anticipated debut LP Invasion of Privacy following its Friday release.