The Weeknd makes his landing 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.
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).
via Billboard
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