Pop Smoke’s Posthumous Release Tops Album Chart; ‘Hamilton’ Cast Recording Soars to No. 2

Chris Willman
·3 min read

Click here to read the full article.

Interest in Pop Smoke has clearly only been heightened in the five months since the 20-year-old rapper’s murder, as his official debut album, “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon,” premiered on the album chart at No. 1 with 245,000 album units.

There was plenty of post-4th of July glory to go around, as the five-year-old “Hamilton” cast album rose to No. 2 with 106,300 album units

More from Variety

Five months after Pop Smoke was shot to death at age 20, his album had the fifth-biggest debut of the year on the Rolling Stone album chart. Figures for his first studio album eclipsed those of his previous two releases, both mixtapes. “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon” sold an unusual number of full albums for a hip-hop release: 58,800. Its song sales total was also impressive, with 25,100. But, of course, where it really shined was in its number of on-demand streams, with 224.8 million.

The “Hamilton” album reached its peak to date at No. 2. Full-album sales were 33,900, individual song sales were at 39,000, and song streams amounted to a whopping 82.4 million.

Rolling Stone looked at sales and streams for “Hamilton” over a two-week period that included the week leading into the filmed stage musical’s July 3 premiere on Disney Plus as well as the days afterward. The magazine reports that in the period from June 26 through July 9, sales of “Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording)” leaped by 1000 percent compared to the two-week period prior, and that on-demand audio streams for the album’s songs nearly quadrupled.

Other debuts include Gucci Mane’s “Gucci Mane Presents: So Icy Summer” at No. 33 (with 16,800 album units) and Willie Nelson’s “First Rose of Spring” at No. 48 (12,800 units).

The rest of the album top 10 was filled with familiar names, most of them just moving down a couple of slots in deference to Pop Smoke and “Hamilton”: last week’s chart topper, Lil Baby, at No. 3, followed by DaBaby, Post Malone, Harry Styles, the Weeknd, Polo G and, at No. 10, Lil Durk.

Pop Smoke’s mixtape “Meet the Woo 2” moved up to No. 9, giving the late rapper two spots in the top 10. With a deluxe edition of the new album already being prepared, his posthumous chart dominance is not likely to wane in the weeks to come.

 

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.