Rod Wave (‘Nostalgia’) narrowly beats Olivia Rodrigo (‘Guts’) to debut atop the Billboard 200

It was a close race for the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the tracking week that ended September 21, but rapper Rod Wave‘s “Nostalgia” eked out a win over the second week of Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Guts.” Read all about this week’s chart here at Billboard.com.

“Nostalgia” achieved 137,000 equivalent album units based on the combination of its traditional sales, individual track sales and online streaming performance. In this case, streaming made up the overwhelming majority of its units (135,000). This is Rod Wave’s third number-one album, following “SoulFly” (2021) and “Beautiful Mind” (2022).

More from GoldDerby

• Emmys showdown: All 53 times Drama Supporting Actress costars faced off [PHOTOS]

• Showtime comedy 'The Curse' starring Emma Stone to premiere November 10 following New York Film Fest sneak peek

• 'The Zone of Interest' may continue the streak of international art house films at the Oscars

SEEGrammys Best New Artist race: Is Ice Spice still the front-runner now that eligibility period is over?

“Guts” was next with 134,000 album units, just 3,000 fewer than “Nostalgia.” That’s down 56% from last week when the album debuted with 302,000 units. The rest of the top five is made up of familiar faces. Zach Bryan‘s self-titled album stayed put in third place with 79,000 units. Morgan Wallen‘s “One Thing at a Time” held on to number-four with 76,000 units. And SZA‘s “SOS” climbed up one spot to number-five with 53,000 units.

In our weekly Billboard 200 predictions contest, nobody expected “Nostalgia” to top the chart. The vast majority of users expected “Guts” to retain the number-one spot. Only one user predicted that “Guts” would actually be number-two. At number-three we were expecting “One Thing at a Time”; only 17 users correctly bet on “Zach Bryan” there. The exact same number predicted “One Thing” at number-four. But the rise of “SOS” back into the top-five took everybody by surprise. Despite those unexpected results, eight users correctly predicted half of this week’s outcomes. How did you do?

PREDICTthe Billboard 200 now; change them until Thursday night

Be sure to make your predictions so that artists can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next tracking week begins every Friday. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our music forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.

Best of GoldDerby

• Billboard Hot 100: Every #1 song of 2023

• Grammys flashback: What happened to these artists AFTER they won Album of the Year?

• Watch every MTV VMAs winner for Video of the Year

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.