Taylor Swift Rules Billboard 200 for Third Week With ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Keith Caulfield
·6 min read
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Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department spends a third straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated May 18), marking her first title to spend its first three weeks atop the chart since 2020’s Folklore spent its first six weeks at No. 1. (Between Folklore and the new album, Swift earned six No. 1 albums.) The Tortured Poets Department is the first album to spend its first three weeks in the pole position since Travis Scott’s Utopia led in its first four weeks last summer (Aug. 12-Sept. 2, 2023).

The Tortured Poets Department earned 282,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending May 9 (down 36%), according to Luminate. That marks the largest third-week for any album since Swift’s own Midnights clocked 299,000 units in its third frame (Nov. 19, 2022-dated chart).

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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Dua Lipa achieves her highest-charting album yet, as Radical Optimism debuts at No 2. Plus, SEVENTEEN logs its fifth top 10-charting effort with the No. 5 arrival of SEVENTEEN Best Album ’17 Is Right Here.’

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 18, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 14. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of The Tortured Poets Department’s third-week unit sum of 282,000, SEA units comprise 229,500 (down 30%, equaling 298.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 51,000 (down 53%) and TEA units comprise 1,500 (down 43%).

Swift adds her 72nd career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among soloists (Elvis Presley has the second-most among soloists, with 67). The total encompasses her 14 leaders. (She’s tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists.)

Dua Lipa scores her highest-charting album yet on the Billboard 200 as her third studio effort, Radical Optimism, bows at No. 2. It enters with 83,000 equivalent album units earned — a personal best for the singer-songwriter. Of its starting sum, album sales comprise 51,500 (it’s the top-selling album of the week, and it’s Lipa’s best sales week ever), SEA units comprise 30,500 (equaling 39.7 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

The album’s sales were bolstered by its availability across 20 physical variants, all with the same 11 songs. There were 11 vinyl editions in assorted colors (one of which was signed, and most variants were exclusive to specific retailers) and two cassette tapes. In terms of CDs, there was a widely available standard CD with a lenticular cover, and then multiple CD iterations sold exclusively in Lipa’s webstore (a signed standard CD, a zine CD package, and four deluxe CD boxed sets — each containing a branded T-shirt and a CD, and two of the boxes also included a signed art card).

In addition, the album was issued as a widely available standard 11-song digital download and a deluxe digital album with two live bonus tracks sold exclusively in Lipa’s webstore.

Radical Optimism is Lipa’s second top 10-charting effort, following her sophomore set, 2020’s Future Nostalgia, which peaked at No. 3.

The new 11-song album was announced on March 13 following two previously-released singles “Houdini” and “Training Season.” The former dropped last November and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 that month, while the latter topped out at No. 27 in March. A third single, “Illusion,” bowed at No. 43 on the chart dated April 27.

On the promotional front, Lipa opened both the Brit Awards (March 2) and the Grammy Awards (Feb. 4). On the former, she performed “Training Season,” while on the latter she presented a medley of “Training Season,” the Grammy-nominated Barbie soundtrack hit “Dance the Night” and “Houdini.” On May 4, a day after the album’s release, Lipa hosted and performed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, performing “Illusion” and the album’s “Happy for You.” Further, the entertainer was named to Time 100 list of the most influential people of 2024 (and appeared on the magazine’s April 29 cover), graced the covers of both Rolling Stone (for its February issue) and Elle (May issue), sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for an hour-long interview (May 1) and even went day drinking with Seth Meyers (Dec. 11, 2023).

Two former No. 1s are up next on the Billboard 200, as Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is pushed down 2-3 despite a 3% gain (to 71,000 equivalent album units) and Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You falls 3-4 (down 1% to 61,000 units).

SEVENTEEN collects its fifth top 10 on the Billboard 200, all consecutive, as SEVENTEEN Best Album ‘17 Is Right Here’ debuts at No. 5. The retrospective compilation earned 53,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, album sales comprise 49,000, SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.5 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s sales were supported by its availability across a dozen CD variants, all containing branded paper merchandise like posters and photocards (some randomized). Exclusive iterations were sold by Barnes & Noble and Target, while signed editions were also available.

Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s chart-topping Vultures 1 flies back into the top 10, as it wings 52-6 following the set’s arrival on vinyl. The effort earned 45,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 173%), while album sales comprising 31,000 of that sum (up 37,841%). Essentially all of its sales were from vinyl — nearly 31,000, which marks the biggest sales week on vinyl for both Ye and Ty Dolla $ign. The vinyl edition of the album was exclusively sold via Ye’s official webstore, and was initially sold as a pre-order when the album was first released on Feb. 10 (as a paid download and via streaming services). At that time, when customers pre-ordered the vinyl, the webstore stated the vinyl would ship in “2024.”

Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is squeezed 6-7 on the new Billboard 200, though with a 4% gain (to 42,000 equivalent album units). Beyoncé’s chart-topping Cowboy Carter falls 4-8 with 41,000 units (down 21%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 5-9 with 40,000 units (down 2%) and SZA’s former leader SOS falls 9-10 with 39,000 (down 1%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

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