Chart Watch: Upset! Jeezy Edges Out Kenny Chesney for #1
There’s a genuine upset on this week’s Billboard 200. Jeezy’s Trap or Die 3 edges out Kenny Chesney’s Cosmic Hallelujah to debut at #1. Chesney’s album sold more copies than Jeezy’s (by a margin of 79K to 73K), but Jeezy’s album came out ahead because the chart measures what Billboard calls “multi-metric consumption.” The chart formula takes into account digital track sales and streaming in addition to traditional album sales. By that measure, Jeezy’s album sold a little more than 89K. Chesney’s album sold just under 89K.
The two albums were in a tight race all week. On Friday, Hits (Billboard‘s chief rival) declared Chesney the winner, by a margin of 90K to 87K. Billboard didn’t publish this week’s chart results on its website until 12:43 a.m. (EST) this morning, several hours later than usual. This suggests that Billboard‘s chart team was checking and double-checking the numbers in this tight contest.
Two factors are largely responsible for this chart upset — the new chart system (which Billboard and Hits adopted in December 2014) and a very exciting baseball game, a 10-inning heart-stopper in which the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians to land their first World Series championship in 108 years.
Let me explain.
First, it has become clear that the new multi-metric system works to the advantage of hip-hop and R&B releases, and to the detriment of country albums. This is the seventh time that a country album has been the week’s #1 seller in traditional album sales, but has lost out to a hip-hop or R&B album on the Billboard 200 after the other data is factored in. This previously happened to Don Henley’s Cass County (which lost to Fetty Wap’s Fetty Wap), Joey + Rory’s Hymns (which lost to Rihanna’s Anti), Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (which lost to Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo), Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest, Dierks Bentley’s Black, and Aaron Lewis’s Sinner (the last three of which lost to Drake’s 13-week chart champ, Views).
Second, viewership for the CMA Awards, where Chesney was presented with the Pinnacle Award, suffered this year because it aired opposite the deciding Game 7 of the World Series. Had it not been, the CMAs — a reliable ratings winner — doubtless would have gotten a larger audience, and the salute to Chesney would have been seen by more people. (Chesney was only the third recipient of the Pinnacle honor, following Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift.)
While these two factors played an undeniable role in this week’s outcome, this is also simply the latest sign of the potency of rap. This first became clear way back in December 1992, when Ice Cube’s The Predator debuted at #1 ahead of Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard soundtrack. It was a shocker to see a gangsta rap album beat out a mass-appeal soundtrack. (The Bodyguard rose to #1 the following week and remained on top for 20 non-consecutive weeks.)
Trap or Die 3 is Jeezy’s third #1 album; his first since he shed the moniker Young Jeezy. Under that name, he topped the chart with 2006’s The Inspiration and 2008’s The Recession. Jeezy has a nearly 10-year span of #1 albums. He is, quite simply, bigger than his media profile would suggest. This is his seventh consecutive top five album.
Jeezy’s first two Trap or Die mixtapes were released in 2005 and 2010. Trivia note: Trap or Die 3 is the second #1 album in the past two months to include the hip-hop term “trap” in its title. It follows Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight.
Cosmic Hallelujah is Chesney’s 11th consecutive studio album to reach the top three. That’s his entire studio output since No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems was released in the spring of 2002. It’s his 13th top 10 album overall.
Chesney’s album enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (which has spent 24 non-consecutive weeks on top). It’s Chesney’s 14th #1 country album.
The second single from Chesney’s album, “Setting the World on Fire,” has topped the Hot Country Songs chart for the past four weeks. The song is a genre-bending collabo with P!nk. It’s Chesney’s 23rd #1 country hit.
Trivia note: Cosmic Hallelujah isn’t the first album with the word “cosmic” in its title to reach the top five. The B-52’s had a #4 album titled Cosmic Thing in 1990. In 1969, Janis Joplin had a #5 album which had an alternate spelling of “cosmic” — I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!.
Top Songs
The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) tops the Hot 100 for the 12th straight week. It’s the first song to log 12 at #1 since “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth last year. It’s the first song by a group or duo to spend 12 or more weeks at #1 since the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” logged 14 weeks on top in 2009. (That was also the last time a song that involved a female singer stayed on top this long.)
“Closer” tops the Top Digital Songs chart for the 13th week, which puts it in a tie with Flo Rida’s “Low” (featuring T-Pain) and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” (with Bruno Mars) for the longest run at #1 on this chart since it was introduced in 2004.
“Closer” ranks #1 even though it sold just 72K copies during the week. That’s the lowest sales total in more than 10 years for a song that was #1 on that week’s Digital Songs chart. In January 2006, Beyoncé’s “Check on It” (featuring Bun Boy & Slim Thug) moved up to #1 with sales of just 61K. Then, of course, digital song sales were on their way up. Now, they’re on their way down.
“Closer” tops the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for the 12th week. It’s the Chainsmokers’ third single to top that chart for 12 or more weeks. “Roses” (featuring Rozes) ruled for 14 weeks. “Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Daya) was on top for 12 weeks.
The next four songs on this week’s Hot 100 remain in the same spots as last week. The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) holds at #2 in its seventh week. This is the song’s fifth week at #2, which equals the run at #2 of Daft Punk’s 2013 hit “Get Lucky.” twenty one pilots’ “Heathens” holds at #3 in its 20th week. DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber) holds at #4 its 13th week. D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” (featuring Lil Yachty) holds at #5 in its 21st week.
Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” (featuring Nicki Minaj) inches up from #7 to #6 in its 10th week. It exchanges positions with Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic,” which dips from #6 to #7 its fourth week.
“Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” by Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall inches up from #9 to #8 in its sixth week.
Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) jumps from #16 to #9 in its eighth week. It’s the first top 10 for both acts. Rae Sremmurd is one of four duos in this week’s top 10, along with the Chainsmokers, twenty one pilots, and Hilfigerrr & McCall. “Black Beatles” is the first top 10 hit to give a namecheck to The Beatles in its title. Several past top 10 hits have mentioned the Beatles in their lyrics. Among them: Three Dog Night’s “Never Been to Spain” and Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town.”
Drake lands his 18th top 10 hit as “Fake Love” vaults from #24 to #10 in its second week. This puts Drake in a tie for third place among rappers with the most top 10 hits. Jay Z leads the pack with 21, followed by Lil Wayne with 19. Ludacris is tied with Drake with 18. Eminem is in fifth place with 17.
Major Lazer’s “Cold Water” (featuring Justin Bieber and MØ) and Gnash’s “I Hate U I Love U” (featuring Olivia O’Brien) drop out of the top 10 this week.
Meghan Trainor’s “Me Too,” which peaked at #13 on the Hot 100, tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week.
Top Albums
Meek Mill’s mixtape DC4 debuts at #3. It’s the fourth release in Meek Mill’s Dreamchasers mixtape series (hence the title); the first to receive a wide commercial release. It follows two studio albums by Meek Mill which made the top five.
Avenged Sevenfold lands its fifth top 10 album as The Stage debuts at #4. The album was inspired by the writings of Carl Sagan and Elon Musk.
Lady Gaga’s Joanne drops from #1 to #5 in its second week.
Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas drops from #3 to #6 in its second week. This will almost certainly be the third year in a row that Pentatonix have had the year’s best-selling holiday album. Only one artist in the Nielsen era (which dates to 1991) has had the year’s best-selling holiday album three times. That’s saxophonist Kenny G. His years with the holiday sales champ (1994, 1996 and 1999) weren’t consecutive.
After spending its first 26 weeks in the top five, Drake’s Views drops from #5 to #7 in its 27th week.
The Suicide Squad soundtrack dips from #7 to #8 in its 13th week. The album logged two weeks at #1.
Hamilton dips from #8 to #9 its 58th week. The Broadway cast album peaked at #3 in the wake of the Tony Awards.
Michael Bublé’s Nobody but Me drops from #2 to #10 in its second week. (Bublé announced last week that that he is putting his career on hold because his 3-year old son has cancer.)
Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. They are: Korn’s The Serenity of Suffering, Chris Tomlin’s Never Lose Sight, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, and Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker.
Tove Lo lands her second top 20 album in a row with Lady Wood. Her debut, Queen of the Clouds, peaked at #14 in 2014.
Look for Bon Jovi to land their sixth #1 album next week with This House Is Not for Sale. The Chainsmokers’ Collage EP and Alicia Keys’s Here will probably debut at #2 and #3, respectively. Now 60 will also open in the top 10.
