‘Encanto’ Leaps Past Gunna and the Weeknd to Retake Top Album Spot; ‘Bruno’ Song Keeps Soaring Through Top 10

Chris Willman
·3 min read

“We don’t talk about ‘Encanto'” is a phrase that may be being said in the Gunna and Weeknd households this week, as both of those hit artists had to step aside to let the smash Disney soundtrack reclaim its No. 1 position atop the Billboard 200 album chart.

“Encanto” continues to grow, with 104,000 album-equivalent units — a 9% increase — pushing it back to the top. Last week’s No. 1, Gunna’s “DS4Ever,” slips a spot to second place with 96,000 units, a decline of 36% from its opening frame. The Weeknd’s “Dawn FM,” which bowed last week at No. 3, also fell a spot, with 61,000 units, representing a decline of 59%.

More from Variety

On the Hot 100 songs chart, meanwhile, “Encanto” also made its presence firmly known. The unlikely hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” moved up to No. 2 — held back from the top only by Adele’s long-running streak there — and other tune from the soundtrack, “Surface Pressure,” butted into the top 10 for the first time, landing right at No. 10. According to Billboard, this marks the first time two songs from a Disney soundtrack have ever been in the top 10 in one week.

So how close did the No. 2 “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” come to toppling Adele’s “Easy on Me” from its 10th straight week lording over the Hot 100? Not very, actually. As crazily impressive as the streaming and sales numbers for “Bruno” have been, it’s getting almost no radio play, which is a substantial consideration in the factors that go into the Hot 100 chart. That doesn’t diminish its accomplishment, but it does mean the Hot 100 is one chart where it stands tougher odds of pulling out an upset than it has on other charts.

For the week, “Easy on Me” had 99 million radio impressions, versus 457,000 for “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (which isn’t being promoted to radio at all) — about as wide a disparity as there could possibly be between the Nos. 1-2 songs on the Hot 100. But things are nearly as lopsided in the other direction when you compare streams for the songs. Adele’s chart-topper drew 14.3 million streams in the U.S. during the week, versus 32.4 million for “Bruno.”

The “Encanto” song has plenty of bragging rights, anyway, even if it never gets to No. 1 on the Hot 100. It’s the second-highest charting single for any song from a a Disney film, its current No. 2 status putting it only behind “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin,” which did make it to the top 29 years ago.

The other “Encanto” song in the top 10, “Surface Pressure” by Jessica Darrow, got there by collecting 22.5 million streams and selling 6,500 digital downloads. Also lacking airplay, just as the other “Encanto” contender does, “Surface Pressure” holds higher positions on charts in wich airplay is not a factor, currently lodged at No. 4 on both the streaming songs and digital song sales rankings. Given the soundtrack’s overall momentum, it’s bound to be moving up through the Hot 100’s top 10 as well.

Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” held steady at No. 3 on the Hot 100, but there was room for celebration in regard to another chart: It finally reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop airplay ranking this week.

The biggest album to be debuting on the Billboard 200 was the Lumineers’ latest, “Brightside.” It entered at No 6, with 37,000 album-equivalent units.

Holdovers on the album chart included Adele and Morgan Wallen, staying steady at Nos. 4-5, the Weeknd’s greatest hits collection at No. 7, and Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and Doja Cat at Nos. 8-10.

For more information on which holdovers rounded out the top 10 of the Hot 100, read here. Additonal details on the album chart’s makeup can be found here.

Best of Variety

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

Click here to read the full article.