R&B and country battled it out on the Billboard charts this week. The Weeknd and Keith Urban faced off, but the Canadian crooner was narrowly edged out of the top spot.
His album Kiss Land debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 after selling 96,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan (via Billboard). He fell less than 3,000 copies short of this week’s chart-topper Keith Urban, whose album Fuse entered at No. 1 with 98,000.
Last year, The Weeknd’s mixtape compilation Trilogy debuted at No. 4 with 86,000, and has moved 385,000 units to date.
During his show at the Greek Theatre in L.A. last night, his friend Drake prematurely announced that he had the No. 1 album in the country.
“NUMBER 1 ALBUM IN THE COUNTRY. I LOVE MY FANS XO, WE GOOD!!!!!!” tweeted The Weeknd. But after the final sales were revealed, he added, “AWWH. SO CLOSE THEY HAD TO RECOUNT!!! STILL GOT THE BEST FANS!! THANK YOU XO.”
Meanwhile, 2 Chainz’ sophomore album B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME sails in at No. 3 with 63,000 copies. His debut Based on a T.R.U. Story more than doubled the sales with 147,000 in August 2012.
Janelle Monáe landed her best sales week yet and first top 10 album with The Electric Lady, which comes in at No. 5 with 47,000.
Tamar Braxton’s Love and War falls 2-8 (35,000), while last week’s No. 1, Ariana Grande’s Yours Truly, drops to No. 9 (31,000). Rounding out the top 10 is John Legend’s Love in the Future, which slides 4-10 (30,000).