Travis Scott is taking a ride to the top with Astroworld.
The Houston rapper’s third album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 537,000 equivalent album units, the second-largest overall week for an album in 2018. Of that number, 270,000 were traditional album sales, marking the second-biggest sales week of the year. The sales were driven by Astroworld merchandise/album bundles that were sold on Scott’s official website.
Astroworld becomes Scott’s second No. 1 on the Billboard 200, following 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. The latter opened with 88,000 units (53,000 traditional). His 2015 debut Rodeo debuted and peaked at No. 3.
The only album to surpass Scott this year is Drake’s Scorpion, which opened with 732,000 units. The Canadian rapper’s album, which earned 117,000 equivalent album units, was dethroned from the top spot after five straight weeks.
Mac Miller’s Swimming dives in at No. 3 with 66,000 units (30,000 traditional), earning his fifth consecutive top 5 release. His last album, 2016’s The Divine Feminine, debuted at No. 2 with 48,000 units.
YG’s Stay Dangerous enters the chart at No. 5 with 56,000 units (11,000 traditional), marking his third top 10 effort. He previously charted with 2016’s Still Brazy (No. 6) and 2014’s My Krazy Life (No. 2).
Elsewhere, Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys falls 3-4 (58,000), Juice WRLD’s Goodbye & Good Riddance slides 4-6 (38,000), Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy drops 5-7 (35,000), and XXXTentacion’s ? falls 6-8 (33,000).
Billboard 200 Top 10
1. Travis Scott – Astroworld – 537,000
2. Drake – Scorpion – 117,000
3. Mac Miller – Swimming – 66,000
4. Post Malone – beerbongs & bentleys – 58,000
5. YG – Stay Dangerous – 56,000
6. Juice WRLD – Goodbye & Good Riddance – 38,000
7. Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy – 35,000
8. XXXTentacion – ? – 33,000
9. Various – Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – 28,000
10. Various – The Greatest Showman – 25,000