Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide has secured a third consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated May 23, becoming the first rock album in over a decade to spend three weeks at the top. The last rock album to achieve at least three weeks at No. 1 was Mumford & Sons’ Babel, which logged five nonconsecutive weeks at the summit in 2012-13.
The most recent rock album by a solo artist to remain at No. 1 for at least three weeks was Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through the Static, which earned three weeks atop the chart in 2008. Rock albums are categorized as titles that have charted on or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart.
The Great Divide earned 132,000 equivalent album units in the United States during the tracking week ending May 14, down 19%, according to Luminate.
Elsewhere in the latest Billboard 200 top 10, CORTIS scores its first top 10-charting project as GREENGREEN debuts at No. 3, while Chris Brown lands his 13th top 10 album with BROWN opening at No. 7.
The Billboard 200 ranks the week’s most popular albums in the U.S. using multi-metric consumption measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units include album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). One unit equals one album sale, 10 individual track sales from an album, or 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
Of the 132,000 equivalent album units earned by The Great Divide during the latest tracking week, SEA units accounted for 109,000, down 20%, representing 111.46 million on-demand official streams of the album’s tracks. The project also remains at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart for a third week. Album sales contributed 22,000 units, down 85%, while it stayed at No. 2 on Top Album Sales. TEA units made up the remainder, increasing 18%.
Ella Langley’s former chart-topper Dandelion remains steady at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 100,000 equivalent album units earned, down 3%.
CORTIS reaches its first Billboard 200 top 10 with GREENGREEN debuting at No. 3 after earning 87,000 equivalent album units, marking the group’s strongest week by units. Of that total, album sales accounted for 81,500, the quintet’s best sales week, helping it debut at No. 1 on Top Album Sales. SEA units made up 5,500, equal to 5.91 million on-demand official streams of the album’s tracks, while TEA units represented a minimal amount. First-week sales were boosted by more than 20 physical variants on CD and vinyl, many of which included collectible items such as photocards and stickers, with select items randomized.
GREENGREEN followed the group’s first Pop Airplay hit, “REDRED,” which climbed from No. 31 to No. 30 on the latest chart dated May 23, setting a new peak.
CORTIS previously charted one album on the Billboard 200, COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES, which peaked at No. 15 last year.
Morgan Wallen’s former chart-topper I’m the Problem stays at No. 4 on the latest Billboard 200 with 85,000 equivalent album units earned, up 2%.
Michael Jackson occupies both the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, as his former No. 1 album Thriller remains at No. 5 with 66,000 equivalent album units, up 6%, while Number Ones also holds steady at No. 6 with slightly over 65,000 units, also up 6%. Both albums continue benefiting from renewed interest surrounding the success of the Michael biopic film.
Chris Brown’s latest studio album, BROWN, debuts at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, giving the singer-songwriter his 13th top 10 project. The set launches with 65,000 equivalent album units earned. SEA units contributed 60,000, equaling 60.31 million on-demand official streams of the album’s tracks, helping it debut at No. 4 on Top Streaming Albums. Album sales accounted for 5,000 units, allowing it to debut at No. 19 on Top Album Sales, while TEA units made up the remainder. The album was available for purchase only as a digital download.
The BROWN album was preceded by four songs on the Hot R&B Songs chart: “Holy Blindfold” at No. 8, “It Depends” featuring Bryson Tiller at No. 3, “Obvious” at No. 5, and “Fallin’” featuring Leon Thomas at No. 12. All four tracks also appeared on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Brown’s co-headlining stadium tour with Usher begins June 26 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver and runs through Dec. 12 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Completing the remainder of the Billboard 200 top 10 are BTS’s former No. 1 album ARIRANG, which falls from No. 7 to No. 8 with 44,000 equivalent album units, down 10%; Wallen’s former chart-topper One Thing at a Time, holding at No. 9 with 41,000 units, up 3%; and Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving, slipping from No. 8 to No. 10 with nearly 41,000 units, down 3%.