Travis Scott’s ‘Utopia’ Spends a Month at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

August 27, 2023 E Jazz Reporter

Entertainment
Travis Scott’s Utopia makes it a month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Sept. 2), as the set spends a fourth total and consecutive week in the lead. The effort earned 161,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 24 (down 13%), according to Luminate. Utopia surpasses Astroworld as Scott’s album with the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

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Utopia is also the first rap album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in five years, since Drake’s Scorpion logged all five of its weeks at No. 1, from its debut frame (July 14-Aug. 11, 2018). The last rap set with four weeks at No. 1, in total, was Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, which tallied five nonconsecutive frames at No. 1 between Sept. 18 and Nov. 6, 2021.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Hozier scores his third top 10-charting album as Unreal Unearth launches at No. 3, while J-Hope’s year-old Jack in the Box album reaches the top 10 for the first time, as it re-enters the list at No. 6 following its expanded reissue and debut on CD in multiple collectible iterations.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Sept. 2, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 29. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Utopia’s 161,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 24, album sales comprise 92,000 (down 7%), SEA units comprise 69,000 (down 20%, equaling 92.07 million on-demand official streams of the streaming set’s 19 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (down 19%). For a second week in a row, the album’s sales profit from a promotional offer in Scott’s official webstore, which deep-discounted the Utopia vinyl LP (available in multiple variants) from $50 to only $5 for a limited time. Of Utopia’s 92,000 sales for the week, vinyl accounted for 89,000.

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 91,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%).

Hozier captures his third top 10-charting set — all of which have reached the top five — as Unreal Unearth debuts at No. 3. The album bows with 62,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 39,000, SEA units comprise 23,000 (equaling 29.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 16 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was preceded by the hit single “Eat Your Young,” which marked Hozier’s third No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart (May 20-dated list).

Unreal Unearth’s first-week album sales were bolstered by vinyl sales, which accounted for 60% of its opening-week sales figure (23,000 of 39,000). The album was released in five different vinyl iterations, including exclusive color variants for Amazon, independent record stores and Hozier’s official webstore.

The Barbie soundtrack is steady at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 55,000 equivalent album units (down 15%), while Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights climbs one spot to No. 5 with 53,000 units (down 8%).

J-Hope’s year-old Jack in the Box album bounces back onto the list for its first week in the top 10 (and second week on the chart), as it re-enters at No. 6 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned (up 5,107%). The album was originally released on July 15, 2022, and debuted and first peaked at No. 17 on the July 30, 2022, chart. It was reissued with additional bonus tracks on — and on CD for the first time — on Aug. 19, 2023. The set initially was released only as a digital download album and through streaming services.

Of the set’s 50,000 units earned in the week ending Aug. 24, album sales comprise 47,000 (up 13,238%), SEA units comprise 2,000 (up 250%, equaling 2.99 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 44,125%). The CD edition of the album was available in four collectible editions, including exclusive versions for Target and Walmart, all containing assorted branded merchandise (some of which was randomized).

J-Hope is the third member of BTS to score a top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200, following his bandmates RM and Jimin. RM reached the top 10 in 2022 with Indigo (peaking at No. 3) and Jimin reached No. 2 with Face earlier this year. BTS itself has logged seven top 10s, with six reaching No. 1.

Two more chart-topping Swift sets follow J-Hope, as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) falls 5-7 (48,000 equivalent album units earned; down 21%) and Lover dips 7-8 (46,000; down 14%). Peso Pluma’s Génesis descends 8-9 (nearly 45,000; down 4%) and Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is steady at No. 10 (43,000; down 3%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.