The KPop Demon Hunters juggernaut hasn’t misplaced an iota of steam.
NETFLIX
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NETFLIX
This week, two previous standbys — Morgan Wallen‘s I am the Drawback and Alex Warren‘s “Abnormal” — prime the Billboard albums and singles charts, respectively. However there are nonetheless milestones to be discovered, as 4 new albums (by Gunna, MGK, Jonas Brothers and Babymetal) debut within the prime 10. Then there’s the continued success of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, which this week locations three songs within the Scorching 100’s prime 10 concurrently.
TOP ALBUMS
This week’s Billboard 200 albums chart follows a well-recognized sample: Morgan Wallen’s I am the Drawback and the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters sit at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, whereas contemporary debuts assist crowd final week’s debuts out of the highest 10. Gone are latest albums from $uicideboy$, Reneé Rapp and Yeat, in addition to Sabrina Carpenter‘s Quick n’ Candy, which takes a extra modest dip to No. 13.
Of their place are 4 of the newest debuts, most of which look primed to be short-timers in their very own proper. At No. 3, Gunna’s The Final Wun would appear to be in one of the best place to stay round for a bit, given that almost all of its numbers are derived from streaming. But it surely’s adopted by three titles that profit enormously from bodily gross sales — which, as at all times, are typically front-loaded towards a title’s first seven days and do not carry over from week to week the place the charts are involved.
First up, MGK — that is the artist generally generally known as Machine Gun Kelly — debuts at No. 4 along with his new album Misplaced Americana. At No. 6, Jonas Brothers return to the highest 10 with Greetings From Your Hometown, although the album’s sales-heavy numbers are boosted by an absurd variety of variant editions, vinyl, deluxe variations with bonus tracks and so forth. (There are, in reality, greater than 50 CD variants — sufficient, in reality, that it is arduous to think about even probably the most degenerate Jonas diehards bothering to gather all of them.)
Then comes the newest album by the Japanese band Babymetal. The group — which fuses sugary pop and, nicely, steel — has been releasing albums for greater than a decade. But it surely’s by no means cracked the highest 10 till this week, as Metallic Forth debuts at No. 9. The overwhelming majority of its numbers are derived from gross sales, with a set of variant editions to provide even these of the aforementioned Jonases a run for his or her cash: 15 vinyl variants, six CD editions, three cassette editions and so forth. It could be a surprising upset if Metallic Forth continues to be sniffing the chart’s higher areas subsequent week, however a prime 10 hit is a prime 10 hit.
By the way, three notable — and decidedly totally different — debuts pop up slightly below the highest 10: The rapper JID bows at No. 11 with God Does Like Ugly, the nation singer Bailey Zimmerman kicks off a brand new chart run at No. 12 with Completely different Evening Similar Rodeo and Ethel Cain enters the Billboard 200 at No. 14 with Willoughby Tucker, I am going to All the time Love You.
Lastly, it is value noting that KPop Demon Hunters continues to shut the hole on I am the Drawback. Each are blockbusters on streaming, however whereas Wallen’s album is fading ever-so-incrementally, KPop Demon Hunters has skilled good points each week — based mostly on the chart metric generally known as “equal album models” — since its debut eight weeks in the past. (That is exceedingly uncommon on the Billboard 200 within the streaming period.)
KPop Demon Hunters will virtually definitely expertise a lift from the discharge of bodily editions this fall. The query is whether or not it may well fend off the competitors lengthy sufficient to hit No. 1 earlier than each life type on earth will get crushed below the heel of Taylor Swift‘s The Lifetime of a Showgirl shortly after its scheduled launch in October.
TOP SONGS
Talking of KPop Demon Hunters, HUNTR/X’s “Golden” lastly hit No. 1 final week, due to strong streaming numbers and a much-needed surge of radio airplay. That left Alex Warren’s “Abnormal” sitting, bereft, at No. 2 after 9 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard Scorching 100. This week, “Abnormal” and its hardworking choir actual their cloying revenge, as they return to No. 1, fueled partially by a contemporary dwell recording from Lollapalooza that includes nation star Luke Combs.
Giving “Abnormal” a rustic makeover was a wise transfer, given how lengthy main nation hits can sit in heavy rotation; simply ask Shaboozey and Morgan Wallen, whose songs have been mainstays within the prime 10 for ages now. Heck, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Tune (Tipsy)” continues to be milling round within the prime 10 in its seventieth week on the chart, greater than a 12 months after it started its record-tying 19-week run at No. 1. If “Abnormal” stays within the prime 10 right now subsequent 12 months, do not say you have not been warned.
That stated, the KPop Demon Hunters juggernaut hasn’t misplaced an iota of steam; although it could not compete with the Combs-fueled surge for “Abnormal,” “Golden” nonetheless posts vital good points because it falls to No. 2. Its already-robust streaming numbers are up 4%, whereas its airplay numbers — the most important drag on its efforts to compete with “Abnormal” — climb 38% over final week. These songs are going to be neck-and-neck for a very long time to return.
That is not the one achieve posted by KPop Demon Hunters the place the Scorching 100 is anxious. The album was already one of many largest soundtracks to return alongside in years, becoming a member of the rarefied chart air of such latest blockbusters as Depraved, Barbie and Encanto. However this week, it posts a milestone none of these phenomena might obtain: For the primary time in its chart run, KPop Demon Hunters posts three songs within the prime 10 concurrently. Not solely does HUNTR/X sit at No. 2 with “Golden,” however HUNTR/X’s onscreen rivals in Saja Boys — 5 of the demons to which the movie’s title alludes — now have two songs within the prime 10: “Your Idol” and “Soda Pop.”
It was frequent for film soundtracks to land a number of songs within the prime 10: Purple Rain, Footloose, The Bodyguard and numerous others have pulled it off over time. Extra not too long ago, Encanto and Barbie got here shut. However in Scorching 100 historical past, courting again to 1958, solely three soundtracks have landed three prime 10 hits concurrently: Saturday Evening Fever, Ready to Exhale and now KPop Demon Hunters.
Who is aware of? It is throughout the realm of risk that HUNTR/X’s “How It is Finished” might ultimately quickly be part of its brethren within the prime 10. This week, it climbs from No. 19 to No. 14, with three extra Ok-pop bangers from the film trailing not too far behind.
WORTH NOTING
This is not as flashy a milestone as three simultaneous prime 10 hits, but it surely’s value noting. SZA‘s album SOS has been a chart mainstay since its launch close to the tip of 2022 — a run bolstered by the discharge of a supersized deluxe version two years later. This week, SOS spends its a centesimal week within the prime 10; in chart historical past, that quantity is exceeded by solely two different albums (excluding soundtracks and solid recordings).
SOS is the primary album by a lady to perform the feat, however we are able to get much more particular than that: It is the primary (not-a-soundtrack, not-a-cast-recording) album by an artist apart from Morgan Wallen to spend 100 or extra weeks within the prime 10. Wallen has made it occur twice, with 2021’s Harmful: The Double Album (165 weeks) and One Factor at a Time (121 weeks).
One factor all three albums have in frequent, apart from recency and ongoing success? They’re looooooong, which does assist goose an album’s stats within the streaming period. Although some deluxe variations run a hair longer, Harmful is usually understood to comprise 30 songs, whereas One Factor at a Time has 36. (Do not be stunned if I am the Drawback, with its 37 tracks, joins the 100-week membership someday in 2027.) In its present type, SOS Deluxe: LANA spans an unbelievable 42 tracks.
As for the all-time file for many weeks within the prime 10, the 1956 unique solid recording of My Honest Woman spent 173 weeks there — together with stops at No. 1 in 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959. Not even Morgan Wallen has (but) been capable of land the identical album at No. 1 in 4 consecutive years.
