The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift is her first album to spend its first three weeks at the top of the chart since 2020’s Folklore, which spent its first six weeks there. The album spends a third straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated May 18).
(Swift achieved six No. 1 albums between Folklore and the current album.) Since Travis Scott’s Utopia led in its first four weeks last summer (Aug. 12-Sept. 2, 2023), The Tortured Poets Department is the first album to spend its opening three weeks at the top of the charts.
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According to Luminate, the Tortured Poets Department sold 282,000 equivalent album units in the United States during the week that ended on May 9—a 36% decrease. Since Swift’s own Midnights clocked 299,000 units in its third period (as of Nov. 19, 2022, according to the chart), it makes it the largest third-week for any album.
Dua Lipa debuts at No. 2 with Radical Optimism, her highest-charting album to date, and is also included in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200. Also, with the No. 5 release of SEVENTEEN Best Album, “17 Is Right Here,” SEVENTEEN records their sixth top-10 charting effort.
The most popular albums of the week in the United States are listed on the Billboard 200 chart, which is compiled by Luminate and based on multi-metric consumption expressed in equivalent album units. Track equivalent albums (TEA), album sales, and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) are all included in units.
One album sale, ten single album tracks sold, 3,750 ad-supported, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams produced by album tracks are all equivalent to one unit. On May 14, Billboard’s website will have the whole version of the new chart with a date of May 18, 2024. Follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram for all chart news.
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Out of The Tortured Poets Department’s 282,000 units for the third week, regular album sales make up 51,000 (down 53%), TEA units make up 1,500 (down 43%), and SEA units make up 229,500 (down 30%, or 298.33 million official streams of the set’s songs).
Swift extends her record among soloists by landing her 72nd career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (Elvis Presley has the second-most, with 67). That sum includes her 14 commanders. (She and Jay-Z share the record for the most No. 1s among solo artists.)
Radical Optimism, Dua Lipa’s third studio album, debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, becoming her highest-charting album to date. It debuts with 83,000 equivalent album units earned, which represents the singer-songwriter’s personal best. Album sales make up 51,500 of the starting total (this is Lipa’s highest sales week ever and the best-selling album of the week), SEA units make up 30,500 (which translates to 39.7 million official on-demand streaming of the album’s tracks), and TEA units make up 1,000.
The album’s availability in 20 physical versions, each containing the same 11 tracks, helped to boost sales. Two cassette tapes and eleven vinyl copies in various colors (one signed, most variants special to particular stores) were available.
Regarding CDs, there was a standard CD with a lenticular cover that was widely accessible, as well as several CD iterations that were only available through Lipa’s online store (a signed standard CD, a zine CD package, and four deluxe CD boxed sets, each of which included a signed art card in addition to a branded T-shirt).
The album was also released as a deluxe digital album featuring two live bonus tracks that could only be purchased through Lipa’s website, in addition to the generally accessible standard 11-song digital download.
Radical Optimism is Lipa’s second top-10 charting single after 2020’s Future Nostalgia, her sophomore album, which reached at No. 3.
Following the release of the two previously released singles, “Houdini” and “Training Season,” the new 11-song album was revealed on March 13. While the latter peaked at No. 27 in March, the former dropped in November of last year and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same month. “Illusion,” the third single, debuted at No. 43 on the April 27 chart.
Lipa began both the Grammy Awards (Feb. 4) and the Brit Awards (March 2) in terms of promotion. She sang “Training Season” on the former, and a medley of “Training Season,” the Grammy-nominated Barbie soundtrack hit “Dance the Night,” and “Houdini” on the latter. Lipa hosted and performed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on May 4, the day after the album was released.
She sang two songs from the album, “Happy for You” and “Illusion.” The performer also made the Time 100 list of the most influential people of 2024 (where he was featured on the magazine’s cover on April 29), graced the covers of Rolling Stone in February and Elle in May, had an hour-long interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe on May 1, and even went out for drinks with Seth Meyers on December 11, 2023.
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Next on the Billboard 200 are two former No. 1 songs: Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You drops 3–4 (down 1% to 61,000 units), while Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time drops 2-3 despite a 3% gain (to 71,000 equivalent album units).
SEVENTEEN’s Best Album, “17 Is Right Here,” debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, earning the group their fifth top 10 spot in a row. In its first week of sales, the retrospective compilation brought in 53,000 equivalent album units. Of that total, 49,000 are album sales, 4,000 are SEA units (or 5.5 million official on-demand streams of the songs from the collection), and the remaining TEA units are inconsequential.
The availability of the set in twelve CD variations, each with branded paper goods like posters and photocards (some randomized), helped to boost sales of the set. Barnes & Noble and Target carried exclusive versions, and signed copies were also offered.
Following the release of the compilation on vinyl, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s chart-topping Vultures 1 soars back into the top 10, flying 52-6. In the tracking week, the endeavor generated 45,000 equivalent album units (up 173%), with album sales accounting for 31,000 of the total (up 37,841%).
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Nearly 31,000 of its sales were on vinyl, accounting for nearly all of it. This is Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s highest-ever vinyl sales week. When the album was first published on February 10 (as a paid download and via streaming platforms), the vinyl edition was only available for purchase through Ye’s official webstore. Customers who pre-ordered the record at that time were informed by the webstore that it would ship in “2024.”
Wallen’s previous No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album, which saw a 4% boost to 42,000 equivalent album sales, is squeezed 6-7 on the new Billboard 200. The number one album on the charts, Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, drops 4-8 with 41,000 copies (down 21%), Stick Season by Noah Kahan falls 5-9 with 40,000 units (down 2%) and SZA’s previous single, SOS, drops 9-10 with 39,000 units (down 1%).
