Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour returns for a fifth week nonconsecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, following its vinyl LP release on Aug. 20. It continues to have the second-most weeks at No. 1 in 2021, behind only Morgan Wallen’s 10-week run with Dangerous: The Double Album.
In the tracking week ending Aug. 26, Sour earned 133,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. (up 133%), according to MRC Data. Of that sum, album sales comprise 84,000 (up 1,201%), with vinyl LP sales equaling 76,000 of that figure (the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album since MRC Data began electronically tracking sales in 1991).
Also in the new top 10, the latest efforts from Trippie Redd and Lorde debut in the top 10, while deluxe reissues of Rod Wave’s SoulFly and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Chaos Chapter: Freeze return to the to the region, and Aaliyah’s long out-of-print 1996 album One In a Million hits the top 10 for the first time following its reissue on Aug. 20.
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. 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. 4, 2021-dated chart (where Sour returns to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 31. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Sour’s 133,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 26, album sales comprise 84,000 (up 1,201%), SEA units comprise 48,000 (down 3%, equaling 69.82 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000 units (down 1%).
As noted above, vinyl LP sales drove 76,000 of Sour’s total sales in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 26. That marks the second-largest sales week for an album on vinyl since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991. The only larger week was logged by the arrival of Taylor Swift’s Evermore on vinyl, when it sold 102,000 in the week ending June 3.
Like Evermore, Sour’s debut on vinyl came months after the album’s initial release via other formats. Evermore as bowed digitally and through streamers on Dec. 11, 2020, but its vinyl edition was not issued until May 28. Sour arrived via streamers and on CD, cassette and digital download on May 21, but did not hit vinyl until Aug. 20. By the time both Evermore and Sour were released on vinyl, they had months of pre-orders fueling their initial vinyl sales.
Trippie Redd logs his sixth consecutive, and total, top five-charting album as Trip at Knight debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It launches with 81,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 75,000 units (equaling 107.99 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 5,000 and TEA units comprise less than 1,000. The rapper previously visited the top 10 five times, all with top five-charting efforts: Pegasus (No. 2 in 2020), A Love Letter to You 4 (No. 1, 2019), I (No. 3, 2019), A Love Letter to You 3 (No. 3, 2018) and Life’s a Trip (No. 4, 2018).
Rod Wave’s former No. 1, SoulFly, rallies 38-3 after its deluxe reissue on Aug. 20 with nine additional tracks. The set earned 62,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Aug. 26 (up 350%), with nearly all of that sum driven by SEA units (61,000; up 349%). SoulFly was originally released as a 19-track album on March 26 and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 dated April 10.
Doja Cat’s Planet Her falls 2-4 with 57,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%).
Lorde’s third full-length studio album, Solar Power, premieres at No. 5 with 56,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 34,000, SEA units comprise 22,000 (equaling 28.38 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000. Solar Power is the third top five effort for the singer-songwriter, who saw both of her previous full-length studio sets also reach the top five: Melodrama hit No. 1 in 2017 and Pure Heroine peaked at No. 3 in 2013.
A pair of former No. 1s are next on the Billboard 200, as Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever falls 1-6 in its fourth week (49,000 equivalent album units; down 18%) and The Kid LAROI’s F*ck Love dips 4-7 (48,000; down 7%).
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Chaos Chapter: Freeze re-enters the chart at No. 8 with 47,000 equivalent album units earned (up 667%) following a deluxe reissue on Aug. 20 with additional tracks and new physical CD packaging. The set previously debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the June 19-dated chart.
Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album falls 5-9 with 42,000 equivalent album units earned (down 2%).
Aaliyah’s 1996 sophomore album, One In a Million, reaches the top 10 for the first time, as the set re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 10. The album was reissued on Aug. 20 after years out-of-print, and earned 26,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Aug. 26. Of that sum, album sales comprise 13,000; SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 14.29 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 2,000. One In a Million originally peaked at No. 18 on the Feb. 1, 1997-dated chart. The album is first of a series of reissues for the Blackground label, including other previously long-unavailable albums from Aaliyah, Ashley Parker Angel, Toni Braxton, JoJo, Tank and Timbaland (and Timbaland & Magoo).
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