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BTS lands its fifth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as Be bows atop the tally. The set, which was released via Big Hit Entertainment on Nov. 20, arrives with 242,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 26, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Be is the second chart-topper of 2020 for the pop group, following Map of the Soul: 7, which debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated March 7.
Also in the new top 10, Megan Thee Stallion’s Good News bows at No. 2, Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore flies 29-6 after its vinyl edition was released to Target stores and her Disney+ special premiered, and Carrie Underwood’s holiday set My Gift returns to the top 10 with a 25-10 jump.
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 Dec. 5-dated chart (where Be debuts at to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Dec. 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Be’s 242,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Nov. 26, album sales comprise 177,000, TEA units comprise 35,000 and SEA units comprise 30,000 (equating to 48.56 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs).
The Be album is a mostly-Korean-language release, but does feature the group’s first all-English song, “Dynamite.” The track marked the act’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Sept. 5. It also recently garnered the group its first Grammy Award nomination, for best pop duo/group performance. Be is the 11th mostly non-English album to hit No. 1. Of the 11 leaders that were recorded mostly in a language other than English, five have been by BTS.
The album’s first week is the largest for an album by a group, both in terms of equivalent album units and album sales, since BTS’ own last No. 1 album, Map of the Soul: 7, earned 422,000 units in its first week, of which 347,000 were in album sales (chart dated March 7).
However, unlike many other high-selling albums that benefit from an array of available formats and exclusive or limited editions, Be was only available in two formats. It was issued as a standard digital album that cost about $9 and a pricey CD edition that retailed for around $50. (Big Hit has termed the CD edition a “deluxe” package, though there is no traditional standard CD available.)
Even BTS’ last No. 1, Map of the Soul: 7, was issued in five editions – a standard digital album and four collectible CD packages (each selling for around $25).
Be’s rollout is reminiscent of the arrival of Tool’s Fear Inoculum, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 14, 2019, with 270,000 equivalent album units – of which 240,000 were in album sales. The album was initially only sold in two formats: a digital download and a limited-edition CD that cost around $45-50, and came with a 4-inch HD screen, video footage, a speaker and a 36-page booklet.
While the $50 BTS Be deluxe CD doesn’t have any technology housed in its package, it does contain paper goods such as a photobook, photocards, postcards and a poster.
BTS is the first group to land two No. 1 albums in 2020, and the second act overall, following rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again (with 38 Baby 2 and Top).
In total, BTS has now led the Billboard 200 five times. Before Be and Map of the Soul: 7, there was Map of the Soul: Persona (April 27, 2019), Love Yourself: Answer (Sept. 8, 2018) and Love Yourself: Tear (June 2, 2018).
In turn, BTS has achieved its five No. 1 albums in just a little over two years and six months. The last act to accumulate five No. 1s quicker was Future, who logged his first five leaders in just over one year and seven months (from DS2 on Aug. 8, 2015, through HNDRXX on March 18, 2017). The last group to tally five No. 1s faster than BTS was The Beatles, who strung together five No. 1s in just under two years and five months from Yesterday and Today (July 30, 1966) to its self-titled album (often referred to as the White Album, Dec. 28, 1968). And finally, the last group to achieve its first five No. 1s faster than BTS was, again, The Beatles. The Fab Four clocked its first five No. 1s in just under one year and five months, between Meet the Beatles! (Feb. 15, 1964) and Beatles VI (July 10, 1965).
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Megan Thee Stallion’s debut full-length album Good News starts with 100,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 82,500 comprise SEA units (equaling 115.85 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 16,000 comprise album sales and a little over 2,000 comprise TEA units. Good News is also the most streamed album of the week.
The 17-track Good News set follows a pair of top 10s from Megan Thee Stallion with the nine-track EP Suga (No. 7; May 16, 2020) and the mixtape Fever (No. 10; June 1, 2019).
The new album includes the remix version of the No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé. The original version of “Savage” was included on Suga.
Ariana Grande’s former No. 1 Positions rises 4-3 on the new Billboard 200 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (down 18%), Pop Smoke’s former leader Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon bumps up a notch to No. 4 with 52,000 units (down 3%) and Future and Lil Uzi Vert’s Pluto x Baby Pluto falls 2-5 in its second week with 46,000 units (down 56%).
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore charges back into the top 10, rising 29-6, after the set’s vinyl edition was released to Target stores during the tracking week, her Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions premiered on Nov. 25 and a new digital deluxe edition of the album was released.
Folklore earned 44,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 26 (up 120%), with 23,000 of that sum in album sales (up 452%). Vinyl LP sales comprise 15,000 of that sales figure (up 16,476%). Folklore’s digital album sales also increased, rising to 4,000 for the week (up 425%). A new deluxe edition of the album was issued to digital retailers on Nov. 25 that includes live versions of each of the album’s tracks (as heard in the Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions).
Luke Combs’ former No. 1 What You See Is What You Get falls 6-7 with 41,000 equivalent album units (down 2%), Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over descends 3-8 with 37,000 units (down 64%) and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die dips 7-9 with 36,000 units (down 2%).
Carrie Underwood’s holiday album My Gift jumps back into the top 10, rising 25-10 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (up 63%). The album debuted at No. 8 on the Oct. 10-dated chart, and then spent the next four weeks outside the top 50. However, it vaulted 150-39 on the Nov. 14 chart, and then rose 29-25-10 in the next three weeks, as Thanksgiving (and the heart of the Christmas season) approached.
With Starting Over, What You See Is What You Get and My Gift all in the top 10 together, it’s the first time in nearly three years that three albums which also appear on the Top Country Albums chart have all been in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 concurrently. It last happened on the Jan. 3, 2018-dated chart, when Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country, Garth Brooks’ The Anthology: Part I, The First Five Years and Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 2 were Nos. 8-10, respectively.
The Walt Disney Co. on Sunday honored Chadwick Boseman on what would have been the late actor’s 44th birthday.
On Disney+, new opening credits were added to Black Panther. The video was also shared by Marvel Studios on social media.
About 30 seconds long, the Marvel credit scene is a montage of Boseman’s beloved work as King T’Challa, aka Black Panther. The Marvel logo is done all in purple. “Long live the King. #WakandaForever,” reads the Twitter message from Marvel Studios.
“To all fans of #BlackPanther: watch the film on #DisneyPlus late tonight, for a special tribute to someone that was and will always be near and dear to our hearts,” Disney chairman Bob Iger said Saturday.
Boseman died Aug. 28 of cancer. He had never spoken publicly about his diagnosis, and his passing both shocked and devastated Hollywood and fans around the globe.
Marvel is now readying Black Panther 2 for a shoot that will start in Atlanta in July and last for upwards of six months. Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta, who was one of the stars of Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico, is in talks to play one of the antagonists. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett are expected to return for the new feature.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
BTS’ Be album landed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and the group’s devoted ARMY celebrated the happy news on social media on Sunday (Nov. 29).
Be made its debut with 242,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 26, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
It is the group’s fifth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, an accomplishment they’ve achieved in just a little over two years and six months. Out of the 11 mostly non-English language albums to ever top the Billboard 200, five of them have been by BTS: Be, Map of the Soul: 7, Map of the Soul: Persona, Love Yourself: Answer and Love Yourself: Tear.
Reactions among the BTS ARMY ranged from those expressing how proud they felt to those so excited they were actually at a loss for words (GIFs helped).
“the most bts-esque album yet,” one fan wrote, “the album the boys put their entire heart and soul into, the album that had ONE (1) version, topped the biggest album chart in the US. BTS did that. WE did that.”
Another fan agreed: “they will be remembered as a historical group.”
See some of the best reactions to “Be” debuting at No. 1 below.
Selena Gomez’s close friend Francia Raisa is speaking out against the new Saved by the Bell reboot, which recently joked about the pop star’s kidney transplant in 2017.
Raisa, who donated a kidney to Gomez, took to Twitter on Saturday (Nov. 28) to chastise the show’s executive producers and NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock following an apology they issued after receiving major backlash from the singer’s fans on social media.
“Appreciate the apology but let’s not forget about the donors that potentially felt offended and dismissed from the spray paint written on the wall,” Raisa wrote in response to the statement.
In addition to their public apology, the team behind the new Saved by the Bell said they have been in touch with Gomez’s representatives and plan to make a donation to The Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research at USC.
In the sixth episode of the reboot, which premiered last week, two students at Bayside High argue over who donated a kidney to Gomez in 2017 after she had been diagnosed with lupus years earlier.
“I know for a fact that Selena Gomez’s kidney donor was Justin Bieber’s mom. God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it,” one character says. The other student replies, “Prove what? That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were.”
In a later scene, the words “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?” are written on the high school’s walls near some lockers.
Selenators took to Twitter on Saturday to criticize the show, causing “RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ” to trend on the social media platform. Gomez hadn’t publicly commented as of press time.
In September 2017, Gomez revealed she had undergone a kidney transplant to combat her lupus, an autoimmune and inflammatory disease that sometimes causes kidney failure, when she posted an Instagram picture of herself holding hands with Raisa in their adjacent hospital beds.
Taylor Swift’s surprise live album, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Nov. 27) on Billboard, choosing the 30-year-old pop superstar’s latest album as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions brought in nearly 48% of the vote, beating out new music by Miley Cyrus (Plastic Hearts), Bad Bunny (El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo) and Jennifer Lopez (“In the Morning”), among others.
Last week, Swift treated fans to early Christmas gifts by releasing a Disney+ film documenting the making of her 2020 quarantine album, Folklore, along with a live version of the release, titled Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
In the film, Swift talks about the making of Folklore, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving an insight into how the lockdown album was pieced together.
Placing second on the tally with nearly 35% of the vote was Cyrus’ rock-fueled seventh studio album, Plastic Hearts. The 15-track set includes the previously-released singles “Midnight Sky,” “Prisoner” (with Dua Lipa) and “Edge of Midnight” (with Stevie Nicks).
Coming in third was the “other” category with about 7 percent of the vote, followed by Bad Bunny’s surprise album, El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, in fourth with about 5% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
Camila Cabello got candid about her relationship with Shawn Mendes in a note shared with her fans Saturday night (Nov. 28).
“I’ve learned a lot about love with this guy,” Cabello wrote about her boyfriend on Instagram. “It’s not just the happy blissful moments you see in pictures and videos- When you’re in a relationship with someone, it feels like they are this mirror reflecting yourself back to you- I constantly have to confront my fears, my anxieties, my insecurities, my patterns of thinking, my beliefs about life and about myself.”
She continued: “It’s not as simple as it looks in pictures sometimes. sometimes, it’s messy and uncomfortable and ugly lol. But there’s nothing like the pull, the FORCE that is love, to be the light in the darkness- to be the gravitational pull that gives you the relentless strength to be braver,wiser, and better than you were yesterday.”
“It’s so instinctive for us to love,” wrote Cabello, “even if our minds try to protect us from it sometimes, but our nature as humans is to love. And to be in love means to choose that person over and over again, to go through the messy stuff with. And that’s way more beautiful and raw and real than perfection.”
The singer went on to explain why she’s willing to speak so openly to her fans.
“I’m all for being vulnerable on social media because I think only the neatness and perfection of life is shown on here; and that can make us all feel extra lonely and weird! So raise your glass to the messiness and weirdness of being human and the miracle. And the easiness. And the instinct. And the relentless force that is love.”
Mendes recently spoke of Cabello being a calming presence in his life.
“For seven years, I was on such a speedy path down one way with blinders on, and I wasn’t keeping in touch with my family and friends,” he said. “But when I landed with Camila, immediately she had her family around more. [She’s] all about the family and friends, and it really made me like, ‘Oh, I should call my mom’ … I felt a little bit alone out there and she changed that for me.”
See Cabello’s latest post, featuring a beautiful photo of the couple, on Instagram.
Peacock has apologized for a Saved by the Bell episode that referenced Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant in a brief scene as well as donated to the singer’s lupus charity following social media criticism over the episode.
“We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena’s health. We have been in touch with her team and will be making a donation to her charity, The Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research at USC,” Peacock, NBC Universal and the show’s executive producers said in statement given to The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday (Nov. 28).
Fans criticized the show on social media throughout Saturday, causing “Respect Selena Gomez” to trend on Twitter.
In the sixth episode of the reboot, which premiered earlier this week, the students of Bayside High have their phones taken away and don’t know what to do without having access to the internet. In one scene, two students argue over who donated a kidney to the singer in 2017 after she had been diagnosed with lupus years earlier, as they do not have immediate access to web resources to confirm their questions.
In 2017, Gomez shared she had a kidney transplant over the summer due to her battle with lupus, an autoimmune disease that she was diagnosed with five years prior. The singer shared photos of her donor, close friend Francia Raisa, on social media and opened up about the secret surgery in an exclusive interview on Today.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Selena Gomez’s rep for comment.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Lil Wayne will no longer be appearing at the highly anticipated Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight. The rapper called off his scheduled performance just hours ahead of the event Saturday night (Nov. 28).
“Due to unforeseeable circumstances I won’t be performing tonight at the Tyson/Jones fight,” Lil Wayne wrote on Twitter. “Hope the event is still a success and much love to Triller.”
Lil Wayne. who just dropped his No Ceilings 3 mixtape, had previously hyped up the night when his appearance was announced earlier this month. In a statement at the time, he’d said: “This event is going to go down in history, no doubt. I’m grateful to be a part of it and share the arena with two living legends. I’m stoked to perform and give the fans something they can rock to.”
The eight-round exhibition fight between Tyson and Jones will be part of Saturday night’s four-hour live event. French Montana, Wiz Khalifa and YG are among the artists listed on the musical lineup. On Saturday night, Snoop Dogg tweeted that he’d joined the bill.
Viewing options for the fight at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, which starts at 9 p.m. ET, can be found at TysonOnTriller.com.
Drake and his son Adonis were snuggled up together in a new picture posted on social media Friday night (Nov. 27).
The rapper appeared to be taking a nap while the three-year-old, who looked like he was having a snack, rested his head on his dad.
Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and DJ Khaled were among those leaving comments on the Instagram snapshot, which had more than four million likes as of Sunday afternoon.
“Now this is beautiful,” Bieber wrote about the father-son moment.
Drake shared the first public pictures of Adonis in March and has been posting occasional photos of him since then. In September, Drake showed off his son’s first day of school. In October, he let Instagram in on the celebration of Adonis’ third birthday, giving a glimpse at the pair enjoying the little guy’s special day.
See Drake’s latest photo with Adonis on Instagram.
