Kelly Clarkson Earns Fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart With ‘Chemistry’

Kelly Clarkson earns her fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated July 8) as her latest studio effort, Chemistry, debuts atop the list. The set sold 43,000 copes in the U.S. in the week ending June 29, according to Luminate. Clarkson previously led the tally with Piece by Piece (2015), All I Ever Wanted (2009) and Thankful (2003). All told, Chemistry is her 10th top 10-charting title on Top Album Sales.

Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Young Thug nabs his sixth top 10 set as Business Is Business bows at No. 6.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new July 8, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 5, one day later than usual, owed to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S. on July 4.  For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Chemistry’s 43,000 copies sold in its first week, physical sales comprise 25,500 (18,000 on CD and 7,500 on vinyl) and digital album sales comprise 17,500. The set also enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart (her first leader there), and with 7,500 sold, Chemistry lands Clarkson her best week ever on vinyl.

Chemistry’s sales were bolstered by its availability across multiple vinyl variants, including exclusive color editions for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Clarkson’s webstore, Spotify, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart. (Target’s edition also had an alternative cover.) Clarkson’s CD sales were enhanced by multiple editions, including a signed version sold through her webstore, an Amazon-exclusive that contained a poster and a Target-exclusive variant with an alternative cover.

ATEEZ’s The World EP.2: Outlaw falls to No. 2 in its second week, with 32,000 sold (down 68%) after debuting atop the list a week ago. Stray Kids’ former No. 1 5-STAR is a non-mover at No. 3 with 19,000 (down 28%) and ENHYPEN’s Dark Blood is also stationary at No. 4 with 11,000 (down 10%). Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights is steady at No. 5 with nearly 11,000 sold (down 4%).

Young Thug’s Business Is Business is the second and final debut in the top 10, as it starts at No. 6 with 8,500 sold, with 97% of that figure from digital album sales. A small number of sales were generated by a CD edition of the album that was released late in the tracking week to a limited number of independent record stores. Business is the sixth top 10-charting set for the rapper.

Swift has two more albums in the top 10, as her former No. 1s Folklore (10-7 with 8,000; up 4%) and Lover (16-8 with 7,000; up 16%) both climb. Two more chart-topping sets round out the top 10, as SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML is a non-mover at No. 9 (nearly 7,000; down 19%) and TWICE’s Ready to Be rises 13-10 (6,000; down 9%).

In the week ending June 29, there were 1.708 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 13.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.363 million (down 17%) and digital albums comprised 346,000 (up 3.1%).

There were 620,000 CD albums sold in the week ending June 29 (down 14.4% week-over-week) and 735,000 vinyl albums sold (down 19.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 17.537 million (up 3.9% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 23.606 million (up 21.7%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 50.641 million (up 7.9% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 41.407 million (up 13.3%) and digital album sales total 9.234 million (down 11.2%).

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Olivia Rodrigo Takes a Bite Out of Sophomore Slump With ‘GUTS’-y Lead Single ‘Vampire’

It had been more than two years since we’d heard new music from Olivia Rodrigo, but that all changed first thing Friday when she released “Vampire,” the lead single from her Sept. 8-scheduled sophomore album GUTS.

In a tight, under-four-minute package, the melodramatic new song transitions from a “Drivers License”-style piano ballad to a My Chemical Romance-indebted popera, telling the story of a life-sucking user who won’t be satisfied until their victim is bled dry. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about Rodrigo’s new era, how she’s making deft maneuvers to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, and why it’s exciting to see the young pop star turn a song (and its artsy music video premiere) into a big event.

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Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on Morgan Wallen’s continued domination on the Billboard 200 (and how he’s now blocked 11 different albums from hitting No. 1) and how Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and AQUA have teamed up for a new top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Barbie World.” Plus, we’re discussing the scary news out of Team Madonna last week, when the Queen of Pop was hospitalized for a serious bacterial infection and forced to pause the start of her upcoming Celebration Tour.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

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Nate Smith Plays Never Have I Ever | Billboard Country Live

Nate Smith plays Never Have I Ever at Billboard’s Country Live event.

Nate Smith
Hi, I’m Nate Smith and this is Never Have I Ever.

Producer
Never have I ever gotten a tattoo I regret?

Nate Smith
I have got a tattoo I regret. I have a spade on my butt cheek from an ex-girlfriend who wanted to learn how to tattoo and I was like, Let me support you. Let me help you out. I bought her a machine and I was like, You know what? Let’s do this. So we did a spade there. It doesn’t mean anything. But dang, you know, it’s basically a man stamp is what I got right there. It’s just a little too high. You know? I’ll bend over just right. It’s like, I see that.

Producer
Never have I ever lied to get out of a speeding ticket?

Nate Smith
We’re gonna say never. We’re gonna say never.

Producer
Never have I ever forgotten lyrics onstage?

Nate Smith
Almost every show that happens. So it’s just, it’s a thing. And luckily, other artists mess up too. And I’ll call myself out onstage. I’d be like, I totally just screwed up, guys. Can you guys help me out? And like they’ll help me so my fans are awesome.

Producer
Never have I ever left a concert because it was bad.

Nate Smith
I’m gonna say never. I’m there to support to the end. Because I’m sure I’ve had bad shows.

Watch the full video above!

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Rufus Wainwright Reflects on 25 Years Since Debut Album, Being an Openly Gay Artist in the 1990s

It’s been 25 years since the world was introduced to Rufus Wainwright with his debut self-titled album, which featured songs like “April Fools,” “In My Arms” and many more. To celebrate, the singer-songwriter sat down with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to reflect on his career.

“I feel awful,” he jokes about how it feels to celebrate 25 years since his debut. “No, I’m very proud and excited to be alive and still making music and happy. That first record I made has proven to have lasted, and I worked very hard on it. It took me three years to make that first record. It cost a lot of money.”

As for the 25th anniversary re-issue that came out early this year, Wainwright said that the album was remastered and has some bonus material as well. “What’s interesting about the record is that it was made in the mid to late 90s, and it really was part of the last breath of the grand record company-artist relationship, where they’d sort of write all the checks and then let you do whatever you wanted to do. They really didn’t expect you to be popular until your third or fourth album,” he recalls.

“I wasn’t trying to be a trailblazer or anything,” he continues. “AIDS was still very much — it’s still part of our world today — but at that time, it was killing a lot of people, a lot of gay men, and I just didn’t want to end up in the situation if I did get AIDS at that point, that I would be dying and also have to come out of the closet. I just wanted to avert that tragedy. Thankfully it didn’t happen.”

If his debut album was released in 2023, Wainwright believes “it would be considered very unique and very unusual and very romantic, especially, because we live in such a tough world.”

Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Rufus Wainwright above.

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Rufus Wainwright Opens Up on Being One of the First Openly Gay Major-Label Artists, His New Album & More | Billboard News

Rufus Wainwright opens up about being one of the first openly gay major-label artists to succeed, the thinking behind his new album ‘Folkocracy’ and more!

Tetris Kelly:
What do you want to be remembered as?

Rufus Wainwright:
A great beauty? Hi. This is Rufus Wainwright and you’re watching Billboard News.

Tetris Kelly:
It’s Tetris with Billboard news. How you doing Rufus? Thanks for hanging out with us.

Rufus Wainwright:
Thank you for having me.

Tetris Kelly:
You got big things to celebrate. It’s been 25 years since you released your self titled debut, man. How’s it feel? 25 years later?

Rufus Wainwright:
It feels awful! No, no, I’m very proud and excited to be alive. And still making music and, and happy. And that first record I made has proven to have lasted and I worked very hard on it. It took me three years to make that first record. It costs a lot of money. It was with DreamWorks Records at the time who had a lot of money to pay for that kind of thing. It’s built to last perhaps.

Tetris Kelly:
You made changes to it. You’re re-releasing it? What’s gonna be different about the rerelease?

Rufus Wainwright:
We remastered it and then we also released some bonus material, other songs I did at the time. I think what’s interesting about the record is that it was made in the mid to late 90s. And it really was part of the last breath of sort of the grand record company/artist relationship where they would sort of just write all the checks and kind of let you do whatever you wanted to do. And they really didn’t expect you to be popular until your third or fourth album.

Watch the full interview above!

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Peso Pluma Earns First No. 1 on a Billboard Album Chart With ‘Génesis’

Peso Pluma continues to make indelible marks across Billboard’s charts. The 24-year-old singer celebrates his first No. 1 on any album ranking as Génesis rises to No. 1 (from No. 35) on the Top Latin Albums chart (dated July 8) after its first full tracking week. It also advances 10-1 on Regional Mexican Albums.

Génesis’ coronation arrives a week after the album debuted on both lists (dated July 1) with only one day of activity. The original version of the album, comprising 14 tracks, was released on an off-cycle Thursday (June 22), the final day of the June 16-22 tracking week. The new Génesis, containing three bonus tracks, dropped June 30. Both versions of the album have been combined for tracking and charting purposes, while the original version has been removed from platforms.

According to Luminate, Génesis earned 73,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. during its first official tracking week ending June 29. It becomes the biggest week by units earned for a regional Mexican album ever, dating back to when the all-genre Billboard 200 chart began ranking by units in December 2014. The previous largest week by total units arrived just less than two months ago, when Eslabon Armado’s Desvelado launched with 44,000 units (May 13-dated list).

An equivalent album unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album (track equivalent album units, TEA), or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album (streaming equivalent album units, SEA).

Largest Streaming Week for a Regional Mexican Album: As is standard among new artists, streaming powers nearly all of Génesis’ first-week totals. Out of its 73,000 units, 72,000 stem from SEA units. That figure equals to 101.18 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs. Traditional album sales contribute just under 1,000 of the remaining balance, with a slice of negligible units deriving from TEA.

With 101.8 million streams, Génesis boasts the largest streaming week ever for a regional Mexican album. Previously, Eslabon Armado’s Desvelado drew the largest, with 63.51 million official U.S. streams (May 13).

Génesis becomes only the fifth Latin album to garner at least 100 million on-demand streams for its songs in a single week, following multiple weeks by Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, two for Bunny’s YHLQMDLG, one for Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo, and one for Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito.

Further, Génesis becomes the fourth regional Mexican effort to lead Top Latin Albums this decade, after Alejandro Fernández’s Hecho en México (one week, Feb. 29, 2020) and two Eslabon Armado albums, Vibras de Noche (one week, Aug. 2020) and Desvelado (one week, May13).

Elsewhere, Génesis launches at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, his first entry and top 10 there. The set concurrently outpaces the two other regional Mexican albums which have seized a spot in the top 10, both by Eslabon Armado: Nostalgia (No. 9 debut and peak, May 2022) and Desvelado (No. 6 debut and peak, May 13).

The new July 8, 2023-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on July 5, one day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 4. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

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