Kanye West's 'Jesus Is King' Debuts at No. 1
Yeezus is king of the charts.
Kanye West returns to the top of the Billboard 200 with his record-tying ninth album Jesus Is King, which earned 264,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, 109,000 were in album sales.
The gospel-rap album, which features Clipse, Kenny G, and Ty Dolla $ign, becomes West’s ninth consecutive No. 1 debut, tying Eminem for the longest streak in the chart’s history. All of West’s albums between 2005 to 2019 have opened at No. 1 besides his debut album, 2004’s The College Dropout, which peaked at No. 2.
Jesus Is King has the fifth-largest streaming week for any album in 2019, with 196.9 million on-demand audio streams, as well as the second-biggest sales week of the year for a hip-hop/R&B album behind Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding, which slides to No. 2 this week with 81,000 equivalent album units.
Elsewhere, YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s former chart-topper AI YoungBoy 2 falls 2-4 (64,000), Summer Walker’s Over It drops 3-5 (60,000), and DaBaby’s KIRK slips 4-6 (40,000). Young Thug’s former leader So Much Fun rounds out the top 10 (28,000).
Billboard 200 Top 10
1. Kanye West – Jesus Is King – 264,000
2. Post Malone – Hollywood’s Bleeding – 81,000
3. Rex Orange County – Pony – 70,000
4. YoungBoy Never Broke Again – AI YoungBoy 2 – 64,000
5. Summer Walker – Over It – 60,000
6. DaBaby – KIRK – 40,000
7. Taylor Swift – Lover – 35,000
8. Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – 32,000
9. Old Dominion – 31,000
10. Young Thug – So Much Fun – 28,000