'A Star Is Born' Soundtrack Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart
10/21/2018 by Keith Caulfield
Plus: Quavo’s “Quavo Huncho” bolts 66-2 after first full tracking week & Ella Mai’s self-titled album bows at No. 5.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set earned 143,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Oct. 18, according to Nielsen Music (down 38 percent compared to its opening frame a week ago). Of the latest tracking week’s unit sum, 86,000 were in album sales -- down 47 percent.
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 are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Oct. 27-dated chart -- where A Star is Born holds at No. 1 -- will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
A Star Is Born marks Gaga’s second album to spend more than one week at No. 1, following her first leader, 2011’s Born This Way, which spent two weeks atop the tally. Her other three chart-toppers all spent one week in the penthouse.
In the runner-up slot on the new Billboard 200, Quavo’s Quavo Huncho zooms from No. 66 to No. 2, following its first full tracking week of activity. The Migos member’s debut solo album earned 99,000 units in the frame ending Oct. 18, with 6,000 of that sum coming from album sales. A week ago, the album premiered from a partial day of activity, as the album was released on Thursday, Oct. 11 (the final day of the previous chart week’s tracking week), entering with 11,000 units.
Lil Wayne’s former No. 1, Tha Carter V, is steady at No. 3 with 85,000 units (down 37 percent), while Lil Baby and Gunna’s Drip Harder is also a non-mover, holding at No. 4 with 71,000 units (down 46 percent).
Rising R&B star Ella Mai lands the only bow in the top 10, as her self-titled full-length debut studio album enters at No. 5 (69,000 units; of which 17,000 were in album sales). Earlier in 2018, her most recent EP, Ready, peaked at No. 29 (July 21-dated chart). Both Ready and her self-titled album feature her breakthrough hit single “Boo’d Up,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Drake’s Scorpion climbs 8-6 with 55,000 units (up 3 percent), twenty one pilots’ Trench dips 2-7 in its second week with 49,000 units (down 72 percent) and Travis Scott’s Astroworld rises 9-8 with 47,000 units (down 3 percent).
Rounding out the top 10: Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys ascends 10-9 with 44,000 units (down less than 1 percent) and Eminem’s Kamikaze moves 11-10 with 35,000 units (down 15 percent).
Notably, Universal Music Group (UMG) distributes eight of the top 10 (for the second time in 2018) and the entire top six (for the first time since 2015).
UMG lays claim to everything in the top 10 except for twenty one pilots’ Trench at No. 7 (released through Fueled by Ramen/Elektra Music Group, distributed by Warner Music’s WEA Distribution) and Travis Scott’s Astroworld at No. 8 (Cactus Jack/Grand Hustle/Epic, distributed by Sony Music).
Earlier in 2018, UMG nabbed nine of the top 10 (on the Sept. 29-dated list). The last time the company held the entire top six was back on the Nov. 28, 2015 tally. That week, Chris Stapleton was No. 1 with Traveller (on Mercury Nashville Records), while Nos. 2-5 were Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood (EMI Nashville), Ellie Goulding’s Delirium (Cherrytree/Interscope Records), The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness (Republic Records) and Tim McGraw’s Damn Country Music (McGraw/Big Machine Records).