Billboard 200 Chart Moves: NF’s ‘Perception’ Hits Six-Month High as ‘Let You Down’ Single Continues to Grow
On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart, NF's "Perception" hits a six-month high, Dua Lipa continues to climb, the "Now That's What I Call Music" series collects its 69th top 10 set, and Meek Mill's…
On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 17), Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods bowed at No. 1 with 293,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 8, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 242,000 were in traditional album sales. Man of the Woods marks Timberlake’s fourth No. 1 album.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the rest of the Billboard 200:
— Various Artists, Now 65 – No. 10 — The Now 65 compilation bows at No. 10 with 25,000 equivalent album units earned — all from traditional album sales. It’s the 69th Now That’s What I Call Music compilation to reach the top 10. Of the 69 top 10 sets, 63 are of the main, numbered series, while six have been genre-specific spin-off titles like Now That’s What I Call Christmas!
The U.S. Now series will celebrate its 20th anniversary later this year, as the first Now album debuted on the chart dated Nov. 14, 1998. The original Now series launched in the U.K. in 1983.
— NF, Perception – No. 17 — NF’s former No. 1 Perception climbs 21-17 with 19,000 units (up 6 percent) — its highest rank since it debuted at No. 1 (Oct. 28, 2017). The set rises in large part to a $5.99 sale tag in the iTunes Store. The title sold 5,000 copies (up 44 percent; rising 56-31 on Top Album Sales), with 4,000 of that sum in downloads (up 57 percent).
Perception’s hit single “Let You Down” continues to find new fans, as the song rises 8-7 on the Pop Songs airplay tally and 14-12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
NF’s previous album, 2016’s Therapy Session, also benefits from the iTunes discounting, as the set climbs back on the Billboard 200 at No. 80. It earned 2,000 units (up 95 percent). Nearly all of that sum came from album sales (up 95 percent), of which most were in downloads (up 134 percent).
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— Dua Lipa, Dua Lipa – No. 27 — The album’s slow climb continues, as the set reaches the top 30 — and a new peak — for the first time (15,000 units; up 4 percent). The effort’s “New Rules” rises 7-6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
— Rhye, Blood – No. 118 — The set debuts with 6,000 units with 4,000 of that sum in pure album sales. The album performed solidly on vinyl LP, as 22 percent of its debut-week sales came from the vinyl format (it debuts at No. 10 on the Vinyl Albums chart). In addition, the album performs particularly well with indie and small chain music stores, as it debuts at No. 3 on the Tastemakers chart (which ranks the top sellers at indie and small chain stores).
— Meek Mill, Dreams and Nightmares – No. 128 — The 2012 album — which debuted and peaked at No. 2 — returns to the chart for the first time since 2013 (6,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 8, up 211 percent, according to Nielsen Music). The set’s back thanks to interest in its title track, which was adopted as a de facto anthem by the Philadelphia Eagles for the team’s Super Bowl LII championship aspirations. In the Feb. 8 tracking frame, the song nabbed 4.4 million on-demand audio streams (up 215 percent) and 10,000 downloads (up 703 percent).
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