Nicki Minaj probably won’t like this. Travis Scott’s Astroworld has taken the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 for the week ending August 23. That means Nicki’s Queen moves down to No. 3.
Elsewhere on the chart, Young Thug’s Slime Language project makes its debut in the Top 10, while Aminé’s ONEPOINTFIVE just misses the Top 50.
Meanwhile, Drake’s Scorpion, Post Malone’s Beerbongs and Bentleys and Juice WRLD’s Goodbye & Good Riddance all maintain Top 10 positions.
Without pop princess Ariana Grande’s new album Sweetener, Travis Scott’s Astroworld likely would’ve had the No. 1 spot again.
With 110,003 total album equivalent units, 19,479 pure album sales and a streaming count of 132,034,741, Scott’s third studio album lands at No. 2 — even with the 46 percent decline in sales.
Scott is gearing up for the Astroworld Tour, which is expected to kick off on November 8 in Baltimore.
Queen Remains In Top 3
Despite Nicki’s ranting and raving, Queen didn’t surpass Scott’s Astroworld sales and has taken the No. 3 spot this week. Boasting 94,504 total album equivalent units, 28,577 pure album sales and a streaming count of 84,796,217, Queen is still hanging in the Top 3, which is really nothing to be mad about.
Nicki has been extremely vocal about her fourth studio album failing to debut at No. 1 last week. She blamed Spotify, Scott, Kylie Jenner and their baby Stormi for the No. 2 debut and took her anger out on social media.
Read the Queen review here.
Slime Business
Young Thug’s Slime Language has entered the chart at No. 8 this week with 41,000 total album equivalent units and a streaming count of 50,125,021.
The project follows Thugger’s collaborative effort with Future, Super Slimey, which made its debut at No. 2 with over 75,000 in first week sales.
Top 10 Billboard 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 8/23/2018
Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard’s new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.
Travis Scott — Astroworld — No. 2 — 110,003 (19,479) [132,034,741]
Nicki Minaj — Queen — No. 3 — 94,504 (28,577) [84,796,217]
Drake — Scorpion — No. 4 — 92,982 (5,788) [114,058,820]
Post Malone — Beerbongs & Bentleys — No. 5 — 57,241 (4,907) [67,526,462]
Young Thug — Slime Language — No. 8 — 41,000 (0) [50,125,021]
Juice WRLD — Goodbye & Good Riddance — No. 9 — 40,856 (985) [61,094,690]
Cardi B — Invasion Of Privacy — No. 10 — 34,381 (1,624) [39,660,212]
XXXTENTACION — ? — No. 11 — 32,808 (1,205) [48,848,486]
Trippie Redd — Life’s A Trip — No. 12 — 31,351 (1,500) [46,599,504]
Lil Baby — Harder Than Ever — No. 16 — 21,812 (226) [29,412,581]
