Kanye West has earned his ninth consecutive No. 1 Billboard 200 album with Jesus Is King, tying Eminem’s streak for the longest in the chart’s history.
According to Nielsen Music, the polarizing project has debuted in the coveted spot with roughly 264,000 equivalent album units for the week ending October 31. While the majority of sales came from streaming, approximately 109,000 of those were pure album sales.
From 2005 to 2019, all of Ye’s albums have entered the chart at No. 1. Kanye’s only project not to land in the top spot was his debut effort, 2004’s The College Dropout, which debuted at No. 2.
Like Kanye, nine of Slim Shady’s 10 albums have also debuted at No. 1, beginning with 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP and culminating with 2018’s Kamikaze. Both Em and Ye have broken the Beatles’ previous record of eight.
As reported by Billboard, Jesus Is King’s first-week SEA units totaled about 151,000, which equates to 196.9 million on-demand audio streams for the 11 tracks on the album, resulting in the fifth-largest streaming week for any album in 2019.
Only Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding (365.4 million), Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next (307.1 million), Taylor Swift’s Lover (226.1 million) and the second week of Hollywod Bleeding (220.9 million) had more.
It also marks Kanye’s biggest streaming week ever. Jesus Is King reeled in 96.9 million on-demand audio streams, surpassing his previous biggest streaming week in 2018 when Ye hit 180.1 million.
Jesus Is King marks a new direction for the G.O.O.D. Music boss. As indicated by the title, the project is heavily inspired by gospel music and affirms Ye’s Christian faith.
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