Youngboy Never Broke Again’s AI Youngboy 2 debuted at Number One on this week’s RS 200. AI Youngboy 2‘s first-week total was powered almost entirely by streaming: The rapper sold just 2,800 albums, but earned more than 143 million streams.
While the K-Pop group SuperM beat out Summer Walker in a hotly contested race for Number One on the RS 200 last week, both albums saw steep declines in consumption this week. SuperM’s heavily bundled The 1st Mini Album dropped from Number One to Number 18, selling just under 21,000 album-equivalent units. Walker’s Over It fared better, falling from Number Two to Number Three. However, the album’s sales plunged from 136,000 album-equivalent units to roughly 77,000.
The Rolling Stone 200 Albums chart tracks the most popular releases of the week in the United States. Entries are ranked by album units, a number that combines digital and physical album sales, digital song sales, and audio streams using a custom weighting system. The chart does not include passive listening such as terrestrial radio or digital radio. The Rolling Stone 200 Albums chart is updated daily, and each week Rolling Stone finalizes and publishes an official version of the chart, covering the seven-day period ending with the previous Thursday.
Two other rappers launched in the Top Ten this week. Lil Tjay, an 18-year-old signed to Columbia Records, arrived at Number Five with True 2 Myself. Lil Tjay’s heavy streaming count (close to 64 million streams) helped him eclipse the veteran Wale, signed to Warner Records, who debuted at Number Seven with Wow … That’s Crazy.
Metal Galaxy, the latest release from the Japanese group Baby Metal, was the only other new album to debut in the Top 25. Baby Metal relied heavily on sales, which accounted for more than 95 percent of their album-equivalent units.