The top 10 of the Billboard albums chart remains largely unchanged this week with Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” leading the pack. The set has now spent four nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 with the equivalent of 177,000 album sales in the U.S., consisting of 156 million streams and 57,000 copies sold, according to Luminate.
“Midnights” topped the chart for its first two weeks of release, becoming the first album to register a million units in a week in the past five years. It dipped only once to No. 2 during the debut of Drake and 21 Savage’s “Her Loss,” which currently sits at No. 2 with 119,000 equivalent album units.
Swift’s winning streak comes in the wake of major problems surrounding Ticketmaster’s management of her latest tour ticket sales. Many fans were unable to snag tickets to her 2023 “Eras” tour of U.S. stadiums, in turn sparking several conversations and investigations on the lack of competition in the ticketing industry. In a statement,Swift said her team had asked Ticketmaster “multiple timesif they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.” She said the situation “pissed me off” and added that it was “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”
“Midnights'” leader, “Anti-Hero,” also logs another week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — where it has remained since its October arrival.
With the holiday season underway, many Christmas classics have repopulated both the songs and albums’ charts. It’s Michael Bublé’s 2011 album, “Christmas,” that steers the list at No. 10 (31,000 units; up 51%). The collection of holiday favorites has returned to the top 10 of the albums chart in every Christmas season since its release, largely driven by the evergreen “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas.”
Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is at No. 5 on the songs chart, along with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (41-6); Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (50-9); and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (a re-entry at No. 10).
Drake and 21’s “Rich Flex” keeps at No. 2 on the Hot 100 for a third week while Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” repeats at No. 3, after becoming Petras’ first leader on the Oct. 29-dated chart. Steve Lacy’s breakthrough single “Bad Habit” holds at No. 4 and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” keeps its No. 7 peak.
Harry Styles’ history-making “As It Was” slips 5-8, after spending 15 weeks at No. 1 and his former chart-topper, “Harry’s House,” lifts from No. 9 to No. 8 with 33,000 equivalent album units on the Billboard 200.
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” and Lil Baby’s “It’s only Me,” keep their respective No. 3 and 4 slots on the list while Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” logs its 98th week on the chart at No. 5. It has only fallen out of the top 10 once since its Jan. 23, 2021-dated arrival.
A new release topping the albums chart this week, Rod Wave’s eight-song EP “Jupiter’s Diary: 7 Day Theory” lands at No. 9 with 31,000 equivalent album units earned. This marks the fifth consecutive and total top 10-charting album for Wave, who has enjoyed a prolific streak of No. 1s on Billboard 200 with “Beautiful Mind” entering atop the list back in August (knocking “Un Verano Sin Ti” off the peak in the process) in addition to his 2021 release “Soulfly.”
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” returns to the charts at No. 7 spurred by its 40th-anniversary reissue which was released in new configurations and formats, some with additional bonus tracks. (All versions of the album are combined for tracking and charting purposes.)
