Months after its Dec. 9 release, SZA‘s “SOS” is still riding high.
This week, the 23-song set tops the Billboard 200 for the ninth week — the highest tally for a female-led album in almost seven years. The last two albums by women to achieve nine or more weeks at No. 1 in the last decade was Adele’s “25,” which boasted 10 nonconsecutive weeks in 2015-16, and before that, Taylor Swift’s“1989” dominated for 11 weeks in 2014-15.
In the week ending Feb. 16, SZA’s sophomore release earned 93,000 units in the U.S. and 127 million streams according to data by Luminate.
Following Rihanna‘s highly-anticipated return to the stage for the Super Bowl halftime set on Feb. 12, the star’s 2016 release “Anti” rebounded to No. 8 on the chart (from its previous No. 50 position) with 36,000 album units sold. On Spotify, her streams spiked more than 640% across the U.S., while streams for the set’s opening track, “Bitch Better Have My Money,” surged by over 2,600%.
In fact, ever since Rihanna was announced as the halftime performer lastSeptember, three of her songs (“Umbrella,” “We Found Love” and “Love on the Brain”) crossed the billion-stream mark onSpotify.
New in the charts this week is Paramore‘s “This Is Why,” which debuts at No. 2 on the list as the reunited pop-rock trio‘s highest-charting album in nearly a decade. (“This Is Why” also landed at No. 1 in the UK and Australian charts.) As one of the year’s most-anticipated rock releases, the set enters with the equivalent of 64,000 units earned in the U.S., with album sales comprising 47,000 of that sum and 21 million streams.
Their last charting effort was 2017’s “After Laughter,” which debuted and peaked at No. 6 and is one of the band’s four top 10 appearances, including their self-titled 2013 album. The band — composed of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, Taylor York — is set to promote the record on the road for a slate of North American dates starting in May.
The top of the list is ruled by Swift’s “Midnights” is at No. 3 with 60,000 units earned, while Morgan Wallen’s unshakable “Dangerous: The Double Album” is at No. 4 with 44,000 units in its 107th nonconsecutive week in the top 10. The country singer holds the most weeks in the top 10 for an album by a single artist (the all-time top 10 record-holder is the original cast recording of “My Fair Lady,” with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60).
Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” is at No. 5 with nearly 44,000 units; Metro Boomin’s “Heroes & Villains” is at No. 6 with 43,000 units; and Drake and 21 Savage’s “Her Loss” is at No. 7 with 40,000 units. The top 10 rounds out with two former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” at No. 9 (33,000 units) and Tomorrow x Together’s “The Name Chapter: Temptation” at No. 10 (32,000 units).
