As expected, Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” sky-rocketed to No. 1 on the albums chart –scoring the biggest opening week numbers of 2023 for any album by units earned and the fifth-largest streaming week ever.
The 36-song record, released March 3 via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic Records, opens with the equivalent of 501,000 sales in the U.S. as the largest debut since Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” entered the charts last October with 1.5 million units. Approximately 76% of “One Thing at a Time’s” units come from its massive impact on streaming platforms, according to data by Luminate via Billboard. The super-sized set logged a total of 498.28 million on-demand streams in its first week and became Spotify’s most-streamed country album in a single day by a male artist.
The other largest streaming week holders for albums were the debuts of Drake’s “Scorpion” (745.92 million; 2018) and “Certified Lover Boy” (743.67 million; 2021), followed by Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” (549.26 million; 2022) and Drake and 21 Savage’s “Her Loss” (513.56 million; 2022). The record replaces the previous fifth-place record-holder, Lil Wayne’s“Tha Carter V”(433.02 million; 2018).
Notably, before the album’s official release, Wallen dropped a total of nine singles from the album, the first being “Don’t Think Jesus” in April of 2022 and the most recent being a set of samplers (“Last Night,” “Everything I Love,” and “I Wrote The Book”).
Wallen also clocked in five of the top 10 songs on the Hot 100, becoming the first country act to meet this mark, as well as only the sixth act overall to achieve the feat. He’s nestled between Juice WRLD (2020) and the Beatles (1964) — who also posted five top 10 tracks each on the songs chart in a single week.
“Last Night” leads the list at No. 1 with 48 million streams and 11 million radio airplay audience impressions, while four other “One Thing at a Time” songs close the top 10: “Thought You Should Know” sits at No. 7; “You Proof” is at No. 8; “Thinkin’ Bout Me” is at No. 9, and the set’s title track closes at No. 10.
Not only that, all 36 songs from the record are scattered throughout the Hot 100 — the most any artist has managed to chart in a single week. (Drake charted 27 songs from “Scorpion” in 2018 and Swift ranked 26 from “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021.)
“One Thing at a Time” is the Tenessee artist’s third studio album and follows 2021’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” a mainstay of the Billboard 200 where it sits at No. 6 on the latest chart (with 46,000 units) for its 110th nonconsecutive week in the top 10. By comparison, “Dangerous” opened with 265,000 equivalent album units earned.
Elsewhere in the top 10, SZA’s “SOS” holds at No. 2 with 82,000 units earned (down 5%) where it moved from No. 1 in the week prior. Karol G’s “Mañana Será Bonito,” the first all-Spanish-language record by a female artist to hit No. 1, slips out of the summit in its second week on the list with 60,000 units.
Meanwhile, another Latin female artist enters the list at No. 4; Kali Uchis achieves her first top 10-charting album with “Red Moon in Venus,” which collects 55,000 units earned. The mostly English-language project includes guest verses from Omar Apollo, Don Toliver and Summer Walker, and is said to be a part of a two-fold release that will include an all-Spanish-language record sometime later this year.
Rounding out the second half of the top is Swift’s “Midnights,” which keeps at No. 5 (48,000 units); Metro Boomin’s “Heroes & Villains” at No. 7 (40,000); Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” lifts one spot to No. 8 (39,000); the Weeknd’s Starboy holds at No. 9 (35,000) and Drake and 21 Savage’s “Her Loss” is at No. 10 (34,000).
The albums chart will likely see some shakeup next week following the arrival of Miley Cyrus’ “Endless Summer Vacation,” along with the release of Twice’s new mini album “Ready to Be,” to name a few.
As for the remainder of the Hot 100, Cyrus’ “Flowers” — the first single from her new record — sits at No. 2 after spending its first six weeks topping the chart; SZA’s “Kill Bill” keeps at No. 3; the Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Die for You” remix drops to No. 4 from its No. 1 peak; PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” is at No. 5; and Metro Boomin, the Weeknd and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’” holds at No. 6.
