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NYT: Big Sean Ends Taylor Swift's Reign on Album Chart https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/arts/music/big-sean-detroit-2-billboard.html

By Ben Sisario

The Detroit rapper Big Sean has ended Taylor Swift's six-week run at
the top of the Billboard album chart.

Big Sean, who came on the scene more than a decade ago as a protégé
of Kanye West, opened at No. 1 with his latest album, "Detroit 2,"
which had the equivalent of 103,000 sales in the United States,
according to Nielsen Music. That figure counts 94 million streams as
well as 30,000 copies sold as a complete package. It is the rapper's
third straight chart-topper, after "I Decided" (2017) and "Dark Sky
Paradise" (2015).

"TattleTales," the latest from the sparkplug rapper 6ix9ine--who
is newly released from a two-year prison sentence, after cooperating
with prosecutors and pleading guilty to racketeering and other
charges--opened at No. 4 on the chart. "TattleTales" was credited
with 53,000 sales, including 33 million streams and 32,000 copies
moved as a full album. And, like "Detroit 2," it was helped by a
number of retail deals that bundled copies of the album with
merchandise.

Such deals, long criticized for distorting the charts, may soon fade
in importance on the weekly rankings, after Billboard's latest rule
change takes effect next month. But the cat-and-mouse game between
the magazine and artists' marketers may continue in other ways. As
6ix9ine put it in a recent interview with The New York Times:
"Everybody inflates their numbers. Ev-er-y-bod-y." (Or at least they
try to.)

For weeks, the second- and third-most-popular titles on the chart
have been a pair of posthumous rap albums, and that continues once
again. One, Pop Smoke's "Aim for the Stars Shoot for the Moon" holds
at No. 2, and the other, Juice WRLD's "Legends Never Die" is No. 3.
Swift's "Folklore" falls four spots to No. 5 in its seventh week
out, with the equivalent of 48,000 sales.

On the Hot 100 singles chart, Cardi B's raunchy "WAP," featuring
Megan Thee Stallion, returned to No. 1 after a two-week absence.

On Monday, Billboard also unveiled two new charts that, for the
first time, rank the popularity of singles around the world, based
on streaming and download numbers. "WAP" is the inaugural No. 1 on
the magazine's Global 200, which covers more than 200 territories.
Maluma's "Hawái" tops the first Global Excl. U.S. chart, which
covers those same countries but filters out the United States.

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