INDIO, CA – APRIL 15: Drake performs on the Coachella stage during day 2 of the Coachella Valley … [+]
Whenever Drake has new music to share, it’s bound to be huge, but the rapper’s latest album performed especially well, even for him. The hip-hop musician’s latest album Certified Lover Boy launches atop the Billboard 200, the charting company’s weekly ranking of the most-consumed projects in the U.S., with the most impressive sales frame of 2021 by a mile.
Certified Lover Boy debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with ease, starting its time on the tally with 613,000 equivalent units. That figure can be broken down into 46,000 pure purchases, 5,000 track sale equivalents (composed of fans buying at least one song, but fewer than the entire collection) and 562,000 streaming equivalents. Drake’s latest was a giant on streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify, among others, and it is those sites that are largely responsible for sending the title to the summit.
The 21 songs featured on the lengthy album racked up an eye-watering 743 million plays in just the first seven days they were available. Understandably, that sum is the second-largest ever, missing out on the record, also held by Drake, by just under three million plays. The rapper’s last proper album Scorpion arrived with 745.92 million streams back in 2018.
Drake has now charted a milestone 10 No. 1 titles on the Billboard 200 throughout his career. All of those efforts are counted as albums, even though the musician himself has labeled them differently, calling some mixtapes, compilations or even a playlist project. He first reached the peak position in 2010 with Thank Me Later, his debut full-length. He has since ruled with all of the following releases: Take Care, Nothing Was the Same, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, What a Time to Be Alive with Future, Views, Scorpion and Care Package.
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In addition to his 10 No. 1 albums, Drake has also appeared inside the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with three other collections, bringing his total to 13 placements in the region. As a member of the band/label Young Money, he also scored two other top 10s, though those don’t appear to count toward his overall career sum.
While he did share several new singles earlier in 2021, none of those tracks, all of which broke into the top 10 on the Hot 100 (including “What’s Next,” which debuted at No. 1), appear on Certified Lover Boy. Instead, the rap titan chose to leave those cuts on a standalone EP titled Scary Hours 2, giving fans more than 20 tracks they had never heard before.
Certified Lover Boy’s starting bid of 613,000 equivalent units shifted is enough to secure it the largest sales frame of 2021, and it wasn’t even close. Before Drake’s new full-length arrived, that honor was held by Kanye West’s Donda, which managed 309,000 units just last week.
Since Drake didn’t promote Certified Lover Boy with any singles before the album debuted, none of the songs featured on the title’s tracklist have reached the Hot 100, at least not yet. Based on how well the project performed on streaming platforms alone, it’s safe to assume that most, if not all of the tunes present on the release will find their way to the ranking when Billboard refreshes that chart tomorrow. In fact, the rapper stands a very good chance of landing not just another No. 1 hit, but perhaps a slew of top 10 smashes. In fact, there’s even a shot that he will simultaneously command more positions inside the highest tier on the tally than anyone has before.
