Kanye West’s latest album, The Life of Pablo, has not charted on the Billboard Top 200 despite having been released just over two weeks ago.
With his decision to thus far keep the album exclusive to subscribers of the Tidal streaming service that he co-owns, West has decidedly gone against the flow and sacrificed some of the traditional accolades (Billboard charting, RIAA certification, etc.) that artists generally use to determine how well their album is doing with fans. Perhaps it’s a small price to pay for a world-renowned artist to buck the system and stand at the forefront of a changing of the guard in the way music gets delivered to consumers.
Nonetheless, other artists are surely benefitting from West’s noticeable absence from the charts.
Thanks to a relatively slow week all around, Adele’s 25 remains the top album in the country after registering 100K equivalent albums (81K pure sales) to narrowly outpace Rihanna’s Anti. The triumph for Adele marks her 10th non-consecutive week at No. 1 and only the fifth time this century that particular feat has been accomplished. Ironically enough, Adele’s last album, 21, pulled it off in 2011 logging 24 weeks, in addition to two Taylor Swift albums (2008’s Fearless and 2014’s 1989 — both 11 weeks), and 2013’s Frozen soundtrack — 13 weeks.
As for the rest of the top 10, Rihanna’s Anti and Justin Bieber’s Purpose flip-flopped positions from a week ago. The week’s only top 10 debut belongs to Memphis rapper Yo Gotti, whose latest album, The Art of the Hustle, bowed at No. 4 four on the strength of his hit single, “Down in the DM.” And rounding out the top five is country star Chris Stapleton with his critically acclaimed album, Travelier.
Check out the complete list of top 10 albums below.
1. Adele – 25
2. Rihanna – Anti
3. Justin Bieber – Purpose
4. Yo Gotti – The Art of the Hustle
5. Chris Stapleton – Travelier
6. The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness
7. Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
8. Joey + Rory – Hymns
9. Kevin Gates – Islah
10. Bryson Tiller – Trapsoul
