2019-09-01 Rolling Stone

CHARTS

THE BIGGEST ARTISTS,

ALBUMS, AND SONGS

OF TODAY

Breaking Down a Month of Hits

Ed Sheeran

No.6

Collaborations

Project

Atlantic

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A look at the top albums from the Rolling Stone Charts’ first 30 days

ALBUM UNITS is a metric combining album sales, song sales, and audio streams,

using a custom weighting system.

ALBUM UNITS

189.3K

205.9K

185.4K

181.3K

116.4K

92.2K

91.0K

85.6K

85.2K

3

2 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

1

Sheeran’s Big Summer
Ed Sheeran hasn’t scored a
hit this year on par with 2017’s
ubiquitous “Shape of You,” but
that hardly hurt No.6 Collaborations Proj-
ect, easily the most popular album of July.
Sheeran’s guest-heavy LP — featuring stars
like Justin Bieber and Camila Cabello —
amassed more than 200 million streams.

Billie Eilish

When We All Fall

Asleep...

Interscope

Chris Brown

Indigo

RCA

J. Cole, Dreamville

Revenge of the

Dreamers III

Interscope

Lil Nas X

7

Columbia

Khalid

Free Spirit

RCA

Mustard

Perfect Ten

Interscope

DaBaby

Baby on Baby

Interscope

Various Artists

Spider-Man: Into

the Spider-Verse

Interscope

Post Malone

Beerbongs &

Bentleys

Republic

Lil Nas X Reigns
The success of Lil Nas X’s 7 EP is driven
almost entirely by just three songs: his
breakout hit, “Old Town Road,” which has
topped the RS 100 for multiple weeks;
“Panini,” which interpolates Nirvana’s “In
Bloom”; and “Rodeo,” which incorporates
a typically boisterous verse from Cardi B.

The Biggest Baby
DaBaby’s sharp, hammering raps have
quickly become multiplatform hits. The
North Carolina MC’s “Suge” received
more than 12,000 plays on the radio in
a single week during July, while popular
tracks like “Goin Baby” and “Baby Sitter”
helped power Baby on Baby to more
than 165 million streams in July.

Pop’s Can’t-Miss Strategy:

Call on Your Friends

The commercial benefits of collaboration

have become abundantly clear in the

streaming era: Packing albums with fea-

tured artists is a reliable way to bring in

more listeners. Three of the 10 most pop-

ular albums in July followed this formula:

Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project;

Revenge of the Dreamers III, a showcase

for J. Cole’s Dreamville Records; and the

soundtrack to Spider-Man: Into the Spi-

der-Verse, featuring contributions from

stars like Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, Juice

Wrld, and Lil Wayne. Each collaborative

album paired major names together to

multiply its star power — and its stream-

ing performance.

Post Malone Is Forever

The music industry is increasingly focused

on quick-rising viral hits, but Post Malone

has a rarer quality: staying power. Fifteen

months after he released Beerbongs &

Bentleys, the album is still streaming at an

impressive rate, even outstripping other

huge releases like Drake’s Scorpion, which

came out several months after Beerbongs

& Bentleys. Post’s star-studded record,

which features fellow chart-topping art-

ists like Nicki Minaj and 21 Savage, broke

Spotify records upon release and has

barely lost momentum since.

ALBUM SALES

4%

SONG SALES

4%

AUDIO

STREAMS

92%

This ranking compiles

sales and streaming

data from June 28th,

2019, to July 25th,

2019, as recorded

by Alpha Data.

SONG SALES

AUDIO STREAMS

ALBUM SALES

DaBaby

SONG

SALES

12%

ALBUM

SALES

35%

ALBUM SALES

2%

SONG SALES

11%

AUDIO
STREAMS
87%

ALBUM

UNITS

ALBUM

UNITS

ALBUM

UNITS

226.4K

AUDIO

STREAMS

53%