NewJeans land both their first No. 1 and first entry on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Aug. 5) as their 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ debuts atop the list. The set earned 126,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 27, according to Luminate, mostly driven by CD sales of the album.
The Korean quintet brings a second all-female group to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in less than a year, following BLACKPINK’s Born Pink last September. They are the only two albums by all-female groups to reach No. 1 in the last 15 years. (Before BLACKPINK, the last all-female group to lead the tally was Danity Kane with Welcome to the Dollhouse in April of 2008.)
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, the all-star Barbie soundtrack bows at No. 2 – with the biggest week, by units earned, for a theatrical film soundtrack in over four years. Plus, Greta Van Fleet claims its third top 10-charting effort as Starcatcher starts at No. 8.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 5, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 2. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Get Up’s 126,500 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 27, album sales comprise 101,500 (with 99% of that sum driven by CD sales and 1% via digital download), SEA units comprise 24,500 (equaling 34.39 million on-demand official streams of the set’s six tracks) and TEA units comprise 500.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Get Up was issued in collectible CD packages (three main versions, available in 14 different iterations, with different covers and packaging individualized to the different group members, and all with a set of randomized branded merchandise inside, including photo books, lyric books and photo cards). Most of the permutations of the CD edition of the album saw their contents housed in a branded bag, which was then contained inside a box. The set was only available for purchase as a CD or a digital download album.
Get Up is mostly in the Korean language, but includes some English lyrics. It is the 20th mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1, and the fourth of 2023, following Stray Kids’ 5-STAR (one week at No. 1, June 17 chart), Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito (one week, March 11) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (one week, Feb. 11).
Though Get Up is NewJeans’ first album to chart on the Billboard 200, the group logged three entries before the album’s release on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including the Get Up track “Super Shy,” which climbs to a new peak of No. 48 on the Aug. 5-dated chart.
Notably, the six-track Get Up is the second No. 1 album of 2023 to have fewer than 10 tracks, after another K-pop project, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s five-song The Name Chapter: Temptation.
The all-star Barbie film soundtrack bounds in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 126,000 equivalent album units earned — the biggest week for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack, by units, in more than four years. The last soundtrack to score a bigger week was Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born, which registered 129,000 on the March 9, 2019, chart (at No. 1), following its exposure on that year’s Academy Awards (Feb. 24).
Barbie marks the highest charting soundtrack in more than a year, since Encanto led the list for nine nonconsecutive weeks (January-March 2022). Barbie is also the highest debut for a full-length theatrical film soundtrack since the Beyoncé-led The Lion King: The Gift also opened at No. 2 three years ago (Aug. 3, 2019, chart).
The Barbie album features new music from Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice and Sam Smith (among many others), and even a pair of tracks from the film’s co-star Ryan Gosling.
Of Barbie’s starting unit sum of 126,000, SEA units comprise 70,000 (equaling 93.81 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 19 songs), album sales comprise 53,000, and TEA units comprise 3,000.
Meanwhile, Barbie boasts the largest sales week on vinyl for a theatrical film soundtrack (33,000) since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. (The set’s vinyl sales were enhanced by its availability across at least six color variants.) Further, Barbie scores the largest first-week streams (93.81 million) for a soundtrack in over five years, since Black Panther started with 138.95 million (Feb. 24, 2018, chart).
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time dips 2-3 on the Billboard 200 with 103,000 equivalent album units (down 2%). The set has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 21 of its chart weeks, extending its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.
Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) falls to No. 4 in its third week (79,000 equivalent album units; down 35%) after spending its first two weeks at No. 1. Peso Pluma’s Génesis drops 3-5 (53,000; down 4%), Swift’s chart-topping Midnights descends 4-6 (49,000; down 4%) and Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album falls 5-7 (47,000; down 1%).
Greta Van Fleet notches its third top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Starcatcher starts at No. 8. The set launches with 45,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 41,000, SEA units comprise 4,500 (equaling 5.83 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 10 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Rounding out the top 10 is a pair of former No. 1s: SZA’s SOS (7-9 with just over 42,000; down 2%) and Swift’s Lover (6-10 with 42,000; down 3%).
[Source: Billboard]