Playboi Carti's supersized blockbuster MUSIC holds at No. 1 in its second week of release, but it had to fend off a strong charge from another new record — Selena Gomez and benny blanco's I Said I Love You First — in order to do so. On the Hot 100 singles chart, Kendrick Lamar's "Luther (feat. SZA)" holds at No. 1 for a sixth consecutive week, while Morgan Wallen has just charted a fifth top 10 hit from an album that isn't even out yet.
TOP ALBUMS
Last week, Playboi Carti's long-awaited blockbuster MUSIC debuted atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, as it experienced the strongest single week of streaming since Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department nearly a year ago. All 30 of MUSIC's songs cracked the Hot 100 singles chart, including two tracks in the top five. It was a big week to be Playboi Carti.
On this week's Billboard 200, MUSIC still sits at No. 1. But it wasn't easy, as the blockbuster first-week streaming numbers subsided and Carti faced a strong challenge from the duo of Selena Gomez and her producer/fiancé benny blanco. The pair's new collaborative album, I Said I Love You First, debuted at No. 2 — and came within 11,000 "equivalent album units" (the cocktail of sales and streaming that determines the Billboard album rankings) of taking the top spot.
Gomez and blanco's team pulled out all the stops to take the top spot: They released many variant editions, both physically (vinyl and CD) and digitally, and offered deep discounts for the album's nine different available digital variants. But Carti and his team weren't content to coast on last week's shock-and-awe debut, either: They actually released a deluxe edition of the week-old MUSIC, adding four new tracks to streaming services in an attempt to keep fans streaming the album. It worked, but the final tally of equivalent album units — 131,000 for Carti, 120,000 for Gomez and blanco — was surprisingly close, given how well MUSIC performed in its first week.
Even with the decline in his second-week numbers, Playboi Carti is better positioned for sustained chart success: MUSIC's chart strength is fueled primarily by its streaming numbers, while more than half of I Said I Love You First's numbers come from sales, which don't carry over from week to week. Next week, MUSIC's biggest competition may well come from Kendrick Lamar's GNX, which is still lying in wait — and holding steady — at No. 3.
Elsewhere in the top 10, stasis reigns, though Lady Gaga's MAYHEM looks to be fading a bit: The album dropped from No. 2 to No. 7 in its third week on the chart.
TOP SONGS
For those who crave volatility on the Billboard charts, here's a bit of good news: Fully half of last week's top 10 singles — Playboi Carti's "EVIL J0RDAN" and "RATHER LIE," Chappell Roan's "The Giver," Billie Eilish's "Birds Of A Feather" and Doechii's "Anxiety" — have slid out of the top 10 to make room for different songs. Now, here's the bad news: Four of the five beneficiaries are old as dirt. Does it count as a refresh when four new tracks (all of the above minus "Birds of a Feather") slide down to make way for the return of fossils like Benson Boone's "Beautiful Things" (up from No. 15 to No. 8 in its 61st week on the chart) and Teddy Swims' "Lose Control" (up from No. 12 to No. 6 in week No. 84)?
There's nothing wrong with a still-dominant song like Kendrick Lamar's "Luther (feat. SZA)" holding at No. 1 for a sixth consecutive week; that track has only been in circulation since December. Nor is the rise of Roan's "Pink Pony Club" — from No. 9 to a new peak at No. 5 — anything to lament, given that Roan has been on a hot streak and the song is still gaining steam on its long and winding journey from obscurity to dominance. But it's wild to see Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," which topped the Hot 100 for a record-tying 19 weeks last year, rise from No. 6 to No. 3 in its 50th week on the chart. There are other songs, people! Some of them are even by Shaboozey!
Just two songs in this week's top 10 came out during this calendar year: Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR's "Nokia," which climbs from No. 11 to No. 7, and Morgan Wallen's "Just in Case," which debuts at No. 4. For more on Wallen's latest feat — which includes an accomplishment no one had ever pulled off until now — keep reading.
WORTH NOTING
With the Hot 100 debut of Morgan Wallen's "Just in Case" at No. 4, the country star has done something no one has ever done before. But first, a quick explainer.
There are many effective ways to roll out a new album. The traditional approach is to make an announcement months in advance, then allow new information — and advance singles — to trickle out in the run-up to the release date. One new-school, streaming-era approach has major stars dropping albums with little to no advance notice, as when Kendrick Lamar dropped GNX with no warning in December, or when Playboi Carti released MUSIC on a day's notice a few weeks ago. There are risks and rewards to both approaches, and to the many approaches in between, but most artists (and their labels and management teams) still like to work with a bit of a runway. Advance notice builds anticipation, gets fans excited, lays the groundwork for radio airplay and makes it easier to line up promotional opportunities.
For Wallen's forthcoming album I'm the Problem — which drops May 16 — the pre-release runway stretches all the way back to last summer, when the country star dropped "Lies Lies Lies." That song peaked at No. 7 last July and stuck around the top 40 for months, though it's since slipped off the Hot 100. Last November, another single ("Love Somebody") debuted at No. 1; it's still in the top 20. In January, "Smile" peaked at No. 4; this week, that song rises from No. 74 to No. 43. A few weeks later, I'm the Problem's title track debuted at No. 2, and this week climbs from No. 21 to No. 11. And now, with the debut of "Just in Case" at No. 4, Wallen has charted five top 10 singles from an album that isn't even out yet — and he's the first artist ever to do so. (This isn't even counting "I Had Some Help," his chart-topping duet with Post Malone, which also came out last year. That song holds at No. 19 this week.)
Prior to Wallen's feat, two artists have landed four top 10 singles in the run-up to an album's release: Post Malone with 2019's Hollywood's Bleeding and Taylor Swift with Red in 2012. But Wallen stands alone with I'm the Problem, and he might even not be done yet: The album doesn't come out for another six weeks — and yet another of its songs, "I'm a Little Crazy," debuts at No. 17 on this week's chart.
There's little question that I'm the Problem will be one of 2025's biggest albums, given its pre-release success and the fact that its predecessor (2023's One Thing at a Time) still sits in the top 10 two years after its release. What remains to be seen is which Wallen song — if any — is able to break out as a dominant, "song of the summer"-style chart-topper. He did it in 2023 with "Last Night," and he and Post Malone did it last summer with "I Had Some Help." Wallen has already bought six tickets for this year's "song of the summer" sweepstakes. Who knows how many more will be set to pay off in the weeks and months to come?
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