CHART STORY: TOOL TO THE TOP

With no help from D2C or a ticket bundle, Volcano/RCA’s Tool has claimed the #1 spot on HITS’ Top 50 Chart this week, unseating none other than Taylor Swift. Fear Inoculum—the band’s fifth studio album, and first in 13 years—crossed the finish line with more than 270k.

This marks the fifth biggest debut of the year (behind Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish). It is, however, the only bow of the five without a bundle of any sort.

The rock troupe's first-week number comes in large part from a lavish, $45 retail box set, which features a CD, a rechargeable video screen and speaker, scrupulously art-designed booklet, download codes and a chef's selection of the freshest sashimi. OK, we made up that last part.

Republic superstar Swift, meanwhile, slid gracefully to #2, tacking 184k+ onto Lover’s total. This brings her two-week cume above 1m (and her RTD number to about 1.3m).

This week’s second-largest bow belongs to Interscope’s Lana Del Rey, who enters at #3 with 96k.

The greatest gainer by far is Cactus Jack/Grand Hustle/Epic’s Travis Scott, whose year-old ASTROWORLD soars #30-10 following the release of his Netflix documentary.

When it comes to marketshare, UMG is #1 with 53%, SME follows with 31% and WMG nabs 14%, while the indies claim 2%.

Streeting this week is Republic’s Post Malone. Prior releases beerbongs & bentleys (2018) and Stoney (2016) have jumped up #15-12 and #38-29, respectively, in anticipation.

To commemorate such an occasion, we will stay posted up on the couch all weekend, hitting blunts the size of fence posts, probably eating a variety of Post cereals. There may also be Bud Light.

See the full chart here...