CHART STORY: IT’S THE FREAKIN’ WEEKND

My Dear Melancholy,—The Weeknd’s six-song project that follows 2016 blockbuster Starboy—has bowed at #1 on HITS’ Top 50 Chart, earning more than 167k via XO/Republic. Considering its brevity— and the minimal advance promotion surrounding Melancholy, which was only announced two days prior to the drop—this is significant.

It’s worth noting that Starboy enjoyed a nice bump in tandem with the new set’s arrival, rising #45-25.

Interscope’s Rich the Kid and MCA Nashville’s Kacey Musgraves, meanwhile, debut at #3 and #4 with 56k for his The World Is Yours and 49k for her Golden Hour. The next new release belongs to Atlantic’s Hayley Kiyoko, whose Expectations comes in at #12.

Following the appearance of the remix of Sam Smith’s “Pray,” which now features Logic, Capitol full-length The Thrill of It All re-enters the chart at #38.

When it comes to SPS marketshare, UMG is #1 with 67%, WMG follows with 19% and SME is #3 with 13%, while the indies claim 1%.

Streeting this week are albums from Atlantic’s Cardi B, Columbia’s Lil Xan and Interscope’s Thirty Seconds to Mars, as well as a much-anticipated EP from Mom+Pop’s Alice Merton and two Elton John-Bernie Taupin tribute albums (one pop, one country).

In other news, the bedazzler we got to prep our Coachella outfits is jammed and we’re, like, literally losing our minds.