CHART STORY: SKINS IN THE GAME

XXXTentacion’s posthumously released third album, Skins (Bad Vibes Forever/EMPIRE), has bowed at #1 on the HITS Top 50 Chart, moving more than 140k. At the same time, his ?—released this spring—rises #27-20, while breakout album 17 re-enters at #36.

The next highest-charting debut comes from Atlantic’s Gucci Mane, whose Evil Genius does nearly 50k—enough to land at #5. Meanwhile, new releases from Republic’s John Mellencamp (#10) and Big Machine/BMLG’s Brett Young (#15) cross the finish line with 40k and 33k, respectively.

Following the Grammy nominations announcement, Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack (Interscope) returns to the Top 5 in a #8-4 jump; “Shallow” is up for Record and Song of the Year, Pop Duo/Group and Song Written for Visual Media. Drake’s Album of the Year contender, Scorpion (YMCMB/Republic), goes #12-8.

Grade A/Interscope stream king Juice WRLD also enjoys noteworthy growth, climbing #28-19 with Goodbye & Good Riddance. Six tracks from that album were on Spotify’s U.S. Top 200 at press time, with both “Lucid Dreams” and “Armed and Dangerous” in the Top 20.

When it comes to marketshare, UMG is #1 with 60%, WMG follows with 24% and SME is #3 with 16%.

Streeting this week are Republic’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse soundtrack and Columbia’s Springsteen on Broadway, along with sets by Riser House/Columbia Nashville’s Mitchell Tenpenny, Atlantic’s Kodak Black and RCA’s ZAYN.

Now, let’s go back to thumb-sucking and whimpering our way into the New Year. Bah humbug.