Ariana Grande scores 3rd #1 album: Comment from Music Biz President James Donio

James Donio, President of the Music Business Association (Music Biz), commented on this week’s sales numbers issued by Nielsen (published by Billboard – albums, singles) and BuzzAngle Music (published by HITS Daily Double – albums, singles).

“Ariana Grande tops the Nielsen and BuzzAngle Music charts with her third #1 album, Sweetener. She is more that living up to her title as Music Biz’s 2014 Breakthrough Artist of the Year! This new record moved over 231,000 album equivalent units to secure the second-best sales week of 2018 for a woman, trailing only Hip-Hop superstar Cardi B. According to Billboard, Grande’s album also racked up over 126 million on-demand audio streams during the week, the most ever for a Pop album by a woman. Elsewhere on the charts, the late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin continued to shine as fans remember her life through her music. Her album 30 Greatest Hits reached #6 on both the Billboard 200 and HITS Top 50 charts, her highest chart position in 50 years. Other notable debuts come from Country star Cole Swindell, who reached #8 on both charts with All of It, and the Young Stoner Life: Slime Language compilation, which reached #8 on both charts.

“Over on the singles charts, Grande’s ‘No Tears Left to Cry’ returned to the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 at #7, while ‘God Is a Woman’ hit #8 to give Grande her 10th Top 10 hit. ‘Woman’ also reached #5 on the BuzzAngle Top Songs chart, joining Maroon 5’s ‘Girls Like You’ as the only non-Hip-Hop entries in the Top 10. Speaking of Hip-Hop, Drake continued his dominance on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘In My Feelings,’ which hit #1 for a 7th week. All in all, Drake has now spent 26 cumulative weeks atop the Hot 100 in 2018, only two less than the yearly total of 28 that Usher amassed in 2004. We’ll be watching to see whether he can make chart history in just a few short weeks.”