‘Black Panther’ isn’t just smashing at the box office, it’s dominating on the music charts too.

Its companion album, which was curated by Kendrick Lamar, drew inspiration from the movie in its assembling of powerful anthems from the likes of K.Dot, SZA, The Weeknd, and Anderson.Paak. 

Released on February 9th, its first full week of sales has been tallied and its chart position has been unveiled.

Details below…

‘Black Panther The Album’ officially premieres at #1 on the Billboard 200.

It powered past the competition by selling 154,000 equivalent units (52,000 of which are pure sales).

The feat sees ‘Panther’ command one of the biggest week launches for a soundtrack in recent memory. Indeed, over the last year and a half, it’s bested only by  ‘Suicide Squad: The Album’ (which opened  with 182,000 in August 2016). That set went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA.

Will a similar (or better fate) play out for ‘Panther’? Early signs look good. Lamar’s primary vehicle singles ‘All The Stars’ with SZA and ‘Pray For Me’ featuring The Weeknd have hit #31 and #7 on the Hot 100 respectively. And crucially both songs are still growing on radio and streaming platforms. The latter of which, especially, being pertinent to the LP’s longterm success.

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