Boogie Wit Da Hoodie‘s capture of the #1 spot on this week’s Billboard 200 has sparked serious debates around the accuracy of streaming being the most reflective proof of an artist’s popularity. Controversial since news of its inclusion in Billboard and RIAA tallies for placements and certifications respectively, that contention was reignited once music lovers learned that Hoodie’s sophomore album – ‘Hoodie SZN’ – nabbed the albums’ chart summit with merely 823 copies sold, a record low.
The 20-song Hoodie SZN has been largely powered by streaming activity since its debut on the chart. In its premiere week, it sold just 6,000 copies, while in its second and third weeks, sold a mere 1,000 in each frame. On the new Billboard 200, of Hoodie SZN’s 58,000 total units, 56,000 come from SEA units (equaling 83 million on-demand audio streams for the album’s 20 songs), 1,000 from TEA units and [nearly] 1,000 from album sales.
The previous consumption-era low was registered just a week ago, when 21 Savage’s streaming-powered ‘I Am > I Was’ sold 3,000 copies (of its total 65,000 units).
Sign of the times or just a slow start to the year? The debate rages on. But, what can’t be debated is who joins Hoodie in the top 25 this week on the Billboard 200. Look inside to see the latest edition of ‘TGJ’s Chart Check’:
Billboard 200 This Week
[Photo credit: Getty Images]
Well if you sound like 2015 in 2019….what do you think are your other options
Why are people so obsessed with numbers these days? I’ll admit, even I have fallen victim to the numbers game (feeling like a bum if I don’t have X amount of folllowers). Who gaf what he sold. It’s inevitable that new artist will sell less than the Mjs and Whitney’s if the world, because you HAD to buy their albums. In the digital era, there are a billion artists and a billion ways to listen to the music. So it’s unfair to compare sales now to what they used to be
Sign of the times. There are only a few artists that have such a committed fanbase to actually buy their albums. This is of course a really low number of units sold, but I guess we will see that more often in the future and with the new artists arriving. The new generation of listeners is not used to buy music as they grew up with streaming so they will not start to buy albums. As much as I don’t like it, cause actually you can see this development in the quality of albums, it’s just the times. People want to consume certain songs but not whole albums anymore. But of course there will always be some exceptions like Adele, Taylor, Beyoncé or Eminem
Dang Nicki should’ve released Queen last week.
Can you imagine how low the numbers are for the rest of the artist in that charts?♀️. By the way never heard of him before.
Nope, every artist in the top 20 sold more than this clown… He just happened to have more streams, which is equivalent to actual sales unfortunately.
Oh ok ?
Thats why having a number 1 song and album don’t mean s***, cause streaming numbers can be easily manipulated.
Lmao mess. Streaming has truly killed the music industry. Exactly why #1 on itunes means absolutely nothing. This generation will never see Legends the likes of MJ/Janet/Whitney/Madonna/Prince, artists who actually earned their sales. Sign of the times alright-the End of Days lol.
Their are albums that sold more pure copies then this that should be ahead of it. Pure sales should carry more weight than streaming since it’s an actual sale. Streaming can still be accounted for. But it is bogus for an album with real sales to sit below something with a bunch of loops.
There*.
The only album I can take as a real success on that list is A Star is Born soundtrack. None of the others have done any noise or will be remembered in any way. Probably tehre just because of the streams.