While Khalid took a scenic drive onto the Billboard 200’s second quadrant with his 2021 mixtape, it’s been five years since his fans were last treated to a studio album.

With that set – 2019’s chart-topping ‘Free Spirit‘ – being his first #1 and second top 5 hit on the all-genre chart, it undoubtedly set the bar high for the commercial performance expectations of its follow-up.

Originally titled ‘Everything Is Changing,’ the LP was beleaguered by a murky rollout that included a string of non-charting singles and an eventual name change to ‘Sincere‘ before being softly launched on August 2.

Unexpectedly, its battle for Billboard 200 dominance was met by two BIG challengers: the newest variant of Taylor Swift‘s blockbuster ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘ as well as Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s joint album ‘Vultures 2.’

Look inside to see how ‘Sincere’ stacked up against the chart titans.

Khalid’s ‘Sincere’ 

First-Week Sales (SPS): 17,000 units

Billboard 200 Debut:  #43

With his lowest first-week sales to date, the #43 opening of ‘Sincere’ marks a career milestone for Khalid as it’s his first studio effort to miss the Billboard 200’s top 10 upon arrival.

The LP’s predecessors, 2017’s ‘American Teen‘ (#4 peak) and 2019’s ‘Spirit’ (#1 peak), opened to sales of 37,000 and 202,000 respectively.

Contextually speaking, there is some good news though.

Among the week’s new arrivals, ‘Sincere’ comes as the second highest-charting debut following the #2 nesting of ‘Vultures 2.’

Faring even better on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart, the project entered at #2 and marks his third top 5 hit on the tally following the #1 peaks of ‘Teen’ and ‘Spirit’ respectively.

As far as the Billboard 200 goes, look below to see who joins Khalid on the updated version of TGJ’s Chart Check.

Billboard 200 This Week

 *click here to see the full chart*

[photo source: Billboard]

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