Shania Twain debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Now, her first studio album in nearly 15 years. The set starts atop the list with 137,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Oct. 5, according to Nielsen Music.
Of that sum, 134,000 were in traditional album sales -- the third-largest sales week for a country album in 2017, and the largest for a woman in nearly two years. Now, which was released on Sept. 29 through Mercury Nashville, is Twain’s second No. 1 album and the first chart-topping country set by a female artist in over three years.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Oct. 21-dated chart (where Now debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Twain’s Now is the singer’s fifth studio album, and first since Up!, which was released in November of 2002. The latter album marked the performer’s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and spent five weeks in the penthouse (and six weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart). Following Up!, she issued a Greatest Hitsalbum two years later that hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Then, in 2015, she released the live album Still the One: Live From Las Vegas, which peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Top Country Albums.
Now is the second country album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2017, following Thomas Rhett’s Life Changes. Now is also the first country set by a woman to lead the chart in over three years, since Miranda Lambert’s Platinum spent a week at No. 1 (June 21, 2014).
Additionally, Now notches the third-biggest sales week for a country album in 2017, following Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 1 (202,000) and Zac Brown Band’s Welcome Home (139,000). Now also claims the biggest sales frame for a country album by a woman since Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller started with 164,000 (Nov. 14, 2015-dated chart).
Twain made her Billboard chart debut on March 27, 1993 with the single “What Made You Say That,” which entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 74. It eventually peaked at No. 55, marking the first of over 30 hits for Twain on the list. Her self-titled debut album topped out at No. 67 in 1993 on the Top Country Albums chart, and did not reach the all-genre Billboard 200.
Her follow-up, The Woman in Me, seriously changed her chart fortunes, as the album spent 29 weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Her third album, the blockbuster Come On Over, spent a record 50 weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums (still the longest run at No. 1 for any album in the chart’s history), and hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Twain’s Now was led by the single “Life’s About to Get Good,” which hit No. 33 on Hot Country Songs and has so far peaked at No. 12 on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart.
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, the late Tom Petty re-enters with his Greatest Hits (alongside The Heartbreakers), as the album returns to the list with 84,000 units (up 2,231 percent) and 52,000 in traditional album sales (up 3,407 percent). Petty died on Oct. 2. Greatest Hits initially peaked at No. 5 in February of 1994, following its release the previous year.
Greatest Hits is Petty’s third album to peak at No. 2 on the chart, alongside Mojo(2010) and Damn the Torpedoes (1980). He hit No. 1 once, with Hypnotic Eye in 2014.
Demi Lovato earns her sixth top 10 album with the debut of Tell Me You Love Meat No. 3. It bows with 75,000 units (48,000 in traditional album sales). She previously hit the top 10 with all five of her prior releases: Confident (No. 2 in 2015), Demi (No. 3, 2013), Unbroken (No. 4, 2011), Here We Go Again (No. 1, 2009), and Don’t Forget (No. 2, 2008).
At No. 4, Rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie scores his first top 10 album, as his first full-length studio album, The Bigger Artist, launches with 67,000 units (10,000 in traditional album sales). The set is largely powered by streaming activity, as it collected 54,000 SEA units (equaling 81.2 million on-demand audio streams for the album’s songs in its first week). A Boogie Wit da Hoodie has charted twice previously with the mixtapes Artist (No. 70) and TBA (No. 63).
Miley Cyrus’ Younger Now rounds out the debuts in the top 10, as the album bows at No. 5 with 45,000 units (33,000 in traditional album sales). It’s Cyrus’ 13thcharting effort, and 11th top 10 album (including titles billed to her former Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana). She was last in the top 10 with her 2013 effort Bangerz, which debuted at No. 1.
Post Malone’s Stoney is steady at No. 6 on the new Billboard 200, with 42,000 units (up 14 percent) while Lil Uzi Vert’s Luv Is Rage 2 dips four slots to No. 7 with 40,000 units (down 10 percent). Imagine Dragons’ Evolve falls one position to No. 8 with 39,000 units (though up 6 percent) and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. descends 8-9 with 34,000 units (down less than 1 percent). Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) closes out the top 10, as it’s a non-mover at No. 10 with 31,000 units (up 4 percent).
