On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 13), Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. spent a second straight week atop the list, earning 239,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 27, according to Nielsen Music. Elsewhere in the top 10, Incubus’ 8 arrived at No. 4, while the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 soundtrack beamed in at No. 8.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the latest Billboard 200 chart:
— Barry Manilow, This Is My Town: Songs of New York – No. 12 — Barry Manilow (above) achieves his 26th top 40-charting album on the Billboard 200, as This Is My Town: Songs of New York arrives at No. 12 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 27. Nearly all of that sum was driven by traditional album sales.
A significant number of the album’s sales were via QVC, which hosted the singer in a special on April 12. The QVC edition of the album came with four live bonus tracks.
Manilow has been on a Billboard 200 hot streak since 2002, when his greatest-hits collection Ultimate Manilow debuted and peaked at No. 3 (Feb. 23, 2002), becoming his highest-charting set (and first top 10) since 1979’s One Voice (No. 9).
Since 2002, Manilow has logged a dozen top 40 efforts (including Ultimate). Further, he has notched at least one top 40 album in each decade from the 1970s through the 2010s.
— Brad Paisley, Love and War - No. 13 — The country star claims his 13thcharting effort, as his new studio LP bows at No. 13 with 29,000 units (26,000 in traditional album sales). It’s Paisley’s first non-holiday studio set to miss the top 10 since his second album, Part II, debuted and peaked at No. 31 in 2001. In total, he’s claimed nine top 10 sets (eight studio albums and one live recording).
— Sheryl Crow, Be Myself - No. 22 — Crow’s ninth studio album bows with 20,000 units (nearly all from traditional album sales). Crow’s last release, 2013’s Feels Like Home, launched at No. 7 with 36,000 in sales. All of Crow’s previous studio albums reached the top 10 – from Tuesday Night Music Club (peaking at No. 3 in 1995) to Feels Like Home. (She also clocked a top 10 effort with the greatest hits package The Very Best of Sheryl Crow in 2004.)
— Drake, Views – No. 27 — Drake’s Views spends a full year on the chart as it moves 20-27 in its 52nd week on the tally. The album (4.77 million units earned; 1.68 million albums sold) has yet to leave the top 30.
— Ray Davies, Americana - No. 79 — Ray Davies scores his highest-charting solo album with Americana’s bow at No. 79. The effort is his first solo set since 2008. He previously reached the list with Working Man’s Café (No. 140, 2008) and Other People’s Lives (No. 122, 2006). Fittingly, Americana also debuts at No. 3 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart.
Davies’ former band The Kinks of course clocked a bevy of albums on the Billboard 200. The act earned 33 charting sets between 1964 and 1993, including one top 10: 1966’s The Kinks Greatest Hits (No. 9).