A new album catches fire at the dawn of a new year, dominating the Billboard chart throughout the wintry doldrums, aided by insatiable fan demand and a lack of competition.
That’s a common pattern in the music industry, and it manifested itself most clearly last year, when country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” spent 10 weeks at #1. It’s now echoed by the soundtrack of Disney’s “Encanto,” which tops the album chart nearly every week this year, led by a song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which has also become its most popular single.
This week, “Encanto” tops the Billboard 200 album chart for the sixth time with the equivalent of 98,000 sales in the United States, including 123 million streams and 12,500 copies sold as a complete package, according to MRC Data, the tracking arm. from Billboard. The one week it wasn’t No. 1, “DS4Ever,” by Atlanta rapper Gunna, took its place.
For the past month, “Encanto” has had a lock on both of Billboard’s major charts. This week, “Bruno” — if you’ve opened TikTok in the past month, you’ve seen that song’s appeal — hits #1 on the Hot 100 chart for the fourth time. According to Billboard, it’s the first time in nearly 30 years that a soundtrack and an accompanying song have dominated both charts at the same time. the last one to do that was “The Bodyguard” and “I Will Always Love You,” sung by Whitney Houston, which topped the charts simultaneously for 12 weeks in late 1992 and early 1993.
Also this week, Gunna’s “DS4Ever” is at No. 2 and Wallen’s “Dangerous” – now in its 58th week – rises one spot to No. 3. Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” is No. 4 and “The Highlights””, a year-old compilation album by The Weeknd, is number 5.
Eminem and Dr. Dre, who performed at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 13, had a boost in the charts this week. Eminem’s “Curtain Call: The Hits” climbs 118 places to number 8, and Dr. Dre’s 1999 album “2001” climbs 99 places to number 9.
