Rihanna's new album ANTI finally has its No. 1 distinction. In its second week of release, the long-anticipated Rihanna record jumped up the charts this week to land on top, besting out new releases from Kevin Gates, Sia and Charlie Puth.
During its first full week on sale, ANTI moved 166,000 album equivalent units, with 124,000 of those coming from pure album sales, Billboard reports.
Though those numbers may be solid for many artists in 2016, this marks a significant dip in Rihanna's first-week album sales (Unapologetic sold 238,000 copies in its first week in 2012). Why such a dip? The Jan. 27 release was accompanied by one million free downloads courtesy of a partnership between Rihanna and Samsung Mobile. Those free copies, which were made available via Tidal, did not count toward Rihanna's Billboard chart total.
In comparison to the 166,000 album equivalent units on the charts, ANTI has been downloaded over 1.4 million times.
Despite the relatively small sales numbers, Rihanna easily beat out her fellow new album releases on the Billboard 200. Her nearest competition comes from the first-week sales of Kevin Gates' new LP Islah, which moved 112,000 units (93,000 pure album sales). Rihanna's second on-sale week also beat out two other new albums. Sia's new album This Is Acting begins its chart run at No. 4 with 81,000 units. "See You Again" singer Charlie Puth's debut album Nine Track Mind also landed a top 10 debut with 65,000 units moved and a No. 6 position.
Though the three new releases on the chart and Rihanna's big climb from No. 27 to No. 1 are the big chart stories this week, the majority of the top 10 albums in the country are the same titles we've been seeing for months. Adele's eight-times platinum album 25 slips down two positions this week to No. 3 with 109,000 units moved (89,000 copies sold). Justin Bieber's former No. 1 album Purpose also had a major stumble this week, moving down three spots to No. 5 with 73,000 units.
Beneath Puth's debut at No. 6, Twenty One Pilots continue to have success with their breakout album Blurryface at No. 7 (43,000 units) and 2015's country breakout act Chris Stapleton continues his big chart run with Traveller at No. 8.
Bryson Tiller's Trapsoul and G-Eazy's When It's Dark Out round out the charts at Nos. 9 and 10, respectively.
