All hail Abel “The Weeknd” Tesafaye. His third studio album, Starboy, debuts atop the Billboard 200 this week.
Released on November 25 via XO/Republic Records, the album sold an impressive 348,000 equivalent album units (209,000 in traditional sales) during its first week of sales. This feat makes Starboy the third largest debut of 2016, trailing behind Drake’s Views and Beyonce’s Lemonade.
It gets better. According to Billboard, all 18 tracks on Starboy have charted on the Hot 100 including his Kendrick Lamar-assisted song “Sidewalks” (No. 27) and “All I Know” featuring Future (No. 46).
Streaming is the main catalyst behind The Weeknd’s Hot 100 domination. In fact, the tracks received 175.2 million streams in just one week. Some of the popular songs include “Starboy” (33.4 million), “Party Monster” (16 million), “I Feel It Coming” (11.2 million), “Reminder” (10.6 million), “Sidewalks” (10.3 million) and “Six Feet Under” (10.1 million).
XO really did that : NUMBER 1 album !!! ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) December 5, 2016
Here’s a breakdown of The Weeknd’s Billboard Hot 100 takeover:
No. 2, “Starboy,” feat. Daft Punk (up from No. 3)
No. 16, “Party Monster” (up from No. 39)
No. 22, “I Feel It Coming,” feat. Daft Punk (up from No. 48)
No. 27, “Sidewalks,” feat. Kendrick Lamar (new)
No. 31, “Reminder” (new)
No. 34, “Six Feet Under” (new)
No. 43, “Die for You” (new)
No. 44, “Rockin’ ” (new)
No. 46, “All I Know,” feat. Future (new)
No. 47, “Secrets” (new)
No. 48, “True Colors” (new)
No. 55, “False Alarm” (re-entry)
No. 61, “Stargirl Interlude,” feat. Lana Del Rey (new)
No. 67, “Attention” (new)
No. 68, “Nothing Without You” (new)
No. 69, “A Lonely Night” (new)
No. 71, “Love to Lay” (new)
No. 72, “Ordinary Life” (new)
Starboy is the follow-up to The Weeknd’s 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness, which also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
On Feb. 17, 2017, The Weeknd will kick off his Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 World Tour in Stockholm, Sweden with special guests Bryson Tiller and Lil Uzi Vert. The North American leg will begin on April 25 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
