SZA continues to make music history with her second album, SOS.
In its 41st week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart, SOS is now the longest-running No. 1 album in the chart’s history, breaking The Weeknd’s previous record held by his 2020 album, After Hours, which reigned at the top for 40 weeks.
Circling back to SOS, the album has been breaking records since it was released on Dec. 10, 2022. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 318,000 equivalent album units. According to Billboard, SOS netted 404.58 million on-demand streams in its opening week, the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album. It was also the second-largest streaming week in history for an album by a female artist.
By the end of February, SOS made history again after logging its 10th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It became the first R&B album by a woman to spend the most weeks at No. 1 since Mariah Carey‘s self-titled debut LP, which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 in 1991.
Earlier this summer, SOS became the longest-leading No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in its 21st week since 1990, when M.C. Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em ruled for 29 weeks. (SOS spent 22 weeks at No. 1 on this chart to date.)
SZA’s SOS era shows no signs of slowing down. The current single, “Snooze,” moves from No. 8 to No. 3 this week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The spot increase follows SZA’s acoustic remix featuring Justin Bieber. In July, “Snooze” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart.
In other Billboard news, SZA also has nabbed her second No. 1 on the Hot 100 with her feature on Drake’s “Slime You Out,” set to appear on his album, For All the Dogs, out Oct. 6. SZA is the only artist with multiple Hot 100 leaders in 2023, so far. She topped the chart in April with her “Kill Bill,” another SOS track.
SZA is reportedly gearing up to release a deluxe edition of SOS, which is said to be titled Lana. SZA shared the news earlier this month at a special album celebration event in Brooklyn, New York.
In a fan-captured video, SZA told the audience that the upcoming deluxe will arrive this fall. “So the deluxe is like a whole ‘nother album, and it’s called Lana. It’s seven to 10 songs, and it’ll be out this fall,” SZA, whose real name is Solana Rowe, told the crowd.
A release date has not been announced for Lana at the time of publication.
