Lil Yachty’s long-awaited debut album, Teenage Emotions, was released a week ago Friday (May 26) — and despite his current superstar status — Bryson Tiller was able to blow Lil Boat out of the water with True To Self, which dropped as an early surprise the same day.
True To Self debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with total sales of 106,570, marking the Kentucky native’s first #1 album. Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed fourth studio album, DAMN., is holding steady in the #2 slot while Drake’s More Life and Lil Yachty’s aforementioned album hit the #4 and #5 slot, respectively.
Bryson Tiller Lands First #1 Album
Since releasing his 2015 debut, Trapsoul, Bryson Tiller’s star has only gotten brighter. In June 2016, he was honored with Best New Artist and Best Male R&B/Pop Artist trophies at the BET Awards and appeared on DJ Khaled’s star-studded Major Key album that same year. Now, his sophomore album, True To Self, has catapulted to #1 and sold 106,570 equivalent album units in the week ending June 1, according to Nielsen Music. The album was also streamed 85,005,361 times.
Lil Yachty Debuts At #5
Lil Yachty’s fans likely had high hopes for his debut album, Teenage Emotions, but according to Nielsen Music, it surfaced at the #5 slot on the Billboard 200 with 45,589 equivalent album units sold, which is less than half of what Tiller’s True To Self pulled off.
Lil Boat took to Instagram to address the numbers Monday (June 5), writing, “I understand first week numbers didn’t do what most people expected but that’s only because they don’t understand me. They don’t understand us. I don’t expect anybody to.”
Yachty’s debut did 35,352,251 album streams, even with 21 songs on the album. Compare that to the 36,406,198 streams that Migos’ CULTURE did in its 18th week on the chart, where it’s currently holding the 14th spot.
Kendrick Lamar Still Hanging Tough
After seven weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is again sitting pretty in the #2 slot, which is where it sat the week before. The album, unsurprisingly, debuted at #1 when it was released on April 14 and is already certified Platinum. For the week ending June 1, it has racked up another 84,688,024 streams.
Gucci Mane Not So Gucci
The tireless workhorse known as Gucci Mane dropped his latest project, DropTopWop, last week, but couldn’t crack the Top 10. The album debuted in the #12 slot with a total of 32,202 equivalent album unit sales and 33,483,768 streams.
Gucci’s first post-prison LP, Everybody Looking, debuted in the #2 spot last August with first-week equivalent sales of 67,984.
Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 6/01/2017
Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard’s new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.
- Bryson Tiller — True To Self — #1 — 106,570 (47,436) [85,005,361]
- Kendrick Lamar — DAMN. — #2 — 84,428 (19,699) [84,688,024]
- Drake — More Life — #4 — 49,721 (2,844) [63,905,782]
- Lil Yachty — Teenage Emotions — #5 — 45,589 (20,344) [63,905,782]
- Bruno Mars — 24k Magic — #7 — 38,020 (14,941) [22,391,553]
- Gucci Mane — DropTopWop — #12 — 32,202 (8,151) [33,483,768]
- Post Malone — Stoney — #13 — 29,849 (2,238) [34,232,070]
- Migos — Culture — #14 — 29,356 (2,204) [36,406,198]
- Future — Future — #17 — 28,238 (1,020) [34,967,974]
- Khalid — American Teen — #19 — 24,411 (2,343) [30,140,853]
I wish i could sing like Bryson Tiller and Lebron James daddy
the boat has provided the best response. maybe the first week sales weren’t all that (i for sure bought the album), but look how many streams it got. 30 million plus, that means millions of people were willing to give teenage emotions a listen to see what yachty had to say. they may not understand but they gave it a try. and some probably liked it so much that they streamed and listened to it again and again. it’ll take time before the people finally start to understand and he’ll have the bigger sales to back it up. just look at some old rappers that old heads consider “great”. jay-z and nas’ debut albums didn’t do so well at first, but on their next albums, they started going platinum and going #1 on the charts. people didn’t understand migos at first either, but now, they’re getting the sales and #1 albums. yachty will be there soon. mark my words, haters.
Go to sleep, kid.
Is Nicki Minaj done out here….why is none of her songs hitting?
Remy Ma killed her. Rest in peace, Nicki.
Did yall hear? The HHDX troll Djf just committed su1 cide. sad man.
#ripDjf
Who’s Djf?
Congratulations to Yachty for scoring ~195 places higher on the charts than his “music” deserved
¨I make it for those who listen. I feel like my brand is so big and blew up so big, it blew up bigger than my actual music.¨ yes exactly, pure hype and no good music
Exactly coz your music is trash, garbage go back to the basics get it right then head to the studio man…otherwise the album is trash teenage emotions…dont get emotional now it’s a flop.