US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie sets record for lowest ever selling US Number 1 album

A record is a still record, right?

US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie has reason to celebrate this week, landing his first Number 1 album on America's Billboard 200 chart this week with his latest collection Hoodie SZN.

After logging two weeks at Number 2, the 20-track collection lifts a place to Number 1, shifting 58,000 equivalent album units, Billboard reports.

However, in terms of traditional sales, it sets a new record for selling just 823 copies - the smallest weekly sales total for a chart-topping record in the US since streaming was introduced in 2014.

It's significantly lower than the previous record for the lowest sales of a Number 1 album, held by 21 Savage's I Am > I Was, which sold 3,000 copies in a week last month.

Prior to 2014, the lowest selling Number 1 album was in 2001, with Amos Lee's Mission Bell shifted 40,000 copies.

The majority of Hoodie's sales figure comes from streaming - the 20 tracks were played 83 million times.

Small traditional sales for hip-hop albums are now common, as streaming increasingly becomes the preferred way of listening for fans.

In the UK, Hoodie SZN has so far peaked at Number 29, having climbed up the Top 100 every week since its release on December 21.

MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018

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A BOOGIE WIT DA HOODIE

David Eve

18th January 2019

To clarify, the no.1 selling album this week in the US is A Star Is Born with around 21,000 (The Greatest Showman is no. 2 with 15,000). Boogie isn't in the top 100 selling albums this week. Also the US album charts is heavily influenced by singles as they do not adjust the top streaming tracks as in the UK.....

Antonios Karatzikos

16th January 2019

It's a common secret that hip hop, rap, r&b and latin artists don't sell. Their chart points come from streaming. I don't know if it's a matter of people's income or anything else but this joke has to stop.