Ken Carson’s ‘Extra Chaos’ capitalizes on a quiet week on the charts : NPR

Ken Carson has the No. 1 album for the primary time in his profession, because the Playboi Carti-affiliated rapper knocks his mentor from the height of the Billboard 200. With Extra Chaos debuting at No. 1, all the high 10 consists of albums which have, at one level or one other, held the chart’s high spot. On the Sizzling 100 singles chart, Kendrick Lamar‘s “Luther (feat. SZA)” holds at No. 1 for a ninth consecutive week. And the albums and singles charts each carry echoes of File Retailer Day.

TOP ALBUMS

Final week’s column surveyed a couple of other ways that albums may expertise a lift on the Billboard charts — together with, however not restricted to, vinyl reissues, discount-priced digital variants and deluxe editions with further tracks. However there’s one other time-honored playbook for stars who hope to debut a brand new venture at No. 1: When doubtful, goal to launch your new album on a very sluggish week.

Billboard makes use of a system for rating albums that deploys a method referred to as “equal album models” — a quantity that represents a mixture of gross sales and streaming — and for a closely hyped streaming-era mega-hit in its first week, that quantity can simply run into the a whole lot of hundreds, and even thousands and thousands. A yr in the past, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Division pulled down a staggering 2.61 million equal album models in its first week on the charts. However even a fraction of that quantity (for instance, the 298,000 equal album models Playboi Carti’s MUSIC achieved in its first week final month) can qualify as a blockbuster success.

Each of these albums debuted at No. 1 and are rightly thought of colossal hits. However not all No. 1 albums are created equal. Take Extra Chaos, by the rapper Ken Carson. Found by the aforementioned Playboi Carti, Carson was closely influenced by — and, early in his profession, often within the shadow of — Carti’s aggressive, distorted “rage” rap. Carson signed to Carti’s label in 2019 and has been on an upward trajectory ever since; his 2023 album A Nice Chaos was seen as a inventive breakthrough and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200. This week, its sequel crashes the chart at No. 1, displacing Carti’s newest album, MUSIC, which held the throne for 3 of the final 4 weeks. It is Carson’s first solo foray into the highest 10, not to mention the highest spot.

However a better have a look at the metrics — at these pesky equal album models — reveals that the album is the lowest-performing No. 1 title in nearly three years. Extra Chaos tallied simply 59,500 equal album models, however as a result of it did not have a ton of contemporary high-profile competitors, that was sufficient to land it on high of the charts.

To provide a way of what number of older albums spherical out the chart’s higher areas, contemplate this: Each single album within the high 10 — every little thing between Ken Carson debuting at No. 1 and Bon Iver‘s SABLE, fABLE debuting at No. 11 — has hit No. 1 in a earlier week. (That final occurred in December 2023.) There are a couple of incremental shifts in momentum: Kendrick Lamar and SZA simply launched their tour collectively, and that is helped GNX and SOS tick as much as Nos. 2 and three, respectively. Woman Gaga simply performed Coachella, and that is helped her current MAYHEM rebound from No. 12 to No. 10. Playboi Carti’s MUSIC is beginning to fade, so it drops from No. 1 to No. 7.

Trying forward? It is sluggish going, with solely a handful of potential sleepers — new albums from Davido, Eric Church, Fuerza Regida, PinkPantheress, Maren Morris, Arcade Fireplace, Little Simz and some others — looming earlier than Morgan Wallen drops his 37-song opus I am the Downside on Might 16.

TOP SONGS

Talking of sluggish weeks…

No new songs enter the Sizzling 100’s high 10 this week, as Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther (feat. SZA)” holds at No. 1 for a ninth consecutive week. It is now assembled the second-longest run at No. 1 for any hip-hop track in chart historical past, trailing solely Roddy Ricch‘s “The Field,” which topped the Sizzling 100 for 11 weeks again in 2020.

The whole high 10 solely calmly shuffles the deck from final week’s chart. Alex Warren‘s swoony breakthrough “Bizarre” additional shores up its “track of the summer season” bona fides, because it climbs once more from No. 7 to No. 5 because of a surge in radio airplay, whereas Chappell Roan‘s “Pink Pony Membership” hits a brand new chart peak — and matches the high-water mark of her breakout hit “Good Luck, Babe!” final yr — by climbing from No. 5 to No. 4.

Talking of “track of the summer season” contenders, BigXthaPlug‘s “All of the Means (feat. Bailey Zimmerman)” slides a bit from its debut at No. 4 final week, however nonetheless sits comfortably at No. 8. A rustic/hip-hop hybrid with an earwormy hook courtesy of Zimmerman, it is obtained room to develop as extra radio playlists embrace it.

And, talking of songs which have positively been embraced by radio, Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Management” has simply set an all-time file that will have appeared inconceivable a decade in the past. The track, which climbs from No. 8 to No. 7 this week — and topped the chart for a single body again in March 2024 — has now logged probably the most weeks within the high 10 (58 and counting!) of any monitor within the historical past of the Billboard Sizzling 100, which dates again to 1958.

The earlier record-holder, now in second place with 57 weeks, was The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights,” which dominated early-pandemic-era playlists in 2020. And in third place? Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Tune (Tipsy),” which falls from No. 4 to No. 6 on this, its forty eighth week within the high 10. (As you may have the ability to inform, these record-setting runs within the high 10 are a particularly current phenomenon, unique to the streaming period.)

The subsequent — and actually solely remaining — milestone for “Lose Management” will nearly definitely arrive in a couple of month. The aforementioned “Blinding Lights” posted the longest-ever run within the Billboard Sizzling 100, with 91 weeks on the chart in 2020 and 2021. “Lose Management” now sits at 87 weeks, which is presently tied for the third-longest Sizzling 100 run in historical past. Provided that the monitor nonetheless sits comfortably at No. 7, it is just about sure to surpass The Weeknd’s file within the weeks and weeknds to return.

WORTH NOTING

Cultural occasions usually have an effect on the Billboard charts, whether or not it is Kendrick Lamar deriving a lift from the Tremendous Bowl halftime present or Doechii and Chappell Roan taking big leaps after acting on the Grammys. Typically, even lower-profile occasions can have an effect.

Take File Retailer Day, a twice-annual occasion wherein followers are inspired to go to their native file shops — and scoop up unique titles on vinyl and/or CD within the course of. The primary of this yr’s RSD occasions came about April 12, which fell inside the eligibility window for this week’s charts. And RSD titles, with an emphasis on vinyl reissues, dot the decrease areas of the Billboard 200. (Even the Sizzling 100 singles chart will get in on the act, as Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” — which options File Retailer Day 2025 ambassador Publish Malone — re-enters the chart at No. 33, because of an RSD-exclusive 7″ single.)

Publish Malone’s RSD actions additionally included the discharge of his Tribute to Nirvana set, which was recorded as a pandemic-era stream (he additionally carried out “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with the surviving members of Nirvana on SNL‘s Fiftieth-anniversary present) however launched to vinyl completely for this occasion; it debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 106. However Publish Malone obtained outperformed by none aside from chart perennial Fleetwood Mac, whose self-titled 1975 album obtained reissued on picture-disc vinyl and reenters the chart at No. 94.

Different RSD titles cracking the Billboard 200 embody a “crimson smoke vinyl” reissue of The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Siamese Dream (No. 114), a Tenth-anniversary vinyl version of Lord Huron‘s Unusual Trails (No. 120), Gracie Abrams‘ vinyl difficulty of Stay From Radio Metropolis Music Corridor (No. 141), Rage In opposition to the Machine’s Stay on Tour 1993 (No. 149), Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface (No. 151), Laufey and the Los Angeles Philharmonic‘s A Evening on the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl (No. 169), Lil Uzi Vert‘s Everlasting Atake (No. 176), Charli xcx‘s Quantity One Angel (No. 180), T-Ache‘s Blissful Hour: The Biggest Hits (No. 190) and Speaking Heads‘ Stay on Tour 1978 (No. 192).

All of it factors to File Retailer Day’s mainstream acceptance, but in addition to followers’ and collectors’ need to carry their favourite music of their arms. The music trade does not stay by streaming alone, and this week’s charts exhibit that listeners don’t need it to.