The Weeknd‘s ‘After Hours’ is projected to top the Billboard 200 for a third week straight upon its debut, making it one of the rare albums to achieve such a feat over the past decade.
Billboard estimates have ‘After Hours’ earning another 85,000 equivalent album units in the US for the week ending April 9th. The set logged the biggest debut sales week of The Weeknd‘s career and of any album in 2020 with 444,000 units. ‘After Hours’ stayed atop the chart for a second week with another 138,000 thanks to a deluxe version with three bonus tracks.
The Weeknd‘s only competitor on the Billboard 200 as of now is Rod Wave, whose new album ‘Pray 4 Love’ is projected to enter at #2 with 75k units. The Weeknd is also currently sitting atop the Artist 100 and Hot 100 Songwriters chart, while “Blinding Lights” will battle to keep its spot at #1 on the Hot 100 against the incoming “Toosie Slide” by Drake.
‘After Hours’ would be just one of 16 other albums (and one mixtape) over the past decade to spend its FIRST three weeks on the Billboard 200 at #1, joining such projects as Taylor Swift‘s ‘Red,’ Adele‘s ’25’ and Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘DAMN.’ The most recent album to achieve this is Post Malone‘s ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding,’ which has spent a total of five weeks at the summit.
With the Grammy eligibility period set to end August 31st, outlets have already started making their early picks for who will sweep on music’s biggest night. Because the Grammys tend to favor populism above all, The Weeknd‘s three-week streak at the top of the Billboard 200 bodes very well for his chances at the ceremony. In fact, 80 percent of the albums that dominated its first three weeks since 2010 were nominated in the Grammys big four categories, while all of them nabbed at least one nomination (aside from ‘More Life’ which was not submitted).
Continue below to see every album in the 2010’s that dominated its opening weeks, as well as how this success translated for artists on Grammys night:
‘Soldier of Love’ – Sade
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 1
- Grammy wins: 1
‘Recovery’ – Eminem
- Total weeks at #1: 7
- RIAA Certification: 3x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 9
- Grammy wins: 2
‘Babel’ – Mumford & Sons
- Total weeks at #1: 5
- RIAA Certification: 2x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 4
- Grammy wins: 2
‘Red’ – Taylor Swift
- Total weeks at #1: 7
- RIAA Certification: 7x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 3
- Grammy wins: 0
‘The 20/20 Experience’ – Justin Timberlake
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: 2x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 5
- Grammy wins: 2
‘Beyoncé’ – Beyoncé
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: 2x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 5
- Grammy wins: 3
‘1989’ – Taylor Swift
- Total weeks at #1: 11
- RIAA Certification: 9x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 10
- Grammy wins: 3
‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ – The Weeknd
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: 4x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 4
- Grammy wins: 1
’25’ – Adele
- Total weeks at #1: 10
- RIAA Certification: 11x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 5
- Grammy wins: 5
‘Views’ – Drake
- Total weeks at #1: 13
- RIAA Certification: 6x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 5
- Grammy wins: 2
‘More Life’ – Drake
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: Unavailable
- Grammy nominations: Not submitted for consideration
‘DAMN.’ – Kendrick Lamar
- Total weeks at #1: 4
- RIAA Certification: 3x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 6
- Grammy wins: 4
‘reputation’ – Taylor Swift
- Total weeks at #1: 4
- RIAA Certification: 3x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 1
- Grammy wins: 0
‘beerbongs & bentleys’ – Post Malone
- Total weeks at #1: 3
- RIAA Certification: 3x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 4
- Grammy wins: 0
‘Scorpion’ – Drake
- Total weeks at #1: 5
- RIAA Certification: 5x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 5
- Grammy wins: 1
‘A Star is Born’ – Lady Gaga
- Total weeks at #1: 4
- RIAA Certification: 2x PLATINUM
- Grammy nominations: 7
- Grammy wins: 4
‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’ – Post Malone
- Total weeks at #1: 5
- RIAA Certification: TBD
- Grammy nominations: TBD
How do you think The Weeknd will fare at the 2021 Grammys? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter at @PopCrave!
