Rapper Meek Mill Celebrates First Billboard Chart Topping Album
By Ed Biggs in Music / Festivals on 09 July 2015
The rap star's second album 'Dreams Worth More Than Money' sold nearly a quarter of a million copies to storm to Number One, selling more than the rest of the Top Five combined.
Rapper Meek Mill has scored his first American Number One album, with his second effort Dreams Worth More Than Money entering at the top of the Billboard 200 in its first week with sales of nearly a quarter of a million over all platforms.
The Philadelphia-born star, real name Robert Rahmeek Williams, sold 246,000 copies of his sophomore effort in the week ending July 5th including 215,000 traditional album sales (i.e. excluding stream and track equivalents). His first album, 2012’s Dreams and Nightmares, peaked at Number 2 as a new entry, and three years later he’s gone one better.
Rapper Meek Mill is celebrating his first Number 1 album with 'Dreams Worth More Than Money'
Only three albums have accumulated higher first-week sales figures in 2015 in terms of traditional sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. They are Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (495,000), Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly (324,000) and Mumford & Sons’ Wilder Mind (231,000).
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Very, very far behind in the Number 2 spot is another new entry: R&B singer Miguel’s Wildheart sold 48,000 copies in its first week. Just behind that, also with 48,000 copies, is Taylor Swift’s 1989, about to spend a ninth month in the Billboard Top Ten, while Ed Sheeran’s X climbs three places to Number 4 with 39,000 sales.
James Taylor’s former Number 1 album Before This World is a non-mover at Number 5 (33,000), while last week’s chart topper Dark Before Dawn by Breaking Benjamin tumbles to Number 6 (31,000). Rockers X Ambassadors enter at Number 7 with debut album VHS.
Rounding out the Top Ten is Sam Hunt’s Montevallo holding steady at Number 8 (29,000), a new entry at Number 9 for guitar group August Burns Red with Found In Far Away Places (29,000) and the soundtrack to the movie Magic Mike XXL at Number 10 (26,000).
In other news, this week’s Billboard chart is the final one to measure the old Monday-Sunday tracking cycle. From now on, the charts will be taken from a Friday to Thursday period in order to sync up with unified global music release schedules, with the first chart to be measured this way announced this Saturday (July 11th).
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