Drake & 21 Savage’s ‘Her Loss’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Drake and 21 Savage’s collaborative album, Her Loss, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Nov. 19) with the year’s biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop set and the fourth-largest streaming week ever for any album.

Her Loss launches with 404,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 10, according to Luminate. Streaming activity drove the bulk of that sum, to the tune of 513.56 million on-demand official streams of its 16 tracks.

Her Loss is the 12th No. 1 for Drake and the third leader for 21 Savage. Drake now solely has the third-most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, since the list began publishing on a regular weekly basis in March of 1956. Ahead of him are only The Beatles, with a record 19 No. 1s and Jay-Z with 14. Drake was previously tied with Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and Taylor Swift, each with 11 No. 1s on the Billboard 200.

Her Loss was announced on Oct. 22 and then-slated for an Oct. 28 release. On Oct. 26, its release was postponed to Nov. 4. The set was released via streaming services and as an album download via digital retailers. A physical release for the set on CD or any other format has not been announced.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 19, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 15). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Her Loss’ 404,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 391,000 (equaling 513.56 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 12,000 and SEA units comprise 1,000.

Biggest Week for an R&B/Hip-Hop Album in 2022: Her Loss tallies not just the largest week for any R&B/hip-hop set in 2022, but the biggest since Drake’s own Certified Lover Boy debuted at No. 1 more than a year ago, with 613,000 units on the Sept. 18, 2021-dated chart. Among all albums in 2022, Her Loss nets the third-biggest week by units earned, trailing only the No. 1 debuts of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (1.578 million; Nov. 5 chart) and Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (521,000; June 4).

Fourth-Largest Streaming Week Ever: Her Loss captures the fourth-largest streaming week ever for an album, by total on-demand official streams of its combined tracks (513.56 million). Drake owns three of the top four biggest streaming weeks, and half of the top 10 largest weeks.

The Nos. 1 and 2 biggest streaming weeks were logged by the debut frames of Drake’s Scorpion (745.92 million in 2018) and Certified Lover Boy (743.67 million, 2021), respectively. Swift’s Midnights debut is No. 3 (549.26 million, 2022) and Lil Wayne’s opening week with Tha Carter V is No. 5 (433.02 million, 2018). Nos. 6-10 are the debuts of Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys (431.34 million, 2018), Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die (422.63 million, 2020) and Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake (400.42 million, 2020), the second week of Drake’s Scorpion (390.98 million, 2018) and the opening frame of Drake’s More Life (384.84 million, 2017).

A Dozen No. 1 Albums: Drake’s even dozen No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 continues to pull him closer to Jay-Z, who has the record for the most No. 1s among solo acts, with 14. The Beatles have the most No. 1s among all artists, as the Fab Four has 19 leaders. Below is a list of every act with at least 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, since the list began publishing on a regular weekly basis in March of 1956.

Most Billboard 200 No. 1s:
19, The Beatles
14, Jay-Z
12, Drake
11, Bruce Springsteen
11, Barbra Streisand
11, Taylor Swift
10, Eminem
10, Elvis Presley
10, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West)

Taylor Swift’s Midnights falls to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 after spending its first two weeks atop the chart. The set earned 299,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking week (down 13%). Lil Baby’s former No. 1 It’s Only Me dips 2-3 with 62,000 units (down 24%) and Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti slips out of the top three for the first time in its 27 chart weeks, as it shifts 3-4 with 58,000 units (down 8%).

Joji achieves his third top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 — all of which have debuted in the top five — as Smithereens opens at No. 5 with 57,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,500 (equaling 52.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s nine tracks), album sales comprise 17,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set was led by the hit single “Glimpse of Us,” which became the artist’s first top 10 (and top 40) hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8 on the July 2-dated list.

Rounding out the new Billboard 200’s top 10 are Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album (falling 5-6 with 41,000 equivalent album units earned; though up 1%), The Weeknd’s The Highlights (6-7 with 39,000; down 4%), Styles’ Harry’s House (9-8 with 30,000; down 4%), Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak (11-9 with 28,000; up 11%) and Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights (17-10 with 27,000; up 32% following its release on vinyl on Nov. 4).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Keith Caulfield

Billboard