Morgan Wallen Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘One Thing at a Time’

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 25), as the set earned 259,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending March 16, according to Luminate. That’s down 48% compared to its debut week sum of 501,000 units a week ago.

One Thing at a Time logs the largest second-week for an album since Taylor Swift’s Midnights collected 342,000 units in the week ending Nov. 3, 2022 (chart dated Nov. 12), after debuting a week earlier with 1.578 million units.

One Thing at a Time’s second week is nearly as large as the opening week of Wallen’s last album, Dangerous: The Double Album, which launched with 265,000 units (week ending Jan. 14, 2021, chart dated Jan. 23).

One Thing at a Time is the first album by a male act to spend its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Harry Styles’ Harry’s House tallied its first two weeks atop the list on the charts dated June 4 and 11, 2022. It’s also the first country album to log its first two weeks at No. 1 since Dangerous spent its first 10 weeks at No. 1 (Jan. 21-March 27, 2021 charts). (Country albums are considered those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 albums chart, TWICE and Miley Cyrus debut at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, with their latest efforts, Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation. Both acts earn their largest weeks by units earned since the chart began measuring by units in December 2014.

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 March 25, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 21. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 259,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 16, SEA units comprise 234,000 (down 39%, equaling 308.06 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 21,000 (down 81%) and TEA units comprise 4,000 (down 53%). Notably, the album’s haul of 308.06 million streams for its songs tallies the second-biggest streaming week ever for a country album, after the set’s debut frame (498.28 million).

TWICE scores a career-high placing on the Billboard 200, as the pop ensemble’s new album Ready to Be debuts at No. 2 with 153,000 equivalent album units earned – the act’s biggest week ever. It’s the fourth top 10-charting effort for the South Korean group. Previously, the act went as high as No. 3 with its last two charting sets, Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album and Formula of Love: O+T=<3, The 3rd Full Album, both in 2021.

Of Ready to Be’s 153,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 145,500, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 10.28 on-demand official streams of the set’s seven tracks) and TEA units comprise 500.

Like many K-pop releases, Ready to Be was issued in collectible physical format packages (11 different CDs [including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target and the group’s official webstore] and two vinyl LPs [one exclusive to Target and one exclusive to the act’s webstore). 86% of the album’s first-week sales came from its CD editions. CD variants of Ready contain a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as a postcards, photo cards, etc.).

Unusually, Ready to Be had a vinyl version of the album available on the same wide release date as the CD edition of the album, as most major K-pop titles in the past were initially available only as a physical album on CD – on no other physical formats (like vinyl or cassette).

TWICE recently scored its second charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, with the new album’s “Moonlight Sunrise,” spending one week on the list at No. 84 (Feb. 4, 2023 dated chart).

Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 119,000 equivalent album units earned – her biggest week since the chart began measuring by units in December of 2014. Endless Summer Vacation marks Cyrus’ 14th top 10-charting effort, including her releases billed to her Disney Channel character Hannah Montana.

Of Endless Summer Vacation’s 119,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 61,000 (equaling 80.61 on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 tracks – Cyrus’ biggest streaming week ever for an album), album sales comprise 55,000, and TEA units comprise 3,000. Aiding first-week sales for Endless Summer Vacation were four vinyl LP variants (including one exclusive to Target and two exclusive to her webstore) and two deluxe boxed sets (one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD) sold exclusively through her webstore. 44% of Endless’ first week sales came from its vinyl editions.

Endless Summer Vacation was ushered in by the smash single “Flowers,” which has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (through the most recently published chart, dated March 18). It marks her second No. 1 on the list, following 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.”

As Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation both launch with over 100,000 units, it’s the first time the chart has housed two debuting albums each with over 100,000 units since the Sept. 10, 2022-dated chart – when TWICE also factored in. That week, DJ Khaled’s God Did debuted at No. 1 with 107,000, while TWICE’s Between 1&2 debuted at No. 3 with just over 100,000.

Both Ready to Be and Endless Summer Vacation arrive with first weeks so significant that had either arrived on the chart in the four weeks before Wallen’s One Thing at a Time debuted (March 18-dated chart), and posted the same opening-numbers, either could have been No. 1. Here are the five weeks at No. 1 leading up to One Thing at a Time’s arrival: March 11-dated chart: 94,000 units (the debut week of Karol G’s Mañana Sera Bonito); March 4: 87,000 (SZA’s 10th week at No. 1 with SOS); Feb. 24: 93,000 (SOS’ ninth week at No. 1) and Feb. 18: 100,000 (SOS’ eighth week at No. 1).

The rest of the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 consists entirely of former No. 1s. SOS falls 2-4 (76,000 equivalent album units earned; down 8%), Mañana dips 3-5 (52,000; down 13%), Midnights descends 5-6 (47,000; down 3%), Dangerous is down a spot to No. 7 (39,000; a decline of 6%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains moves 7-8 (39,000; down 4%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti falls 8-9 (36,000; down 5%) and Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss is a non-mover at No. 10 (34,000; down less than 1%).

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