There’s been little doubt about which album was going to top this week’s Billboard 200: Harry Styles.
ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
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ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
This week, the biggest chart news revolves around Harry Styles all the time. Other artists, occasionally.
TOP STORY
There’s been little doubt about which album was going to top this week’s Billboard 200, as Harry Styles — whose post-One Direction solo records have all debuted at No. 1 — was virtually guaranteed to put up blockbuster numbers for Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. The question was a matter of degree.
Even compared to lofty expectations, Styles has to be pleased with the new album’s performance, as it racked up 430,000 equivalent album units in its first week on the chart. With sales of 291,000 copies — including 186,000 on vinyl, a record for male artists since Luminate began tracking vinyl sales in 1991 — the record didn’t even need streaming to hit No. 1. (And, of course, its streaming numbers were massive in their own right.)
With his latest chart-topper, Styles becomes the first solo artist to debut at No. 1 with his first four albums since Alicia Keys pulled off the feat between 2001 and 2007. It’s a great run that actually matches the four No. 1 debuts of the band that made him famous: One Direction’s first four studio albums all entered the chart at No. 1.
Naturally, the blockbuster success of Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. extends to the Billboard Hot 100, as well. “American Girls” debuts at No. 4, while “Aperture” — which debuted at No. 1 six weeks ago — rebounds from No. 29 to No. 9. All of the album’s songs land in the top half of the Hot 100.
The only remaining question, at this point, is staying power. The new record has a lot to live up to: Its first-week numbers actually lag a bit behind those of 2022’s Harry’s House, which earned 521,500 equivalent album units in its first week. That record went on to win album of the year at the Grammys, while also spawning one of the decade’s biggest hits in “As It Was.”
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. isn’t as commercially ingratiating as its ’80s-pop-styled predecessor; it dabbles in post-punk and dance music while channeling bands like LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and The Durutti Column. Even still, it’s off to a terrific start.
TOP ALBUMS
With Harry Styles back atop the Billboard 200, last week’s blockbuster debut (Bruno Mars‘ first solo album since 2016, The Romantic) dips to No. 2. Last week’s other top 10 debuts — by Gorillaz, BLACKPINK and Mitski — all post steeper declines, though Gorillaz’s The Mountain stays sturdy at No. 16.
With so many recent albums vacating the top 10, older chart-toppers by SZA and Morgan Wallen drift upward to fill the void. In fact, nine of this week’s top 10 albums have already hit No. 1 — a relative calm before the coming storm, as new records by BTS, Luke Combs, RAYE, Kanye West, Robyn and others are all slated to drop before March is over.
Still, there’s one other Billboard 200 debut worth noting near the bottom of this week’s chart. Earlier this month, the legendary D.C. post-hardcore band Fugazi — which has been on hiatus since 2003 — released a digital-only album of sessions its members recorded with the late Steve Albini in 1992. Containing songs that were later reworked for 1993’s In on the Kill Taker, the recordings had existed only as poor-quality bootlegs until recently. Now, they’re available as a benefit for Letters Charity, which directs funds to families experiencing poverty and was started by Albini.
This week, Albini Sessions (Benefit for Letters Charity) debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 197 — Fugazi’s first week on the chart since its last album, The Argument, came out in the fall of 2001. Fugazi’s members have never seemed to pay much mind to matters as trivial as chart placement, but they’re surely pleased at what the band’s latest success means for Albini’s favorite charity.
TOP SONGS
Last week’s Bruno Mars boom sent The Romantic’s lead single, “I Just Might,” zooming back to No. 1 after a couple weeks on top earlier this year. This week, it slides to No. 3.
But unlike the albums chart, the Hot 100 doesn’t replace Mars with Harry Styles, who — as noted above — had to settle for placing two songs elsewhere in the top 10. Instead, a familiar title rebounds to No. 1: Ella Langley‘s “Choosin’ Texas,” which has now topped the chart for three weeks, none of them consecutive.
Langley’s country sensation isn’t No. 1 on the streaming or Radio Songs charts; it lands at No. 2 on the former (behind Styles’ “American Girls”) and No. 9 on the latter. What’s pulling it ahead of tracks like Olivia Dean‘s “Man I Need,” which this week returns to its peak position at No. 2? The answer is old-fashioned sales: “Choosin’ Texas” has topped the Digital Song Sales chart for five weeks now.
Elsewhere in the top 10: one more data point to suggest that PinkPantheress‘ “Stateside (feat. Zara Larsson)” has taken on a life of its own after Alysa Liu’s viral performance near the end of this year’s Winter Olympics. This week, it rises to a new peak at No. 6.
