Chappelle Rowan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess” continues its run as one of the year’s pop phenomena, hitting a new record of No. 2 on the Billboard 200, according to results released Sunday. Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets’ Division,” however, continues to dominate the album chart, reaching No. 1 for a 15th nonconsecutive week.
Swift's album remained at the top spot with 85,000 equivalent album units, down 40% from the previous week, according to Luminate data first reported by Billboard. Roan's new album, Hot, rose to No. 2 with 72,000 units, up 13%, her best weekly tally yet.
As is customary, Swift released a digital version of “Tortured Poets” during the week, which included a bonus track—a live medley of “The Prophecy” and “Long Story Short” recorded at the Lyons show—available for a few hours on Sunday. However, Billboard notes that Swift’s album would still have been at No. 1 even without the extra version, as her total digital album sales for the week were only about 10,000, meaning the new version wasn’t a determining factor in her continued chart-topping status this time around.
While Rowan's fans are eager to see if she can finally claim the No. 1 spot with her album (which is due out in September 2023), that's unlikely to happen next week. And Swift isn't a sure bet to top the chart next week either. That's because Post Malone's country album “F-1 Trillion” was released on Friday and is tipped as a likely contender to top the chart in the upcoming results.
In the calm before the storm that followed Post Malone’s new release, no albums appeared in the top spots on the chart. In fact, the top 10 consists of the same 10 albums that debuted last week, with one exception: Ye and Ty Dolla Sign’s “Vultures 2,” which debuted at No. 2 last week, has dropped out of the chart. (It wasn’t immediately clear how much “Vultures 2” dropped; that will become clear when the full Billboard 200 chart is released this week.)
Two artists have a pair of albums in the top 10. Morgan Wallen is at No. 3 and No. 8 with his albums “One Thing at a Time” and “Dangerous.” Zach Bryan's “Great American Bar Scene” is up two spots to No. 5, and his self-titled album is at No. 10.
Among artists with just one album in the top 10, Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” climbs to No. 4. Charli XCX holds onto her “Brat” album at No. 6, followed by Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” which jumps two spots to No. 7. “Twisters: The Album” benefits from the movie’s continued presence (and new interest in pay-per-view) by moving up to No. 9.
Swift didn't set any new records for spending 15 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the album chart, but Billboard notes that “Poets Department” is now tied with Carole King's “Tapestry” for the third-most weeks at No. 1 by a woman. The all-time record holder is Adele's “21,” which spent 24 weeks at the top in 2011 and 2012.
The top 10 singles on the new Billboard Hot 100 chart will be revealed on Monday.
