Morgan Wallen’s I am the Downside had the most important week of any album this yr.
John Shearer/Getty Photographs for for Morgan Wall/Getty Photographs North America
cover caption
toggle caption
John Shearer/Getty Photographs for for Morgan Wall/Getty Photographs North America
As anticipated, nation famous person Morgan Wallen has the week’s No. 1 album, as I am the Downside debuts atop the Billboard 200. All however one among its 37 songs land within the Scorching 100, whereas his new single, the Tate McRae duet “What I Need,” debuts atop the chart. Elsewhere, the underperformance of two family names demonstrates the fickle nature of fame — and the issue of cracking the charts in any respect in 2025.
TOP ALBUMS
Final week, the English rock band Sleep Token notched its first-ever No. 1 album, as Even in Arcadia debuted atop the Billboard 200 albums chart. This week, Even in Arcadia slides to No. 6, whereas the brand new No. 1 is a debut everybody noticed coming: With the most important streaming numbers of 2025 and robust gross sales besides, Morgan Wallen’s I am the Downside is the chart-topper it had at all times appeared destined to grow to be.
With 493,000 “equal album models” — that is the cocktail of gross sales and streaming that goes into assembling the Billboard 200 every week — I am the Downside had the most important week of any album this yr. However its streaming numbers are lagging a bit behind these posted by its predecessor, 2023’s One Factor at a Time, and it hasn’t but produced a surefire “music of the summer time” contender to match 2023’s “Final Evening” (or 2024’s “I Had Some Assist,” the Submit Malone music on which Wallen featured as a visitor).
Nonetheless, blockbuster numbers are blockbuster numbers, and Wallen’s presence is felt all around the Scorching 100 singles chart (see under). It is an enormous debut for an album that guarantees to stay a presence for months — and, let’s face it, years — to come back, provided that One Factor at a Time nonetheless sits at No. 4, whereas 2021’s Harmful: The Double Album resides at No. 12.
Take into consideration that for a second: I am the Downside has 37 songs, all however one among which rank among the many week’s high 100 songs. (Technically, he is acquired 37 on the chart, as a result of “I Had Some Assist” sits at No. 19.) Even after releasing all these new songs, followers nonetheless streamed One Factor at a Time (which has 36 tracks) and Harmful: The Double Album (which started with 30 songs and subsequently expanded to incorporate 33) sufficient to maintain them each within the high 12. That is a whole lot of Morgan Wallen to go round — and his debut album, If I Know Me, continues to be sitting round at No. 75.
There’s one different debut value noting, as BTS’s Jin enters the Billboard 200 at No. 3. Echo is Jin’s highest-charting solo album thus far, after Comfortable debuted (and peaked) at No. 4 final fall.
TOP SONGS
Final week, Kendrick Lamar‘s “Luther (feat. SZA)” prolonged its run at No. 1 to a formidable 13 weeks, although Alex Warren‘s “Bizarre” appeared primed to take excessive spot. This week, “Bizarre” lastly overtakes “Luther” — simply in time to get swamped by the Morgan Wallen onslaught. With Wallen locking down the highest three songs, “Bizarre” slips from No. 2 to No. 4 and “Luther” slides from No. 1 to No. 5.
Wallen launched eight songs within the run-up to I am the Downside‘s launch — six of them cracked the highest 10 — however none of these topped this week’s chart. That honor belongs to “What I Need,” a trap-tinged single Wallen recorded with Canadian pop star Tate McRae. It is McRae’s first-ever No. 1 single (her hit “Grasping” reached No. 3), and it appears as well-positioned as any Wallen observe to contend for 2025’s “music of the summer time” sweepstakes.
All however one among I am the Downside‘s songs land on this week’s Scorching 100, and 6 of them crowd the highest 10. And the one I am the Downside observe to overlook the Scorching 100 this week most probably did so on a technicality: “Lies Lies Lies” peaked at No. 7 final July, and the bar for previous songs re-entering the chart is larger than the bar for debuts. To re-enter the Scorching 100, “Lies Lies Lies” would have needed to crack the highest 50, and since it did not, it missed the reduce.
And, in case you’ve got breathlessly anticipated an replace on the all-time data posted by unkillable hits, Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Track (Tipsy)” drops from No. 4 to No. 9 — ending, at the very least for now, its record-setting run of 45 weeks within the high 5 — whereas Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Management” has now posted an all-time-record 92 weeks on the Scorching 100, surpassing Glass Animals‘ unforgivable 2020 hit “Warmth Waves.” Pushed down by Morgan Wallen’s surge, “Lose Management” dips from No. 7 to No. 11, however now belongs to the report books.
WORTH NOTING
Charts, by their very nature, comprise solely a finite variety of titles. Which signifies that for observers, it may be simple to overlook when a notable work fails to chart altogether.
Final week marked the primary week of chart eligibility for brand new albums by two main artists: country-turned-pop singer Maren Morris (D R E A M S I C L E) and alt-rock band Arcade Hearth (Pink Elephant). However neither album cracked the Billboard 200 in its first week, and neither rallies to enter this week’s chart. For each, that is a steep drop-off from their previous chart efficiency.
Morris hit No. 5 with 2016’s Hero, No. 4 with 2019’s Lady and No. 21 with 2022’s Humble Quest. However, because the singer has tried to transition from nation to pop, she appears to have discovered a house with neither camp; D R E A M S I C L E hit No. 28 on Billboard‘s Prime Album Gross sales chart final week, however with out an accompanying streaming increase, gross sales weren’t sufficient to land it among the many week’s 200 hottest albums total.
For Arcade Hearth, the autumn was much more catastrophic — particularly provided that the band loved a high-profile spot as a Saturday Evening Reside musical visitor the day after Pink Elephant‘s launch. After peaking at No. 123 with its breakthrough basic Funeral, the band landed 5 straight albums within the high 10: 2007’s Neon Bible (No. 2), 2010’s The Suburbs (No. 1), 2013’s Reflektor (No. 1), 2017’s All the things Now (No. 1) and 2022’s We (No. 6). However Pink Elephant — absolutely damage, at the very least partially, by sexual-abuse allegations towards singer Win Butler — debuted at No. 12 on the gross sales chart and missed the Billboard 200 solely.
The underperformance of each albums speaks to the fickle nature of fame, simply because it speaks to the dominance of streaming that final week’s Twelfth-biggest vendor could not crack the Billboard 200. But it surely additionally illustrates simply how arduous it’s to crack the Billboard 200 in any respect in 2025, as honored hits crowd the rankings for years on finish because of streaming. Lately, newness and identify recognition aren’t sufficient on their very own.
