Drake's Scorpion debuts at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart with bumper week of streams
Congratulations to Drake, whose new album Scorpion debuts at Number 1 on this week’s Official Albums Chart.
The rapper and singer’s eighth record shifted 64,000 across digital download and streaming equivalent sales to land his second chart-topping record in the UK, after 2016’s Views.
78% (50,000) of Scorpion’s sales came from streaming, giving Drake the second biggest ever opening week of streams for an album in UK chart history. Ed Sheeran’s Divide claims the biggest, posting 79,000 streaming sales in its opening week in March 2017.
The Top 5 biggest first-week streams for albums on the Official Chart are:
| ARTIST | TITLE | STREAMS |
| ED SHEERAN | DIVIDE | 79,000 |
| DRAKE | SCORPION | 50,000 |
| DRAKE | MORE LIFE | 36,000 |
| POST MALONE | BEERBONGS & BENTLEYS | 35,000 |
| KENDRICK LAMAR | DAMN. | 21,000 |
Source: Official Charts Company
Three tracks from Scorpion land inside this week’s Top 5 on the Official Singles Chart; Michael Jackson collaboration Don’t Matter To Me debuts at 2, followed by Nonstop at 4 and Emotionless at 5.
Drake denies Florence + The Machine her fourth consecutive Number 1 album – High As Hope debuts at Number 2 with just over 40,000 combined sales. Check out the Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018 so far here.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Gorillaz open at Number 5 with The Now Now, earning them a sixth Top 10 album, and Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 classic Appetite For Destruction is at 6 following a special boxset release. The band’s debut album peaked at Number 5 upon its original release.
Bullet For My Valentine’s sixth album Gravity lands at Number 13, and John Coltrane’s posthumous record Both Directions at Once – The Lost Album debuts at 15, becoming the late jazz legend’s first ever Top 20 album.
Official Charts Company CEO Martin Talbot said of the achievement: "It is quite remarkable that it has taken until 2018 for John Coltrane to register a chart hit album – and says everything about the British public’s love for classic, timeless jazz."
Further down, David Bowie live album Welcome To The Blackout charts at Number 16, while Graham Nash retrospective Over The Years (27), Let’s Eat Grandma’s second record I’m All Ears (28), and Paul Rodgers’ Free Spirit (30) all land inside the Top 40.
Finally, UK rapper K-Trap makes his Official Chart Top 40 debut at 37 with his new mixtape The Re-Up, and Military Wives Choirs’ Remember bows at 40.
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These articles are focusing more and more on streaming. I used to do streaming at the shops (before the internet was selling music) listening to whole albums there time and time again. Now what about REAL SALES? People that pay to listen to an album thousands of times until eternity, what were those? You used to write about sales too. I bet Florence + The Machine sales almost doubled Drake numbers as they were #01 and Drake was only #04 on the UK Album Sales Chart.