Future has dropped three chart-topping albums in just six months : NPR

This week’s Billboard Hot 100 singles chart offers more of the same — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” holds at No. 1 for a whopping 12th nonconsecutive week — but there’s major volatility atop the albums chart. Last week’s No. 1 album disappears from the Billboard 200 entirely, making room for rapper Future, whose new Mixtape Pluto debuts atop the chart, making it his third new album to top the Billboard 200 this year.

TOP ALBUMS

On last week’s Billboard 200 albums chart, Travis Scott’s 2014 mixtape Days Before Rodeo raced from No. 106 to No. 1 on the strength of its long-awaited vinyl release. This week, without the benefit of that vinyl surge, it plunges again — dropping from No. 1 out of the Billboard 200 altogether — while another rapper, Future, takes his place at No. 1.

Mixtape Pluto is Future’s third album of 2024, following We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You. Those two collaborations with Metro Boomin each debuted at No. 1 just three weeks apart back in April; the former record’s song “Like That” actually kicked off this year’s ramped-up beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Naturally, three chart-topping records in six months puts Future in select company: Only two acts have duplicated that feat in the last 60 years, namely The Beatles (in 1965-66) and… the cast of Glee, which pulled it off in the span of just two months back in 2010.

While we’re talking milestones, Mixtape Pluto is Future’s 11th No. 1 album, which ties him for fifth place all-time with Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. (Drake has 13 No. 1s, Taylor Swift and Jay-Z each have 14 and the aforementioned Beatles hold the record with 19.)

This week, Future’s success comes at the expense of pop star Chappell Roan, who’d made a serious bid for No. 1 in conjunction with the one-year anniversary of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ release. The album received four new variant editions on vinyl — and one on cassette — in a push to goose its sales. The bid worked up to a point, as she sold roughly 50,000 vinyl copies, but it was only enough to lift her from No. 3 to her prior chart peak of No. 2, a position she held for two weeks in August, behind Taylor Swift and then Post Malone.

Rounding out the top five are Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (swapping spots with Midwest Princess to land at No. 3), Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion (holding at No. 4) and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (holding at No. 5). There are two chart debuts in the bottom half of the top 10 — Katy Perry’s 143 at No. 6 and Lil Tecca’s Plan A at No. 9 — while three old reliables round out the list: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (from No. 6 to No. 7), Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft (holding at No. 8) and Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (from No. 9 to No. 10).

TOP SONGS

There’ve been lots of recent weeks with little movement on the Hot 100 singles chart, but this is getting ridiculous: This week’s top 10 appears perfectly identical to last week’s top 10 at first glance, except when you notice that two of Sabrina Carpenter’s three hit singles (“Please Please Please” and “Taste”) swap places at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. That’s it!

Sure, there are minor, iterative milestones to discuss. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which holds at No. 1 for a 12th nonconsecutive week, is now tied for third-most weeks at No. 1 for any song this decade. Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” was No. 1 for 16 weeks just last year, while Harry Styles’ “As It Was” topped the chart for 15 weeks in 2022. As for the song whose run of weeks atop the chart this decade ties “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” here’s a hint: It may well hit No. 1 again, starting later this year. (Okay, here’s another hint: It’s Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” That song has actually been No. 1 for 14 weeks in all, but only 12 of them took place during this decade.)

Carpenter has hit a fresh milestone of her own: She’s now the only solo woman ever to land three songs in the top 10 simultaneously for five consecutive weeks. (Cardi B once did it four weeks in a row.) In addition to “Please Please Please” and “Taste,” “Espresso” holds at No. 3.

The rest of the top 10 is the same as it ever was — and, near as I can tell, ever shall be: Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, is No. 2; Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” holds at No. 4; and Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile” sits at No. 5 yet again. Speaking of “yet again,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” (No. 6), Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” (No. 7) and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” (No. 10) are also sedentary this week.

Also, though none of its songs hit the top 10, Future’s Mixtape Pluto makes its presence felt across this week’s Hot 100: Every one of its 17 songs has crashed the chart, ranging from No. 21 to No. 85.

WORTH NOTING

To illustrate just how stagnant the Billboard Hot 100 has gotten near the top, here’s the top 10 for the week of June 1:

1. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help”
2. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
3. Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby”
4. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
5. Billie Eilish, “Lunch”
6. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”
7. Teddy Swims, “Lose Control”
8. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things”
9. Hozier, “Too Sweet”
10. Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, “Fortnight”

Here we are, 19 weeks later, and eight of those 10 songs are still in the top 13. “Beautiful Things,” “Million Dollar Baby” and “Too Sweet” have been hovering between 11 and 13 for weeks. And, while “Lunch” and “Fortnight” have slid considerably farther, the albums that spawned them remain in the top 10; those tracks have merely been overshadowed by subsequent singles (“Birds of a Feather” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” respectively).

Consider this: Since that June 1 chart, only eight songs have entered the top 10 for the first time. Zach Bryan’s “Pink Skies” had a brief top-10 run in June, peaking at No. 6. Eminem’s “Houdini” bounced on and off the chart starting in June, peaking at No. 2. Morgan Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies” had a one-week cameo in the top 10 in July, peaking at No. 7. The remaining five tracks — “Birds of a Feather,” “Please Please Please,” “Die With a Smile,” “Taste” and “Good Luck, Babe!” — are still there. That… is not a lot of chart movement in four months.

For those who seek something fresh and innovative — something never-before-heard — at the top of the pop charts, take solace: If last year’s charts are any indication, we’re just eight short weeks from the triumphant return of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”