The Weeknd's 'My Dear Melancholy' Debuts at No. 1

The Weeknd's latest album 'My Dear Melancholy' debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.

The Weeknd's latest album My Dear Melancholy debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making it his third consecutive No. 1 in a row. The album was released by surprise on March 30 by XO/Republic Records. In the week that ended on April 5, the album earned 169,000 equivalent album units according to Nielsen Music. This is the largest week for an R&B album since The Weeknd's last album Starboy which was released in November 2016. 68,000 of these sales came from traditional albums. His first No. 1 was 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness

On March 27, The Weeknd posted a screenshot of a text conversation with La Mar Taylor, his creative director, on Instagram. The screenshot showed a message that read, "Should we drop Friday? I'm indifferent, to be honest." They confirmed the album's release date two days later and dropped the six-track album that Friday. This is The Weeknd's first new project since the Grammy-winning Starboy. A few contributors on this project include Frank Dukes, Starrah, Mike Will Made-It, Skrillex, Gesaffelstein, and more.

My Dear Melancholy also has the highest sales week for an R&B album in nearly a year, according to Billboard. The album is the shortest (by track count) to reach No. 1 in almost eight years. As of now, you can only get the album via digital download: physical CDS are set for an April 13 release. Billboard has predicted that its lead-off track, "Call Out My Name," will soon achieve a top 10 debut on the Billboard Hot 100, which is slated for April 14.

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