Rihanna’s Anti made a comeback on the Billboard 200 album chart this week thanks to a very slow week in album sales.
Anti needed to move just 54,000 units during the week ending on March 17 to top the chart, reports Billboard. Of that total, Nielsen Music says that just 17,000 came from actual album sales. That means that 69 percent of its total this week came from album streams and track downloads.
Despite being in the music business for a decade, ANTI is only Rihanna’s second No. 1 album, after the success of 2012’s Unapologetic. Even more impressive is that ANTI is her first album to earn more than one week at No. 1.
Had Billboard still been basing the Billboard 200 chart on the same just actual album sales, Hymns by Joey + Rory would have been the No. 1 album of the week. It topped the Top Album Charts this week with just over 44,000 copies sold during the week.
The album’s success has been bittersweet and comes after the death of Joey Feek on March 4. Feek battled cancer while recording the album with her husband, Rory. The album is only the sixth Christian/gospel album to be the best-selling album of a week on Billboard.
There were two debuts on the chart this week. Killswitch Engage’s Incarnate moved just 35,000 units, but it was enough to earn the No. 6 slot. Flatbush Zombie’s 3001: A Laccd Odyssey came in at No. 10 with 28,000 units.
Here’s the full Top 10: (*new release)
Rihanna, ANTI (54,000 units)
Adele, 25 (51,000)
Justin Bieber, Purpose (48,000)
Joey + Rory, Hymns (44,000)
Kendrick Lamar, Untitled Unmastered (38,000)
Killswitch Engage, Incarnate* (35,000)
Chris Stapleton, Traveller (34,000)
Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface (33,000)
Kevin Gates, Islah (30,000)
Flatbush Zombies, 3001: A Laced Odyssey* (28,000)