CHART STORY: KENDRICK IS KING

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. (TDE/Aftermath/Interscope) has officially scored the year’s biggest debut, landing on the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart with a massive 610k. He bests Drake’s More Life (YMCMB/Republic), which—with 505k—held the record for biggest SPS bow until now. But Lamar also breaks Ed Sheeran’s record for the best-selling first week of the year; Divide (Atlantic) opened with 350k in album sales and DAMN. has done so with around 362k.

In the age of streaming, it’s interesting that DAMN.’s debut, which also racks up over 300m streams, will be made up of over 60% in sales (fans were snapping up CDs for signing at the pop-up in-store at a Compton Best Buy on 4/20). Sheeran’s sales to streams ratio was even higher, at over 70%.

Speaking of higher, we haven’t been able to walk in a straight line since Wednesday.

By the way, for those of you keeping close score, Drake is still the streaming-only champ. More Life pulled in 385m streams, marking the first time that tracks from an album have been streamed over 300m times in one week.

Columbia’s John Mayer easily earns the second-biggest bow of the week, opening with 138k for The Search for Everything (a title we could particularly relate to on 4/20 as we searched for everything edible in the building).

FYI: Drake and Sheeran have the #3 and #4 spots, respectively, as More Life tacks on an additional 87k in its fifth week out and Divide nabs 64k in its seventh.

Interscope newcomer Playboi Carti has the only other debut in the Top 15; his eponymous set is #12 with 28k. Atlantic’s Fate of the Furious soundtrack debuts just outside the Top 15 with 23k at #16, while Lamar’s acclaimed Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (released in 2012) re-enters at #28 with 14k.

When it comes to SPS marketshare, UMG leads with 61%. Then there’s SME at #2 with 23%, followed by WMG at #3 with 15%.

The most notable post-Easter move on the Album Sales Chart comes from Disney’s family-friendly Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, which jumps #5-3 with 32k.

Streeting this week are albums from Island’s Incubus, Verve’s Barry Manilow, Arista Nashville’s Brad Paisley, Beartrap’s Blackbear and Wylie/Warner Bros.’ Sheryl Crow, along with Hollywood’s jam-filled Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.