CHART STORY: COUNTRY RULES

It’s official. Following a heated race against Kendrick Lamar, Brett Eldredge has become the year's first country artist to score an overall #1, as the Atlantic/Warner Music Nashville set, Brett Eldredge, debuts on top of our Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart with approximately 47k.

That means Lamar’s DAMN. (TDE/Interscope) holds steady at #2 this week with a little less than 45k.

The only other new release to make the Top 25 turns out to be NOW’s Now 63, which enters at #3 with 32k.

Lamar included, a bunch of acts on this chart prove to be locked in their previous-week positions. Those include Atlantic’s Ed Sheeran (#5), KIDinaKORNER/Interscope’s Imagine Dragons (#6) and Slaughter Gang/Epic’s 21 Savage (#7). The same can be said for Disney’s Moana soundtrack which remains at #9.

TDE/RCA’s acclaimed Alternative/R&B songstress, SZA, jumps #19-10 with CTRL. This makes a lot of sense, considering how on fire lead single “Love Galore,” which features Travis Scott, is right now. The track, which recently jumped #18-15 at Rhythm radio and #12-8 at Urban, goes #22-15 on our Streaming Songs Chart this week, as it simultaneously hops #35-27 on the Song Revenue Chart.

Speaking of the Song Revenue Chart, Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee f/Justin Bieber’s “Despacito” (UMLE/RBMG/Def Jam/Republic) is #1 over there with nearly $170k earned from a combination of 16m+ in streams and about 84k in sales. On that chart, Epic notably has four of the Top 5 with hits from We The Best’s DJ Khaled (#2 and #5), 21 Savage (#3) and French Montana (#4). We’ll continue to monitor this chart closely, especially as J. Balvin & Willy William’s danceable “Mi Gente” (Universal Music Latin) heats up. That Latin smash has a real shot on becoming the next “Despacito.” This week, it glides #29-21, as it soars #40-18-13 on the Streaming Songs Chart and manages to chart at Top 40 radio.

It’s also worth mentioning that The Weeknd’s Starboy (XO/Republic) breaks back into the SPS Top 20 in its 37th week out. Labelmate and fellow Toronto-native Drake’s More Life (YMCMB/Republic), meanwhile, re-enters the Top 15.

When it comes to SPS marketshare, UMG leads with 48%, SME is #2 with 28% and WMG is #3 with 23%, while the indies follow with 2%.

Streeting this week is Rainbow—Kesha’s first studio album in five years—which is aiming to earn 100k+ for Kemosabe/RCA, as well as an album by N-Less/Interscope's Moneybagg Yo and an EP from Warner Bros.’ Bebe Rexha.

Now, please excuse us while we consume enough intoxicating substances to start seeing rainbows, in an attempt to avoid any/all news headlines.