DRAKE STILL WEARING SPS CROWN IN PHOTO FINISH

Republic’s Drake remained a streaming machine as Views was streamed 166.24m times in the last sales period, to push it to the #1 spot on the HITS SPS chart. Labelmate Ariana Grande was less than 2k behind, while Warner Music Nashville’s Blake Shelton dominated sales on the album side. Here’s how it finished:

Drake (YMCMB/Republic) 178k SPS / 69k albums
Ariana Grande (Republic) 176k SPS / 131k albums
Blake Shelton (Warner Music Nashville) 166k SPS /152k albums

In any case, the ethos has the two top acts on SPS this week. And it's worth noting that Ariana's SPS tally surpasses the first-week score of Rihanna (172k)—and also that Drake is by far the #1 streaming artist in the world right now.

Oh, and as you read this, Columbia's Beyoncé, who takes #4 SPS and #3 on the album chart, will have reached 1m albums RTD