CHART STORY: A
WICKED WELCOME

Panic! At the Disco has gone #1 on the HITS Top 50 Chart with sixth studio album, Pray for the Wicked (Crush/Fueled by Ramen), which scored 177k in its first week out. Bob, J.D. and Dan, all beyond-thrilled, are just praying the champagne doesn’t run out.

The second-largest bow belongs to Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville’s Dan + Shay, who land at #6, moving nearly 43k.

Other notable debuts Nine Inch Nails’ Bad Witch (Null Corporation/Capitol) and Bebe Rexha’s Expectations (Warner Bros.) enter at #11 and #14 with 27k and 24k, respectively.

And while fans continue to mourn the loss of Bad Vibes Forever artist XXXTentacion, his projects keep climbing. This year’s ? hops #3-2 with 84k; 2017 breakout 17 goes #7-5 with 46k. X also got his first song chart #1 posthumously with “SAD!,” a feat not seen since the tragedy of Notorious B.I.G.’s fate did the same for “Mo Money Mo Problems” two decades ago.

When it comes to marketshare, UMG is #1 with 54%, WMG follows with 31% and SME is #3 with 12%, while the indies claim 3%.

As for what’s new, we’re hearing great things about this nice Jewish kid from Canada. Maybe you’ve heard of him?

Also streeting this week are albums by Republic’s Florence + The Machine and Parlophone’s Gorillaz, along with Guns N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction (Super Deluxe) (Geffen/UMe).

In other news: Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake. Oh, and did we mention Drake?