WEEKND PREVAILS IN EXTRA INNINGS (UPDATE)

UPDATE: After a tough battle that went well into extra innings, The Weeknd has edged past 5 Seconds of Summer to achieve a chart victory. The Weeknd notched about 135k to 5SOS' 132k+. Big D2C figured in the final numbers. Warner Records' Dua Lipa also scored a Top 5 debut.

Click the link below to dig into the chart stats.

...Go to the chart

There's an extremely close race for #1 on the HITS Top 50 this week, as XO/Republic's The Weeknd attempts to repeat while 5 Seconds of Summer are potential spoilers with their proper debut of Calm (Interscope).

Both teams have exhausted their bullpens as we head into extra innings. But the umpires are pausing for a smoke, a booze-run and starting a fresh batch of homemade sourdough. This is the closest thing to live sports we've got.

Stay tuned for updates as numbers are still coming in and being calculated, and everything takes a little longer because we've been using our abacus as a pasta strainer. For now, the chart is too close to call.