CHART FINAL: SZA STREAMS TO #1

R&B powerhouse SZA has earned her first #1 bow on the HITS Top 50 with SOS (TDE/RCA), her first new album in five years. SZA’s sophomore set posts 315k its opening week, amassing nearly 400m streams—the most in one week for any R&B album, according to our abacus-wielding gerbils. SOS’ first-frame total ranks as the fifth-biggest bow of the year.

Holding steady at #2 is Republic’s Taylor Swift with Midnights. Accumulating 137k this week, the late-October release surpasses 3m in activity for the year. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (Rimas), meanwhile, moves 51k, good enough for #7, giving the Spanish-language album 3.3m YTD activity. With two weeks remaining in 2022, could Swift’s blockbuster make up enough ground to pass Bunny’s LP and become 2022’s #1 album? Anything’s possible when it comes to Tay and her army of Swifties.

Republic is feeling considerable comfort and joy with three titles in the Top 5 as Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains (Boominati) and Drake & 21 Savage’s Her Loss (OVO) follow Swift at #3 and #4, respectively.

Reprise’s Michael Bublé continues to lead holiday perennials this season; his 2011 LP Christmas repeats at #5. Yuletide classics by Capitol’s Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby and Columbia’s Mariah Carey and Andy Williams are among the seasonal giants populating the Top 20.

Streeting this week are new projects by Paper Route EMPIRE’s Young Dolph, EMPIRE’s OTF & Lil Durk, Cash Money’s Jacquees and AWAL’s Little Simz. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to refill our jelly jar with Christmas cheer.