Chart Watch: Upset! Jeezy Edges Out Kenny Chesney for #1

There’s a genuine upset on this week’s Billboard 200. Jeezy’s Trap or Die 3 edges out Kenny Chesney’s Cosmic Hallelujah to debut at #1. Chesney’s album sold more copies than Jeezy’s (by a margin of 79K to 73K), but Jeezy’s album came out ahead because the chart measures what Billboard calls “multi-metric consumption.” The chart formula takes into account digital track sales and streaming in addition to traditional album sales. By that measure, Jeezy’s album sold a little more than 89K. Chesney’s album sold just under 89K.

The two albums were in a tight race all week. On Friday, Hits (Billboard‘s chief rival) declared Chesney the winner, by a margin of 90K to 87K. Billboard didn’t publish this week’s chart results on its website until 12:43 a.m. (EST) this morning, several hours later than usual. This suggests that Billboard‘s chart team was checking and double-checking the numbers in this tight contest.
 

Two factors are largely responsible for this chart upset — the new chart system (which Billboard and Hits adopted in December 2014) and a very exciting baseball game, a 10-inning heart-stopper in which the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians to land their first World Series championship in 108 years.

Let me explain.

First, it has become clear that the new multi-metric system works to the advantage of hip-hop and R&B releases, and to the detriment of country albums. This is the seventh time that a country album has been the week’s #1 seller in traditional album sales, but has lost out to a hip-hop or R&B album on the Billboard 200 after the other data is factored in. This previously happened to Don Henley’s Cass County (which lost to Fetty Wap’s Fetty Wap), Joey + Rory’s Hymns (which lost to Rihanna’s Anti), Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (which lost to Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo), Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest, Dierks Bentley’s Black, and Aaron Lewis’s Sinner (the last three of which lost to Drake’s 13-week chart champ, Views).

Second, viewership for the CMA Awards, where Chesney was presented with the Pinnacle Award, suffered this year because it aired opposite the deciding Game 7 of the World Series. Had it not been, the CMAs — a reliable ratings winner — doubtless would have gotten a larger audience, and the salute to Chesney would have been seen by more people. (Chesney was only the third recipient of the Pinnacle honor, following Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift.)

While these two factors played an undeniable role in this week’s outcome, this is also simply the latest sign of the potency of rap. This first became clear way back in December 1992, when Ice Cube’s The Predator debuted at #1 ahead of Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard soundtrack. It was a shocker to see a gangsta rap album beat out a mass-appeal soundtrack. (The Bodyguard rose to #1 the following week and remained on top for 20 non-consecutive weeks.)

Trap or Die 3 is Jeezy’s third #1 album; his first since he shed the moniker Young Jeezy. Under that name, he topped the chart with 2006’s The Inspiration and 2008’s The Recession. Jeezy has a nearly 10-year span of #1 albums. He is, quite simply, bigger than his media profile would suggest. This is his seventh consecutive top five album.
 

eezy’s first two Trap or Die mixtapes were released in 2005 and 2010. Trivia note: Trap or Die 3 is the second #1 album in the past two months to include the hip-hop term “trap” in its title. It follows Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight.

Cosmic Hallelujah is Chesney’s 11th consecutive studio album to reach the top three. That’s his entire studio output since No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems was released in the spring of 2002. It’s his 13th top 10 album overall.

Chesney’s album enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Chris Stapleton’s Traveller(which has spent 24 non-consecutive weeks on top). It’s Chesney’s 14th #1 country album.

The second single from Chesney’s album, “Setting the World on Fire,” has topped the Hot Country Songs chart for the past four weeks. The song is a genre-bending collabo with P!nk. It’s Chesney’s 23rd #1 country hit.
Trivia note: Cosmic Hallelujah isn’t the first album with the word “cosmic” in its title to reach the top five. The B-52’s had a #4 album titled Cosmic Thing in 1990. In 1969, Janis Joplin had a #5 album which had an alternate spelling of “cosmic” — I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!.