Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' debuts at No. 1 in 'Billboard'

Frank Ocean’s follow-up to his 2012 debut albumChannel Orange has gone No. 1 on Billboard's album chart. Blonde topped the Billboard 200 with 276,000 equivalent album units, making it the year’s third-largest debut, behind Drake’s Views (1.04 million) and Beyoncé’s Lemonade (653,000).

The 17-track album is one of two Ocean released last weekend. His visual album Endless isn’t eligible to chart because it’s available only as a 45-minute music video on Apple Music; it isn’t for sale and none of the individual tracks can be purchased or streamed individually.

Blonde, which includes A-list contributions from Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and André 3000, is selling only on iTunes and streaming via Apple Music. Its tally includes 232,000 traditional album sales and 44,000 streaming equivalent albums.

Blonde is Ocean’s first No. 1 album. Channel Orange made its debut at No. 2 (with 131,000 sales in its first week), the album’s peak.
It’s one of a handful of albums to hit No. 1 without traditional distribution, according toBillboard. The last was Garth Brooks’ 2013 box set Blame It All On My Roots: Five Decades of Influences, which was sold exclusively at Walmart.