Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Tops Album Chart

Frank Ocean one-ups the performance of his of debut LP Channel Orange from four years ago (it peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200) with new album Blonde, which enters the album chart at #1. Of course, streaming, which wasn’t factored into chart data in 2012, helped Blonde secure the top spot. But given that, Ocean’s latest moved 276,000 equivalent album units out of the gate, and 232,000 of those were traditional album sales, compared to the 131,000 Channel Orange opened with in 2012.

More:: We review Frank Ocean's new album, 'Blonde'

As previously mentioned, Ocean’s visual album Endless, released a day prior to Blonde, is ineligible to chart on the Billboard 200 given that there is no industry-accepted album-equivalent ratio for streaming such a project. That leaves Def Jam stuck flapping in the breeze even more so, as the major label’s contract with Ocean was fulfilled with Endless.

In what’s being perceived as a grand coup de grâce, Frank immediately self-released Blonde after sticking a bow on his stint with Def Jam. For now the 28-year-old crooner can enjoy the slick maneuver, as his new, chart-topping album managed to pull off the third biggest opening of the year, behind only Drake‘s Views (1.04 million overall units) and Beyonce‘s Lemonade (653,000).

The Top 10 of the Billboard 200:

1. Frank Ocean, Blonde *new* *1 week*
2. Drake, Views
3. Soundtrack, Suicide Squad
4. Tory Lanez, I Told You *new*
5. Lindsey Stirling, Brave Enough *new*
6. Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface
7. Adele, 25
8. Rihanna, Anti
9. DJ Khaled, Major Key
10. Cast, Hamilton

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