NAV’s ‘Good Intentions’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Plus: Kehlani scores highest charting album yet, Lil Durk debuts in top five, and Bad Bunny’s surprise album starts in top 10.

NAV nabs his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as Good Intentions starts atop the tally. The album was released on May 8 via XO/Republic Records, and earned 135,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 14, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of its total starting unit sum, album sales comprise over half of that figure — 73,000, with nearly all of the sales driven by merchandise/album bundles sold via NAV’s official webstore.

Also making news in the top 10: Kehlani tallies her highest charting and best week ever in units earned, as It Was Good Until It Wasn’t starts at No. 2 (83,000 units), Lil Durk’s Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 debuts at No. 5 (57,000) and Bad Bunny’s surprise release Las Que No Iban a Salir enters at No. 7 (42,000).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new May 23-dated chart (where Good Intentions debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 19.

NAV’s Good Intentions follows the rapper-singer’s last release, Bad Habits, which landed him his first No. 1 in April of 2019. It launched with 82,000 units earned in its first week.

Of Good Intentions’ first-week unit figure of 135,000, album sales comprise 73,000, SEA units total 62,000 (equaling 84.8 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs during the tracking week) and under 1,000 are in TEA units.Nearly all of Good Intentions’ album sales were fueled by merchandise/album bundles. On the final day of the tracking week (May 14), NAV’s webstore had 100 different merchandise/album bundles available associated with the Good Intentions album. In addition, there were 18 physical format/digital album offerings (six CDs, six vinyl LPs and six cassettes).

Good Intentions also profited from a mid-week reissue, growing its original 18-track album to a total of 32 tracks. The original 18-track album was released on May 8 and features guests such as Young Thug, Travis Scott, Future and Lil Uzi Vert. Then, on May 10, NAV issued a deluxe edition of the album, adding 14 new cuts, including tracks with Quavo and Lil Durk.

Good Intentions was initially forecasted to earn over 80,000 units in its first week, but its sturdy merch/album bundle sales shot that projection north of 110,000 by Thursday (May 14). Both figures underestimated the allure of NAV’s merchandise/album bundle sales, which pumped the set’s final overall figure to 135,000.

Good Intentions is the second No. 1 album for XO Records in 2020, following The Weeknd’s After Hours. The latter opened atop the chart dated April 4 with the year’s largest week earned for an album, 444,000 units (with 275,000 of that sum in album sales). Like Good Intentions, the After Hours album also had merchandise/album bundles on its side in its first week (more than 80 by the end of its first week of availability).

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Kehlani achieves her highest charting album and biggest week ever in total units earned, as It Was Good Until It Wasn’t debuts with 83,000 equivalent album units. Of that sum, 56,000 are in SEA units (equating to 74.68 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 25,000 are in album sales (aided by more than 20 merchandise/album bundles) and 1,000 in TEA units.

It Was Good Until It Wasn’t surpasses the singer-songwriter’s previous high, logged when her last full-length studio set, SweetSexySavage, debuted and peaked at No. 3 (chart dated Feb. 18, 2017 with 58,000 units). The new album is her third top 10 effort, as she also hit No. 9 with the While We Wait mixtape in 2019 (March 9).

Drake’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes slips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its second week on the list, earning 79,000 units (down 64 percent). Of that sum, 77,000 are in SEA units (equaling 105.5 million on-demand streams), nearly 2,000 are in album sales and 1,000 are in TEA units. The 14-track album has no merchandise/album bundles available, nor a physical format album on the market. It’s charting solely from streaming activity and a download album available at traditional digital retailers (iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

When Dark Lane Demo Tapes opened at No. 2 a week ago with 223,000 units, it was runner-up to Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now with 233,000 units (powered by sales driven from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with his upcoming tour). Here and Now falls from No. 1 to No. 38 in its second week, with 15,000 units (down 93 percent).

Back in the new top 10, Lil Baby’s former No. 1 My Turn slips from No. 3 to No. 4 with 72,000 equivalent album units earned (down 28 percent).

Rapper Lil Durk scores his second top five-charting album, and best week ever in units earned, as Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 enters at No. 5 with 57,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 53,000 are in SEA units (equating to 74.67 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs in its first week), 3,000 are in album sales and 1,000 are in TEA units. Lil Durk previously reached the top 10 with Love Songs 4 the Streets 2, which debuted and peaked at No. 4 in August of 2019 with his previous high-water mark for units: 44,000.

DaBaby’s previous No. 1 Blame It on Baby falls from No. 4 to No. 6 with 45,000 equivalent album units (down 7 percent).

Bad Bunny achieves his third top 10 album in less than a year, as his surprise release Las Que No Iban a Salir debuts at No. 7 with 42,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 33,000 are in SEA units (equaling 46.2 million on-demand streams for the set’s 10 songs), 8,000 are in album sales (aided by a small number of merchandise/album bundles) and less than 1,000 are in TEA units.

The new album debuts with less than five days of activity, as the set was surprise-released last Sunday, May 10. Most new albums are released at shortly after midnight on Friday morning each week, the first day of the Nielsen Music/MRC Data tracking week, and also the day that is generally regarded as when new albums are released globally. However, Bad Bunny has yet to drop any of his three solo albums at the normal just-after-midnight on Friday morning time. His two previous solo sets, YHLQMDLG and X 100PRE were released, respectively, late on a Friday night, and on a Monday. His one other charting effort, Oasis, a collaborative set with J Balvin, was released on a Friday morning following tradition.

Bad Bunny’s new album is effectively a compilation of previously unfinished songs. The album title translates to “the ones that weren’t going to be released.” The set includes, amusingly, simple-named songs like “Canción Con Yandel” (translation: “Song With Yandel”) with Yandel, and “Bad Con Nicky” (“Bad With Nicky”) with Nicky Jam.

Las Que No Iban a Salir is Bad Bunny’s third top 10 on the Billboard 200 — and all have come within the last 12 months. It follows YHLQMDLG (No. 2 on March 14, 2020) and Oasis (No. 9 on July 13, 2019). Bad Bunny’s one other charting release, X 100PRE, peaked at No. 11 on the list dated Jan. 12, 2019 (after debuting a week earlier at No. 29).

YHLQMDLG falls out of the top 10 for the first time on the latest Billboard 200, as the set slips from No. 10 to No. 11 with 34,000 units (down 7 percent).

Rounding out the top 10 are a trio of former No. 1s: Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake (5-8 with 42,000 units; down 7 percent), The Weeknd’s After Hours (6-9 with 40,000 units; down 9 percent) and Post Malone’s Hollywood Bleeding (8-10 with 37,000 units; down 4 percent).