Travis Scott-led 'Jackboys' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200, As Christmas Albums Depart Chart

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After a week in which four of the top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart were Christmas efforts, the list shakes off the season in its top tier, and welcomes a new No. 1 from the Travis Scott-led Jackboys project.

The seven-track hip-hop set was released on Dec. 27, 2019, via Cactus Jack/Epic Records, and launches with 154,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 2, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 79,000 were in album sales -- with most of that number owed to sales driven by dozens of merchandise/album bundles sold via Jackboys’ official webstore.

Jackboys comprise Scott, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver and Chase B.

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 Jan. 11, 2020-dated chart (where Jackboys enters at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Jan. 7.

Jackboys took advantage of a sleepy release schedule on Dec. 27, as it is the only album issued that day to debut within the top 40 of the new Billboard 200 chart.

The brief Jackboys release consists of seven tracks (six songs and one instrumental), and clocks in at just over 21 minutes in length. Five of the tracks are credited to Jackboys, while the effort also sports a remix of Scott’s solo single “Highest in the Room,” featuring Rosalía and Lil Baby.

Of Jackboys’ total unit start of 154,000, beyond its album sales sum of 79,000, SEA units total 74,000 (equating to 97.1 million in on-demand audio streams for the album’s tracks) and TEA units equal 1,000.

The rest of the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is comprised mostly of former No. 1s. Roddy Ricch​’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial rises 3-2 with 74,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%), while Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding jumps 6-3 with 64,000 units (up 1%), and Harry Styles’ Fine Line dips 1-4 in its third week with 54,000 units (down 40%).

The Frozen II soundtrack flurries 9-5 with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (down 18%), Billie Eilish​’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? falls 5-6 with 45,000 units (down 30%); Young Thug’s So Much Fun rises 10-7 with 38,000 units (down 29%); and DaBaby​’s Kirk flies 20-8 with 36,000 equivalent album units, up 4%. While such a small gain would normally not yield a large positional jump, in the weeks following Christmas, when few albums post increases, a modest gain -- or even just a small decline -- can result in a big chart move.

Taylor Swift’s Lover rises 11-9 with 30,000 equivalent album units (down 37% and Summer Walker’s Over It rallies 28-10 with 28,000 units (though down 5%).

With the new chart reflecting the tracking week of Dec. 27, 2019 through Jan. 2, 2020, most Christmas albums jingle their way down (or off) the chart. A week ago, on the Jan. 4-dated tally (reflecting the tracking week ending Dec. 26), there were 52 Christmas albums on the chart, with four of those holding court in the top 10. On the new chart, the highest-ranked Christmas album is Pentatonix​’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas at No. 116 (7,000 equivalent album units earned, down 88%), and just five Christmas albums dot the entire tally.

By Keith Caulfield  -billboard.com