Billboard: Kings of Leon Take ‘Walls’ to No. 1 on Billboard 200

Kings of Leon easily top the Billboard 200 with Walls, their first no. 1 album.  The Game (1992) and JoJo (Mad Love) also score top-10 debuts. 

Kings of Leon earns top honors on the Billboard 200.  For the first time in their career, the band sits at no. 1.  Walls easily topped in a week where the competition was slight.  Walls moved 77,000 units, with 88% of that total being pure sales.  The band has seen better sales weeks, but that seems to “go with the territory” for a number of musicians this year.

Beyond Kings of Leon, two more new albums debut in the top-10.  The Game returns with 1992, which debuts at no. 4 with 32,000 units (78% pure sales).  JoJo returns after a 10-year hiatus with Mad Love, which debuts at no. 6 moving 25,000 units (76% pure sales).  The numbers aren’t impressive, but that’s the new normal.

The remainder of the top 10 isn’t shocking.  Notably, Green Day (Revolution Radio) sliding from no. 1 to no. 10.  Re-entries into the top 10 arrive courtesy of Hamilton (no. 7) and Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (no. 9).  Both Norah Jones (Day Breaks) and OneRepublic (Oh My My) exit the top 10 after debuting at nos. 2 and 3 respectively.  Other names are familiar: Drake (Views), Suicide Squad: The Album, Twenty One Pilots (Blurryface), and Ariana Grande (Dangerous Woman).

Who’s got next on the Billboard 200? Lady Gaga (Joanne).  According to Billboard prognostication, Joanne should give Lady Gaga her fourth no. 1 album.  Plenty of other new albums were released October 21.  Michael Bublé (Nobody But Me) and Korn (The Serenity of Suffering) should also make some noise – just not as much as Gaga.

Photo Credit: RCA