Taylor Swift & BTS Hold Serve | Scanning the Charts 📉

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Scanning the Charts – Billboard 200 & Billboard Hot 100 (9/12/20) – Taylor Swift and BTS hold serve on Billboard 200 & Hot 100 respectively.

SCANNING THE CHARTS is just what it says it is. I, the quirky founder and do-it-all at The Musical Hype scans through the Billboard Charts and picks out things that catch my eye. To reiterate what I said last week (BTS Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100), this column won’t be extensive, but rather short and sweet, keeping that 💩 moving. This week, I picked out five notable observations from the Billboard 200, and five observations from the Billboard Hot 100, with Taylor Swift and BTS holding serve on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 respectively. Check out my takeaways!

Billboard 200

💭 The top three spots on the Billboard 200 remains unchanged. Taylor Swift spends her sixth consecutive week atop the Billboard 200 with her eighth studio album, folklore. Pop Smoke (Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon) and Juice WRLD (Legends Never Die) continue to dominate posthumously at nos. 2 and 3.

💭 Despite the dominance of Taylor Swift, Pop Smoke, and Juice WRLD, three new albums debut in the top 10, with two earning top-five bows. Metallica launches with the highest bow at no. 4 with S&M2, credited to the Grammy-winning metal collective and the San Francisco Orchestra. Katy Perry starts at no. 5 with Smile, with much less support compared to previous albums to be honest. Finally, Internet Money (Before the Storm) ekes out a top-10 entry at no. 10.

💭 The top-20 welcomes a couple more debuts. Faith-based rock collective NEEDTOBREATHE launches at no. 17 with Out of Body. Lil Wayne sees his 2009 mixtape, No Ceilings, debut at no. 18 upon its official release.

💭 Some albums were unable to earn that top-20 fame, but they managed to nab spots in the top-40. Dua Lipa sees her Club Future Nostalgia remix album (with The Blessed Madonna) launch at no. 28. Seether lands at no. 37 with Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – great title!

💭 There were also more debuts, but they didn’t exactly light up the charts. Jaden started at no. 44 with CTV3 (Cool Tape, Vol. 3). That’s very meh. Disclosure was even more meh with their comeback album Energy, barely gracing the top-50 (no. 48). The R&B albums did plumb awful – ugh. Kem returned after a six-year-hiatus, only to see Love Always Win flop harder than a pancake with a no. 124 bow! Toni Braxton is far past her most lucrative days as Spell My Name only mustered up enough support to launch at no. 163. As for Ledisi, I looked long and hard to find The Wild Card but alas, it failed to chart…