Justin Bieber returns to No.1 with Changes

Ten years ago, when Justin Bieber landed his first No.1 album, My World 2.0, he was a 16-year-old with the voice of an R&B angel and a full-time swagger coach. Like every teen phenom, he faced a brutal question about his career prospects: Would he last longer than a few hits?

This week, Bieber — nearly 26, married, tattooed and (until recently) mustachioed — returned to the top position on the Billboard chart for a seventh time with Changes. After a break following tours for his 2015 album, Purpose, he made the returning victory lap of a confident star, with an all-out marketing campaign that included a 10-part YouTube documentary.

Changes had the equivalent of 231,000 sales in the United States, according to Nielsen Music, which included 135 million streams and 126,000 copies sold as a full album, although many of those sales were part of deals that bundled the LP with concert tickets or merchandise. It is the second-biggest opening for an album so far this year, after Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By.

Can Bieber hold No.1 for more than a single week? Hot on his trail is the latest from K-pop group BTS, a chart juggernaut with legions of ultradedicated fans around the world.

Also this week, two new albums reached high on the chart but could not surpass Bieber. Bronx-born rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie reached No.2 with Artist 2.0, which had the equivalent of 111,000 sales — including 149 million streams, more than Changes,

though only 3,000 copies of Artist 2.0

were sold as a full album — while Tame Impala, the neopsychedelic rock project of Australian musician Kevin Parker, is No.3 with 110,000 of The Slow Rush.

Roddy Ricch, last week’s chart-topper, fell to No.4 with Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, and South Korean group Monsta X opened at No.5 with All About Luv, its first all-English album.