Morgan Wallen dominates album chart for 10th week
When country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen released “Dangerous: The Double Album” in early January, it seemed destined to be a hit. But there was little reason to expect just how huge a hit it would become.
Ten weeks later, after an industry scandal over Wallen’s use of a racial slur, “Dangerous” remains No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart. No album has opened with a longer chart run since Whitney Houston’s “Whitney” in 1987.
In many ways, “Dangerous” has benefited from poor competition. That is often the case in the winter doldrums, when few big-name artists release new albums. But that pattern has been exacerbated by the pandemic, leaving Wallen, week after week, with virtually no major new challengers to contend with.
Yet “Dangerous” has also been an unqualified hit by itself. That is all the more remarkable since promotion for the album was almost entirely stopped after Wallen was caught on video last month casually using a racial slur.
Last week, “Dangerous” had the equivalent of 69,000 sales in the United States, including 89 million streams and 4,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to MRC Data, Billboard’s tracking arm.
The chart run for “Dangerous,” however, may have reached its end. Last week, Justin Bieber released “Justice,” which is expected to take the No. 1 spot on the next chart.
Also this week, Pop Smoke’s “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon” is No. 2, and Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” rose three spots to No. 3, helped by her performance at the Grammy Awards and its win for best pop vocal album.