Bruno Mars notches his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, and first in more than a decade, as The Romantic debuts atop the tally (dated March 14). The set launches with 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending March 5, according to Luminate. Mars was last on top with his second full-length studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox, which climbed to No. 1 in March 2013 (nearly three months after it debuted). In turn, The Romantic is also Mars’ first No. 1-debuting album.
Related
All told, The Romantic marks the fifth top 10 for Mars, following his An Evening With Silk Sonic collaborative project with Anderson .Paak (No. 2, 2021) and his solo set 24K Magic (No. 2, 2016), Unorthodox Jukebox (No. 1, 2013) and Doo-Wops & Hooligans (No. 2, 2010).
Mars’ gap of nearly 13 years between No. 1s is the longest for any living solo male artist since Paul McCartney returned to the top in 2018 with Egypt Station, 36 years and three months after he was last No. 1 with the third and final week atop the chart with Tug of War on the June 12, 1982-dated chart. (Before Mars, the last male soloist to wait longer to come back to No. 1 was the late Toby Keith, who hit No. 1 after his death, on the Feb. 17, 2024, chart, with 35 Biggest Hits — 14 years and four months after he was last on top with Bullets in the Gun (Oct. 23, 2010).
Also debuting in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200: Gorillaz’s The Mountain, BLACKPINK’s DEADLINE and Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen to Me.
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, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 14, 2026-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 10. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Of The Romantic’s 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, album sales comprise 93,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 90,500 (equaling 93.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s nine songs, Mars’ best streaming week for an album; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 2,000.
The Romantic’s first-week sales number was bolstered by its availability across 10 vinyl variants, in addition to a standard CD, cassette and digital download. Vinyl sales accounted for 48,000 of the album’s first-week — landing Mars his best week on vinyl ever. All versions of the album contain the same nine songs.
The album was preceded by its lead single, “I Just Might,” which became Mars’ 10th Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 (and first to debut at No. 1) on the Jan. 24-dated chart, and spent its first two weeks atop the list. The track has also been lodged at No. 1 for seven weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs.
Three former No. 1s follow Mars on the Billboard 200: Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS holds at No. 2 with 77,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%), Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem steps 5-3 (75,000, up 7%) and Don Toliver’s OCTANE pumps 6-4 (66,000, down 3%). Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rounds out the top five, climbing 7-5 (60,000, down 2%).
Last week’s No. 1, Megan Moroney’s Cloud 9, floats down to No. 6 in its second week (55,000 equivalent album units earned, down 62%).
Gorillaz achieve their sixth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 with the No. 7 debut of The Mountain. The set launches with 53,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 38,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 15,000 (equaling 15.86 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
The album’s first-week sales got a boost from its availability across nine vinyl variants, four CDs, five cassettes, a standard digital download and an iTunes Store-exclusive download edition with one bonus track.
Gorillaz previously visited the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with Cracker Island (No. 3, 2023), The Now Now (No. 4, 2018), Humanz (No. 2, 2017), Plastic Beach (No. 2, 2010) and Demon Days (No. 6, 2005).
The new album was led by a pair of charting titles on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart: “The Happy Dictator,” featuring Sparks (No. 43 peak last September), and “The Manifesto,” featuring Trueno and Proof (No. 49 peak last October).
BLACKPINK scores its third top 10 on the Billboard 200 as DEADLINE debuts at No. 8 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 41,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 11.46 million on-demand official streams of the set’s five songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
DEADLINE marks the return of the pop quartet to the Billboard 200 after more than three years. The group’s last release was BORN PINK, which marked the act’s first No. 1 (debuting atop the Oct. 1, 2022-dated chart). Since then, the four members (Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé) have all released solo album projects, all of which have charted on a Billboard album ranking.
The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 13 CD variants (all containing collectible items such as photocards and posters, with some items randomized). CD sales comprise 94% of the album’s first-week sales, with the remainder sold from digital downloads.
DEADLINE was preceded by the Hot 100-charting single “JUMP,” which peaked at No. 28 last July and spent 10 weeks on the list — the most weeks on the chart among the group’s 10 charted titles.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping The Life of a Showgirl is a non-mover at No. 9 on the latest Billboard 200 with just under 43,000 equivalent album units earned for the week (down 3%).
Closing out the top 10 of the Billboard 200 is Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen to Me, debuting at No. 10 with nearly 43,000 equivalent album units earned — the artist’s best week ever by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 31,000 (her best sales week ever; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 12,000 (equaling 12.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
First-week sales of the album were aided by its availability across seven vinyl variants (including a signed edition), two CDs and two cassettes, and a standard digital download. Vinyl purchases accounted for 69% of the set’s overall opening-week sales.
Nothing’s About To Happen to Me is the second top 10 on the Billboard 200 for Mitski, following 2022’s Laurel Hell (No. 5).
The new album was preceded by the charting hit “Where’s My Phone?” which hit No. 11 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart dated March 7 and No. 38 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs in January.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
from Billboard https://ift.tt/92WIGDn
