Bad Bunny earns his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and makes history in the process. His new studio effort El Ultimo Tour del Mundo debuts atop the list, marking the first all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 in the 64-year history of the all-genre chart.
The album starts with 116,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 3, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
The previous highest-charting all-Spanish-language album came earlier this year, when Bad Bunny’s own YHLQMDLG debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the chart dated March 14 (179,000 units earned in its first week).
Also in the new top 10, Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts debuts at No. 2, while Michael Bublé’s former No. 1 Christmas returns to the region.
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. 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 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 12-dated chart (where El Ultimo Tour del Mundo debuts at to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Dec. 8. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of El Ultimo Tour del Mundo’s 116,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Dec. 3, SEA units comprise 103,000 (equating to 145.94 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 12,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Only four all-Spanish-language albums have ever reached the top five on the Billboard 200: Bad Bunny’s El Ultimo Tour del Mundo (No. 1), YHLQMDLG (No. 2), Mana’s Amar es Combatir (No. 4; Sept. 9, 2006) and Shakira’s Fijación Oral: Vol. 1 (No. 4; June 25, 2005).
Before El Ultimo Tour del Mundo became the first all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, there were only two mostly Spanish-sung albums reigned: Il Divo’s Ancora (Feb. 11, 2006) and Selena’s Dreaming of You (Aug. 5, 1995). Of Ancora’s 10 songs, seven were performed in Spanish. Dreaming of You’s 13-track album includes six tracks in Spanish, five in English and two duets that blend English and Spanish.
All told, Bad Bunny has now achieved five charting albums on the Billboard 200, with his last four all reaching the top 10. His first charting set, X 100PRE, peaked at No. 11 on the Jan. 12, 2019-dated chart, and he followed it with Oasis (with J Balvin, No. 9; July 13, 2019), YHLQMDLG (No. 2; March 14, 2020), Las Que No Iban a Salir (No. 7; May 23, 2020) and now El Ultimo Tour del Mundo.
Further, Bad Bunny is only the second act to have logged three new top 10 albums in 2020, following YoungBoy Never Broke Again, who has claimed four top 10s this year.
El Ultimo Tour del Mundo was led by the track “Dákiti,” a co-billed song with Jhay Cortez. It marked Bad Bunny’s third top 10 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and his seventh No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. The song also reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts.
Back on the new Billboard 200, Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts debuts at No. 2 – her highest charting effort since 2013’s Bangerz bowed at No. 1. All told, Plastic Hearts is her 13th top 10 effort (including those albums credited under her Hannah Montana alias).
Plastic Hearts launches with 60,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 38,000 comprise SEA units (translating to 50.90 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 20,000 comprise album sales and 2,000 comprise TEA units.
Plastic Hearts was preceded by the songs “Midnight Sky” and “Prisoner,” the latter featuring Dua Lipa. “Midnight Sky” reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 dated Aug. 29 and No. 20 on the Streaming Songs chart. “Prisoner” debuted on the most-recently published Hot 100 and Streaming Songs charts (dated Dec. 5) at Nos. 54 and 31, respectively. Aside from the collaboration with Dua Lipa, the album also features Billy Idol and Joan Jett. The digital edition of the album includes a guest spot by Stevie Nicks, who sings new vocals on “Edge of Midnight” — a remix/mash-up of “Midnight Sky” and Nicks’ own “Edge of Seventeen.”
BTS’ Be falls from No. 1 to No. 3 on the new Billboard 200 in its second week (55,000 equivalent album units earned; down 77%), Ariana Grande’s former No. 1 Positions dips 3-4 (53,000; down 14%) and Pop Smoke’s previous leader Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon drops 4-5 (a little over 48,000; down 7%).
Michael Bublé’s Christmas, which reached No. 1 in late 2011 and spent five weeks atop the list (through early 2012), returns to the top 10, as it climbs 13-6 with 48,000 equivalent album units earned (up 52%). Of that sum, 38,000 comprise SEA units (up 61%; equaling 50.46 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 9,000 comprise album sales (up 27%) and 1,000 comprise TEA units (up 25%).
Since Christmas’ reign at No. 1 in 2011-12, the album has returned to the top 10 in every Christmas season since.
Closing out the new top 10: Megan Thee Stallion’s Good News falls 2-7 in its second week on the Billboard 200 (47,000 equivalent album units earned; down 53%), Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore descends 6-8 (45,000; though up 4%), Carrie Underwood’s My Gift rises 10-9 (44,000; up 26%) and Juice WRLD’s previous No. 1 Legends Never Die dips 9-10 (36,000; down less than 1%).
