As the hip hop world recovers from Coachella and all the hyped-up album releases coming our way, Post Malone’s sophomore LP, beerbongs & bentleys, has just broke a Billboard streaming record, mainly due to teaser tracks such as “Psycho” and “Rockstar” gaining a wide critical acclaim and audience popularity.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, garnering a tallied 461,000 equivalent album units that gave Malone a record-breaking streaming week. Here’s a breakdown of how that all maps out on the charts:
via Billboard.com:
Biggest Streaming Week Ever: Of beerbongs’ overall start of 461,000 units, SEA units comprise 288,000 of that figure. As each SEA unit equals 1,500 on-demand audio streams, beerbongs garnered 431.3 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. for its tracks during its debut frame. That zooms past the previous record, set by Drake’s More Life,which started at No. 1 with 384.8 million on the chart dated April 8, 2017 (tracking week ending March 23, 2017).
Biggest Overall Week of 2018: beerbongs bows with 461,000 equivalent album units earned — easily the biggest week of 2018 for any album. It surpasses the year’s previous high-water mark, set only a week ago, when J. Cole’s KOD launched with 397,000 units in the week ending April 26. Post Malone snares the largest week for an album since Taylor Swift’s reputation bowed at No. 1 with 1.238 million units earned in the week ending Nov. 16, 2017.
Two Albums in the Top 10 at the Same Time: beerbongs & bentleys follows Post Malone’s debut album, Stoney, which was released in 2016 and peaked at No. 4 on the chart. The album contains a trio of top 20-charting hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “White Iverson” (peaking at No. 14), “Congratulations,” featuring Quavo (No. 8) and “I Fall Apart” (No. 16).
As a precursor to the album’s success, Malone collaborated with Mass Appeal for a 12-minute mini documentary, which details his upbringing, musical background, influences, and ultimate rise to the top of the hip-hop charts. While the documentary paints a very flattering picture of Post Malone, both as an artist and human being, his large-scale success in the hip-hop industry remains one of the most inexplicable tales of the 21st Century. Post Malone is a Rockstar portrays a cheerful, quite likable kid from Texas influenced by heavy metal band Pantera, who performed country songs and worked at a fried chicken restaurant. It’s hardly the typical background of a hip hop mega-star.
In addition to his incredible musical talent, Post Malone has a background that may just be the thing to set him apart as he receives the accolades that come with record-breaking success. In the documentary, his former teachers and bosses portray him as a friendly, cheerful hard worker who was interested in history and art as much as he was in music. This capacity for creativity is already reflected in the video for “Psycho,” which appears to take place in a surrealistic, Wasteland Weekend-esque, post-apocalyptic world. For one that’s true to his style, Malone doesn’t stray too far from the traditional rap video either, as he and Ty Dolla $ign sport oversized fur coats and reference their jewelry in the video.
Listen to beerbongs & bentleys by Post Malone right now on all streaming platforms to hear an artist that appears to seamlessly navigate between the high-priced world of Bentleys and the “Average Joe” world of beerbongs, fast food jobs, and the occasional escape from reality.
