Drake's 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes' and Kenny Chesney's 'Here and Now' likely to bag top 2 spots on Billboard chart
It looks like Drake and Kenny Chesney's new music is set to appear at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Next week's tally follows YoungBoy Never Broke Again's No. 1 claim for his '38 Baby 2' LP, his second to achieve this on the Billboard 200 chart.
The chart "ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA)," according to Billboard.
The top 10 of the May 16 dated chart will be revealed on May 10. Drake's 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes' and Kenny Chesney's 'Here and Now' will likely be slotted at the top two, as no other albums appear to be getting a top 10 debut on next week's list.
Both records, which released on May 1, are set to start with over 200,000 equivalent album units earned in the US in the week ending May 7. 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes', released through OVO/Republic Records, arrived ahead of an as-yet-untitled studio album by Drake, announced for release in summer 2020, according to CNN.
'Here and Now' released through Blue Chair/Warner Music Nashville and follows his 2018 studio LP 'Songs for the Saints'.
Between who will get the No.1 earning on the chart for next week, Drake's 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes' seems to be heading for the top of the tally, as it will likely earn 235,000 or more units.
Chesney's 'Here and Now' may earn 225,000 units and rank at No. 2. Drake's record is overwhelmingly driven by streaming activity, while 'Here and Now' is largely powered by album sales associated with a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with Chesney’s upcoming 'Chillaxification' stadium tour.
If both albums launch as expected, it will be the second time in the last two years that two albums have garnered at least 200,000 units each in a single week.
The only other time this has occurred in the past two years was with the February 1, 2020 chart when Eminem's 'Music to Be Murdered By' and 'Manic' by Halsey debuted at No1 and 2 respectively, earning 279,000 and 239,000 units.