Future scores 12th No. 1 album as The Real Me tops Billboard 200
Future’s The Real Me opens at No. 1, while new albums from the Rolling Stones and the Heated Rivalry soundtrack also enter the top 10.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Future has another Billboard 200 crown, and this one moves him past Eminem in the record books.
The rapper’s new album, The Real Me, debuted at No. 1 on the latest Billboard 200 with 131,000 equivalent album units, according to Billboard’s chart report. It is Future’s 12th chart-topping album, giving him sole possession of fifth place among artists with the most No. 1 albums in Billboard 200 history.
Future had previously been tied with Eminem at 11 No. 1 albums. Billboard’s all-time leaders ahead of him are the Beatles with 19, Drake and Taylor Swift with 15 each, and Jay-Z with 14.
The Real Me landed ahead of Olivia Rodrigo’s You Look Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which stayed at No. 2 in its fifth week with 96,000 equivalent album units, according to the chart data.
Streams power Future’s latest No. 1
Billboard’s breakdown shows The Real Me leaning heavily on streaming. The album sold 13,000 copies, while its songs drew 120.29 million on-demand streams, equal to 118,000 streaming-equivalent album units.
That pattern contrasts sharply with the Rolling Stones’ latest entry. The band’s Foreign Tongues opened at No. 7 with 53,000 equivalent album units, driven mostly by traditional sales. Billboard reported 48,500 albums sold, plus 4.48 million on-demand streams, equal to 4,000 streaming-equivalent units.
The Stones’ start sits near the opening number for Paul McCartney’s recent album, which debuted with 63,000 units in June, according to the same report.
Heated Rivalry soundtrack makes TV chart history
The soundtrack to the television series Heated Rivalry also arrived in the top 10, debuting at No. 9 with 41,000 units.
Billboard reported that the debut marked the first time in more than a decade that a TV soundtrack opened in the Billboard 200 top 10. The last to do so was the Empire soundtrack in 2015.
Another TV soundtrack, Hazbin Hotel, reached the top 10 last year, according to Billboard, but it did so after first entering the chart at No. 70.
The Heated Rivalry total came entirely from sales, with 41,000 copies sold on CD and vinyl. Billboard noted that the score album had already been released digitally in January, but streaming activity had not previously pushed it onto the chart in a major way before the physical release in July.
Madonna exits the top 10 after No. 1 debut
Madonna’s Confessions II is absent from the new top 10 after debuting at No. 1 the previous week. Its second-week chart position was not available in the Sunday top 10 release from Luminate and Billboard, with the full placement expected when more chart data is released Monday.
The rest of the top 10 includes Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem at No. 3, Ella Langley at No. 4, Noah Kahan at No. 5, Drake at No. 6, Michael Jackson’s Thriller at No. 8 and Wallen’s One Thing at a Time at No. 10.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.