Image: May 23, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Recording artist Drake celebrates after Toronto Raptors score a basket in a 105-99 win over Cleveland Cavaliers in game four of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sport
By Piya Sinha-Roy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Canadian R&B singer Drake held onto the top spot of the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart for a seventh consecutive week on Monday, becoming the first male artist in more than a decade to achieve the feat, according to Billboard.
Drake’s album “Views” sold another 121,000 units for the week ending June 16, comprising album and song sales and more than 110 million streams, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Billboard said the last male artist to spend seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the album chart was rapper Eminem with “The Marshall Mathers LP,” which spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the chart in 2000.
The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).
Streaming activity for Drake’s fourth album on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Inc’s <AAPL.O> Apple Music has consistently soared past 100 million streams each week since its release in late April.
Drake held off new albums from pop singer Nick Jonas and hip hop artist Jon Bellion.
Jonas’ third solo album, “Last Year was Complicated,” debuted at No. 2 on the chart with 66,000 units sold, while Bellion’s first album, “The Human Condition,” entered the chart at No. 5 with 40,000 units.
On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online sales of singles, Justin Timberlake’s upbeat summer song “Can’t Stop The Feeling!” held the No. 1 spot with another 124,000 copies sold.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Alan Crosby)
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