Drake Shocks 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Soundtrack, Tops Billboard 200 with Surprise 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late'

Everyone expected the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack to run away with this week's Billboard 200 chart...but then Drake happened. The emcee and his LP/mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late topped the list by moving 575,000 equivalent albums. The new metric for the chart, which takes streams into consideration, played to his favor as the album received more first-week streams than any other album in Spotify history. Among the other accomplishments that Drake managed to nab with his surprise album was becoming just the second hip-hop act to land his first four albums atop the Billboard 200 (the other is DMX). He quickly became the second bestselling performer for 2015 (behind Taylor Swift).

Back to the album we knew was coming: Fifty Shades of Grey still had a heck of a week, bringing in an otherwise solid 258,000 equivalent album sales. That makes it the first compilation soundtrack (an album featuring songs from more than one performer) to debut at no. 1 since Get Rich or Die Trying, the 50 Cent flick from 2005.

Things go back to old names from here on out on the Billboard 200, although a majority of those appearing got huge sales boosts thanks to The Grammys. The first of which was Sam Smith, who came up to no. 3 with In The Lonely Hour in the wake of his four Grammy wins. The album sold 164,000 equivalent copies, the second highest sales week since its debut. Ed Sheeran had similar results with x, which took no. 4 by moving 140,000 units.

So yes, for the first time in its 16 weeks on the charts, Swift's 1989 occupies a spot outside of no. 2. The album still saw a boost from last week (despite the star not actually performing at The Grammys), rising to 125,000 in equivalent sales. Meghan Trainor also saw an unassisted boost in sales this week, as Title stuck at no. 6 by moving 72,000 copies.

Now 53 was the only album in the Top 10 that saw a decrease in sales from last week, as the compilation slid to no. 7 with just less than 72,000 in sales.

Beck was another performer who saw a huge increase thanks to The Grammys, as his Album of The Year Morning Phase saw a 483 percent increase in sales, which moved it from no. 39 to no. 8, selling another 71,000 equivalent copies.

Two final albums stuck around thanks to Grammy coverage: The 2015 Grammy Nominees compilation moved 65,000 copies while Maroon 5 and V moved 63,000 copies.

Tags

Maroon 5, Beck, Meghan Trainor, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Drake, Fifty Shades of Grey, GRAMMYs 2015