Ed Sheeran Knocks Drake From Top Spot of Billboard 200 With ‘=’
Written by SOURCE on November 8, 2021
For the fourth time in his career, Ed Sheeran has the No. 1 album in the U.S.
The British singer-songwriter officially toppled Drake’s Certified Lover Boy for the top spot on the Billboard 200 with his new album =, Billboard reports.
Sheeran’s latest release earned 118,000 equivalent album units in its first week, while CLB brought in 67,000 equivalent album units.
Despite originally being dethroned by Young Boy Never Broke Again’s acclaimed album Sincerely, Kentrell, Drake’s latest studio effort kept crawling back to the top, for a total of five weeks.
Sheeran, who has proven himself as one of the top-selling artists of his generation, previously topped the chart with No. 6 Collaborations Project in 2019, ÷ in 2017 and x in 2014. His latest effort sold 68,000 in its first week, according to Billboard, including 46,500 SEA units, roughly 61.69 million on-demand streams, and 3,500 TEA units.
The album’s success was a foregone conclusion after the heights reached by lead single “Bad Habits,” which he didn’t perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Instead, the talented Brit performed renditions of “Shivers” and “Overpass Graffiti.”
Before landing the No. 1 record in the country, Sheeran chopped it up on BBC’s Later…with Jools Holland in late October, discussing Eminem and their shared bond of collecting cassette tapes.
“I collect cassettes, and I’ve got Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, and they are quite difficult to find,” Sheeran said. “The only person I know who collects the same is Eminem. He collects cassettes, that’s his thing. He loves collecting. He is avid at going to find them. We have started having this, it’s like a very cool pen-pal thing.”
