Plus: Polo G set to start at No. 2 with “The Goat” & Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s “Reunions” rushing towards top 15 after wide release.
Future is set for his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as High Off Life should open in the top slot on next week’s chart, according to industry forecasters. Prognosticators suggest the new album, which was released on May 15 via Freebandz/Epic Records, could start with over 140,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 21. Perhaps about 85% of the album’s starting unit sum will be driven by streaming activity.
Future has previously hit No. 1 with Future HNDRXX Presents: The WIZRD (in 2019), HNDRXX, a self-titled album (both in 2017), Evol (2016), What a Time To Be Alive (with Drake) and DS2 (both in 2015).
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which comprises traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the May 30-dated Billboard 200 chart (where High Off Life may debut at No. 1) is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s website on Sunday, May 24.
Meanwhile, another hip-hop artist will debut high on the new Billboard 200, as Polo G’s The Goat should start at No. 2 with over 90,000 equivalent album units earned (like Future’s album, The Goat could see 85% of its first week come from streaming activity).
Polo G has charted one previous album, Die a Legend, which debuted and peaked at No. 6 in 2019.
While both High Off Life and The Goat will see their first-week units powered by streaming activity, each title also has a range of merchandise/album bundles available via their official webstores (less than 25 bundles for each title). The two albums also have a few physical format/digital album combinations for sale via their webstores. Polo G has two signed offerings (a CD and a vinyl LP, both with a digital downloads), while Future also has two signed sets (a CD and a vinyl LP, each with a download), along with a standard CD/digital album package.
Last week’s No. 1, NAV’s Good Intentions, launched atop the list with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 14, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 73,000 were in album sales, with nearly all of that figure owed to sales from 100 merchandise/album bundles.
Outside of next week’s Nos. 1 and 2 spots, watch for Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s Reunions album to charge up the tally to the top 15. The set was released a week early, on May 8, exclusively through independent music retailers on CD and vinyl LP. The album bowed at No. 149 on the chart dated May 23, with 7,000 units earned (all from album sales) in the week ending May 14. Thus, after its first week of wide availability across all retailers and streaming services, it could surge into the top 15 with over 30,000 units earned in the week ending May 21.