Black Panther finished atop both the box office and the Billboard 200 as the Marvel blockbuster’s Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack debuted at Number One on the album charts.
Black Panther: The Album – featuring new tracks by Lamar, Jay Rock, the Weeknd, Future, Vince Staples and more – sold 154,000 total albums in its first week of release, which preceded the superhero film’s opening by a week. 52,000 of that total were from traditional album sales.
While soundtracks often top the Billboard 200, albums “inspired by” a film – only three of Black Panther: The Album‘s 14 songs actually appear in the movie – less frequently reach Number One; 1997’s Men in Black: The Album and 2012’s The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond are two examples of companion albums topping the charts, Billboard notes.
The soundtrack’s success comes as the film itself shattered Marvel’s records for a standalone non-Avengers superhero film, with Black Panther expected to bring in $218 million over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, a record for a February opening, Variety reports.
Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods, last week’s Number One, fell one spot to Number Two and 74,000 total copies. Migos’ Culture II landed at Number Four sandwiched between a pair of soundtracks, The Greatest Showman (Number Three) and Fifty Shades Freed (Number Five). Billboard added that this week is only the second time in the past decade that three soundtracks simultaneously finished in the Top Five.
Black Panther: The Album was the lone new release to finish in the upper tier of the Billboard 200 as five returnees occupied the bottom half of the Top 10: Ed Sheeran’s Divide (Number Six), Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic (Seven), Post Malone’s Stoney (Eight), Lamar’s Damn. (Nine) and Camila Cabello’s Camila (Number 10).
Next week, Black Panther will attempt to ride its box office-shattering success – and a light slate of new releases – to another week atop the Billboard 200.
