Rihanna ruling Billboard 200 with her eighth album, "Anti"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rihanna is ruling Billboard 200 this week with her eighth album, "Anti". The record is sitting at the chart's No. 1 with 166,000 units collected in its second week, AceShowbiz reports citing Nielsen Music. 124,000 of that sum are in pure album sales.

"Anti" was made available exclusively on Tidal January 27 before hitting the stores everywhere a few days later. Upon its release, the project immediately went Platinum thanks to the free copies given away to fans as part of RiRi's deal with Samsung.

Unlike the RIAA, which announced the Platinum certification just days after the LP's arrival, Nielsen Music doesn't count the free copies for the all-genre albums chart. As a result, "Anti" made its debut on Billboard 200 last week at No. 27 with less than 1000 copies sold.

This is Rihanna's second time to top the chart. She scored her first No. 1 album with 2012's "Unapologetic" that launched with 238,000 copies in its first week. Her other six albums all peaked inside the top 10.

Next on this week's Billboard 200, Kevin Gates arrives at No. 2 with "Islah". With 112,000 units that include 93,000 in traditional album sales, the album easily gives the rapper his highest-charting set and his biggest sales week yet. Previously, he could only reach No. 17 with 2014's "By Any Means" and nabbed his best sales week with the 23,000 copies sold by "Luca Brasi 2: Gangsta Grillz" that was launched in the same year.

At No. 3 is Adele's "25", which slips from last week's No. 1 with another 106,000 units in its 11th week. With 89,000 in pure album sales, the British singer's record-breaking comeback album has now sold a total of 8.03 million in the U.S. alone.

Sia Furler is the next newcomer on the list as her "This Is Acting" album makes its debut at No. 4 with 81,000 units including 68,000 copies, the Aussie singer/songwriter's best sales week yet. Her previous LP, 2014's "1000 Forms of Fear", was sold 52,000 copies in its first week to debut at the chart's No. 1.

Closing out the top 5 is Justin Bieber's "Purpose" that falls from No. 1 with 73,000 units in its 12th week. Trailing behind the Canadian singer is another heartthrob Charlie Puth, who has his debut full-length "Nine Track Mind" landed at No. 6 with 65,000.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of Twenty One Pilots' "Blurryface" that drops three rungs to No. 7 with 43,000 and Chris Stapleton's "Traveller" which falls from No. 7 to No. 8 with 33,000. Meanwhile, Bryson Tiller's "T R A P S O U L" rises to No. 9 from last week's No. 10 with 32,000 and G-Eazy's "When It's Dark Out" jumps two spots to No. 10 with 31,000.