The latest sensation in what has been a banner year for hip-hop is likely to be Astroworld, the new album by Texan rapper Travi$ Scott. His third full-length album, it made short work of topping the iTunes tabulations in 41 countries within hours of release last Friday (August 3), and will doubtless make a large impression on official chart rankings in the next couple of weeks.
On its fifth week on release, Drake’s Scorpion continues to prosper, remaining at No.1 in The Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, USA and his native Canada but slipping 1-2 in Slovakia. Elsewhere it remains in the Top 10 in Finland (3-2), Italy (2-2), the Netherlands (2-2), New Zealand (2-2), Sweden (2-2), UK (3-3), Australia (2-3), Flanders (2-3), Ireland (2-3), Wallonia (3-4), France (4-5) and Switzerland (2-5). It makes belated debuts in Portugal (No.12) and Poland (No.36).
Meanwhile, Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again continues to gain ground. The soundtrack to the box office smash hit sequel to 2008’s Mamma Mia! is, like its predecessor, packed with cast members’ take on Abba classics, and remains at No.1 in Ireland, New Zealand and The UK, while jumping 4-1 in both Australia and Austria. It also advances 3-2 in Flanders, 4-2 in Norway and Switzerland, 20-3 in the USA, 4-3 in the Netherlands, 65-4 in Canada, 13-4 in Spain, 9-4 in the Czech Republic, 17-5 in Poland, 12-6 in Wallonia, 15-6 in Slovakia, 21-9 in Hungary and 171-96 in France.
The soundtrack completes a fine week’s work by holding at No.4 in Germany and making debuts in Denmark (No.6) and Argentina (No.7). It is classified as a compilation rather than an artist album in a few territories, including Sweden, where it tops the compilation chart but may or may not be outselling local hip-hop group Hov1’s second album, Gudarna Pa Vasterbron, which tops the country’s artist album chart for the second week in a row and sixth week in total.
It’s been a while since we mentioned Ed Sheeran’s third album ÷ but it has been making gentle upwards progress recently in several countries, taking advantage of a generally weak slate of summer releases. Rising 8-7 in the Top 10 in the UK, it equals the 74-week opening Top 10 tenancy of its predecessor, X. ÷ is also in the Top 10 at present in the Czech Republic (3-2), New Zealand (3-3), Denmark (4-4), Australia (5-5), Flanders (5-5), Canada (7-6), Ireland (6-6), Norway (6-6), the Netherlands (5-6), Switzerland (12-7), Germany (11-8) and Slovakia (8-8).
Finally, as Dua Lipa’s eponymous debut album reaches a new peak for the second week in a row in Greece (7-6), it re-enters the chart in Poland (No.48) and makes gentle advances in Flanders (19-15), Ireland (19-18), The Netherlands (22-20), Spain (49-38) and Sweden (59-56).
