For the second time this year, hip-hop star XXXTentacion rules the Billboard 200 with a new album, though this will be known as his first posthumous leader on the all-encompassing listing.
Skins, the musician’s first release since he was killed this past June, debuts atop the Billboard 200 albums listing with 132,000 equivalent units shifted, which just barely bests last frame’s leader, Meek Mill’s Championships, which only comes in 3,000 units behind XXXTentacion. Of that 132,000 unit sum, just 52,000 are purse sales, while the rest are made up primarily of streams.
Skins is XXXTentacion’s second leader and third top 10, and he managed to collect all of those successful releases in about a year and a half. He first broke into the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the summer of 2017 with his debut full-length 17, which stalled in the runner-up slot. He then debuted as high as a title can climb earlier this year in March, when his sophomore release ? opened at No. 1.
Skins is preceded by lead single “Bad!,” which has thus far risen as high as No. 16 on the Hot 100, giving the rapper his twelfth Top 40 hit.
Despite the fact that he had been accused of abusing his pregnant girlfriend, XXXTentacion quickly became one of the most popular new hip-hop artists in the country last year, and his streams and sales backed up that claim. Throughout his short tenure at the top while he was alive, there was a lot of debate about what his success meant, especially since he was confronting serious accusations while he was still scoring hit albums and songs.
XXXTentacion died this past June from a gunshot wound, and fans have reacted in the months since by continuing to listen to the art he during his life. Shortly after he died, his single “Sad!” bolted straight to No. 1, giving him his first leader on the all-encompassing listing. Since then, his vocals have posthumously been added to several songs by popular acts like Lil Peep, Lil Pump, and Lil Wayne, with all of those artists attracting some negative attention as well for the collaborations.
