Is SZA the current Queen of R&B? The Top Dawg Entertainment vocalist can put up the first-week sales numbers for her SOS project as proof of her coronation.
SOS opened in the pole position of the latest Billboard 200 weekly chart with 318,000 units. That total was enough to give SZA the first No. 1 album of her career.
In addition, SOS broke the record for the largest streaming week ever for an R&B album. SZA’s 23-track studio LP racked up 404.6 million on-demand streams which is also the third-largest streaming week for 2022.
SOS is now in second place on the list of largest streaming weeks for an album by a female artist as well. Country/Pop superstar Taylor Swift brought in 549.3 million streams earlier this year for her Midnights album.
SZA also found success on the most recent Billboard Hot 100 chart. Twenty-one songs from SOS made it onto this week’s Hot 100. “Kill Bill” led the way by debuting at #3. “Nobody Gets Me” landed in the Top 10 at #10.
Plus, the SOS tracks “Blind,” “Low,” and “Shirt” presently reside in the Hot 100’s Top 20 region. “Kill Bill” also leads the Streaming Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot R&B Song charts. This is SZA’s first time topping the Streaming Songs rankings.
SOS follows 2017’s Ctrl which opened at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart by earning 60,000 first-week units. Ctrl has gone on to spend more than 200 weeks on the Billboard 200. SZA’s debut LP also earned 3x-Platinum certification from the RIAA.