21 Savage's 'I Am > I Was' Album Debuts At No. 1 On Billboard 200 Chart

21 Savage scores his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the chart-topping bow of I Am > I Was. The set was released on Dec. 21 via Slaughter Gang/Epic Records and launches with 131,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 27, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 18,000 were in traditional album sales, as the bulk of the album was driven by streaming activity.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 5, 2019-dated chart (where I Am bows at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019.

I Am is 21 Savage’s second solo studio effort, and marks his first leader on the Billboard 200 and his fourth entry overall. He previously hit the list with Without Warning (with Offset and Metro Boomin, peaking at No. 4 on the Nov. 18, 2017-dated chart), his debut solo studio set Issa Album (No. 2; July 29, 2017) and Savage Mode (with Metro Boomin, No. 23; Feb. 4, 2017).

21 Savage has also collected five top 10-charting hits on the Hot Rap Songs chart, through the most recently published list dated Dec. 29, 2018. Among those hits is Post Malone’s chart-topping “Rockstar,” featuring 21 Savage, which also led the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart for eight weeks. The track also recently scored 21 Savage his first two Grammy Award nominations, for best rap/sung performance and record of the year.

I Am boasts guest turns from Travis Scott, Post Malone, Childish Gambino, Offset and others. None of those acts, however, are credited as artists on the album. (I Am is the latest rap album to top the Billboard 200 without assigning artist credit to its guest artists. It follows Scott’s chart-topping Astroworld did not assign artist credit to any of its guests, which included Drake, Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and 21 Savage.)

Rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie earns his highest charting album yet on the Billboard 200, his new effort Hoodie SZN starts at No. 2. The set, his second full-length studio project, tallied 90,000 equivalent album units, with 6,000 of that sum coming from album sales. He previously visited the top 10 with his debut full-length studio release, The Bigger Artist, bowing and peaking at No. 4 on the Oct. 21, 2017-dated chart.

The rest of the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 is filled with a blend of holiday favorites and former No. 1s.

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