Morgan Wallen storms the charts with ‘I’m the Problem’ — and 36 of its songs : NPR

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem had the largest week of any album this 12 months.

John Shearer/Getty Images for for Morgan Wall/Getty Images North America

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John Shearer/Getty Images for for Morgan Wall/Getty Images North America

As anticipated, nation famous person Morgan Wallen has the week’s No. 1 album, as I’m the Problem debuts atop the Billboard 200. All however considered one of its 37 songs land within the Hot 100, whereas his new single, the Tate McRae duet “What I Want,” debuts atop the chart. Elsewhere, the underperformance of two family names demonstrates the fickle nature of fame — and the issue of cracking the charts in any respect in 2025.

TOP ALBUMS

Last week, the English rock band Sleep Token notched its first-ever No. 1 album, as Even in Arcadia debuted atop the Billboard 200 albums chart. This week, Even in Arcadia slides to No. 6, whereas the brand new No. 1 is a debut everybody noticed coming: With the largest streaming numbers of 2025 and powerful gross sales in addition, Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem is the chart-topper it had all the time appeared destined to grow to be.

With 493,000 “equivalent album units” — that is the cocktail of gross sales and streaming that goes into assembling the Billboard 200 every week — I’m the Problem had the largest week of any album this 12 months. But its streaming numbers are lagging a bit behind these posted by its predecessor, 2023’s One Thing at a Time, and it hasn’t but produced a surefire “song of the summer” contender to match 2023’s “Last Night” (or 2024’s “I Had Some Help,” the Post Malone tune on which Wallen featured as a visitor).

Still, blockbuster numbers are blockbuster numbers, and Wallen’s presence is felt all around the Hot 100 singles chart (see under). It’s an enormous debut for an album that guarantees to stay a presence for months — and, let’s face it, years — to come back, on condition that One Thing at a Time nonetheless sits at No. 4, whereas 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album resides at No. 12.

Think about that for a second: I’m the Problem has 37 songs, all however considered one of which rank among the many week’s high 100 songs. (Technically, he is acquired 37 on the chart, as a result of “I Had Some Help” sits at No. 19.) Even after releasing all these new songs, followers nonetheless streamed One Thing at a Time (which has 36 tracks) and Dangerous: The Double Album (which started with 30 songs and subsequently expanded to incorporate 33) sufficient to maintain them each within the high 12. That’s a whole lot of Morgan Wallen to go round — and his debut album, If I Know Me, remains to be sitting round at No. 75.

There’s one different debut value noting, as BTS’s Jin enters the Billboard 200 at No. 3. Echo is Jin’s highest-charting solo album up to now, after Happy debuted (and peaked) at No. 4 final fall.

TOP SONGS

Last week, Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther (feat. SZA)” prolonged its run at No. 1 to a powerful 13 weeks, although Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” appeared primed to take excessive spot. This week, “Ordinary” lastly overtakes “Luther” — simply in time to get swamped by the Morgan Wallen onslaught. With Wallen locking down the highest three songs, “Ordinary” slips from No. 2 to No. 4 and “Luther” slides from No. 1 to No. 5.

Wallen launched eight songs within the run-up to I’m the Problem‘s launch — six of them cracked the highest 10 — however none of these topped this week’s chart. That honor belongs to “What I Want,” a trap-tinged single Wallen recorded with Canadian pop star Tate McRae. It’s McRae’s first-ever No. 1 single (her hit “Greedy” reached No. 3), and it seems as well-positioned as any Wallen observe to contend for 2025’s “song of the summer” sweepstakes.

All however considered one of I’m the Problem‘s songs land on this week’s Hot 100, and 6 of them crowd the highest 10. And the one I’m the Problem observe to overlook the Hot 100 this week most definitely did so on a technicality: “Lies Lies Lies” peaked at No. 7 final July, and the bar for previous songs re-entering the chart is increased than the bar for debuts. To re-enter the Hot 100, “Lies Lies Lies” would have needed to crack the highest 50, and since it did not, it missed the minimize.

And, in case you’ve got breathlessly anticipated an replace on the all-time data posted by unkillable hits, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” drops from No. 4 to No. 9 — ending, not less than for now, its record-setting run of 45 weeks within the high 5 — whereas Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” has now posted an all-time-record 92 weeks on the Hot 100, surpassing Glass Animals’ unforgivable 2020 hit “Heat Waves.” Pushed down by Morgan Wallen’s surge, “Lose Control” dips from No. 7 to No. 11, however now belongs to the document books.

WORTH NOTING

Charts, by their very nature, include solely a finite variety of titles. Which implies that for observers, it may be simple to overlook when a notable work fails to chart altogether.

Last week marked the primary week of chart eligibility for brand spanking new albums by two main artists: country-turned-pop singer Maren Morris (D R E A M S I C L E) and alt-rock band Arcade Fire (Pink Elephant). But neither album cracked the Billboard 200 in its first week, and neither rallies to enter this week’s chart. For each, that is a steep drop-off from their previous chart efficiency.

Morris hit No. 5 with 2016’s Hero, No. 4 with 2019’s Girl and No. 21 with 2022’s Humble Quest. But, because the singer has tried to transition from nation to pop, she appears to have discovered a house with neither camp; D R E A M S I C L E hit No. 28 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart final week, however with out an accompanying streaming increase, gross sales weren’t sufficient to land it among the many week’s 200 hottest albums general.

For Arcade Fire, the autumn was much more catastrophic — particularly on condition that the band loved a high-profile spot as a Saturday Night Live musical visitor the day after Pink Elephant‘s launch. After peaking at No. 123 with its breakthrough basic Funeral, the band landed 5 straight albums within the high 10: 2007’s Neon Bible (No. 2), 2010’s The Suburbs (No. 1), 2013’s Reflektor (No. 1), 2017’s Everything Now (No. 1) and 2022’s We (No. 6). But Pink Elephant — certainly damage, not less than partly, by sexual-abuse allegations in opposition to singer Win Butler — debuted at No. 12 on the gross sales chart and missed the Billboard 200 fully.

The underperformance of each albums speaks to the fickle nature of fame, simply because it speaks to the dominance of streaming that final week’s Twelfth-biggest vendor could not crack the Billboard 200. But it additionally illustrates simply how exhausting it’s to crack the Billboard 200 in any respect in 2025, as honored hits crowd the rankings for years on finish due to streaming. These days, newness and identify recognition aren’t sufficient on their very own.