Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album, Guts, debuts atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated Sept. 23), scoring the singer-songwriter her second No. 1 set, following her 2021 debut Sour. The new album starts with 302,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Luminate. That marks the fourth-largest week for any album in 2023 and Rodrigo’s best week yet.

With both Sour and Guts having debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Rodrigo is the first female artist to start atop the chart with two first chart entries in nine years. Ariana Grande was the last woman to debut at No. 1 with two initial chart entries, with Yours Truly in 2013 and My Everything in 2014.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, BTS’ V debuts at No. 2 with Layover, while Tyler Childers’ Rustin’ in the Wind launches at No. 10.

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, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Sept. 23, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Sept. 19. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Guts’ 302,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 14, SEA units comprise 151,000 (equaling 199.59 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs — the sixth-largest debut streaming week of 2023), album sales comprise 150,000 (powered by 94,000 in vinyl sales — the seventh-largest week for a vinyl album since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

Guts was introduced by its first single “Vampire,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (dated July 15), marking her third leader. (She previously topped the chart with Sour’s “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U.”) Before Guts’ arrival, it spun off another Hot 100 hit with “Bad Idea Right?,” which debuted and peaked (through the most recently published chart dated June 16) at No. 10 (Aug. 26 chart).

Rodrigo ushered in the album with major promotional appearances, including performances on NBC’s Today (Sept. 8, the day of the album’s release) and the MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 12). She also did interviews with Today (Sept. 10) and with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1’s New Music Daily (Sept. 8), and made an appearance at the American Express and Spotify Guts Gallery pop-up activation in New York on Sept. 7. Further, her upcoming Guts World Tour was announced on Sept. 13, with the trek starting on Feb. 23 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Guts’ first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 13 different vinyl variants (including a signed edition), two deluxe boxed sets containing a vinyl LP and branded merchandise, four CD editions (including a signed version), two deluxe boxed sets containing a CD and branded merchandise, and a cassette tape.

BTS’ V sees his first solo studio album, Layover, launch at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, earning 100,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, album sales comprise 88,000, SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 12.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s six tracks) and TEA units comprise 3,000. Layover’s debut was enhanced by its availability in 13 collectible CD iterations, all with randomized branded merch elements contained inside, with exclusive variants sold via Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the Weverse store.

Zach Bryan’s self-titled album falls to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (95,000 equivalent album units; down 18%) after spending its first two weeks at No. 1. Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time slips 2-4 (78,000; down 7%), Travis Scott’s former No. 1 Utopia drops 3-5 (56,000; down 22%), and SZA’s former leader SOS is a non-mover at No. 6 (45,000; up 1%).

Peso Pluma’s Génesis rises one spot to No. 7 (43,000 equivalent album units; up 4%), Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights falls 5-8 (42,000; down 7%), and Wallen’s first No. 1, Dangerous: The Double Album, ascends 10-9 (39,000; down 4%).

Childers rounds out the top 10, as his latest release, Rustin’ in the Rain, debuts at No. 10 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned — his best week yet by total units. It’s the second top 10-charting effort for the artist, following Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven (No. 8 in 2022). Of Rain’s 38,000 first-week units, album sales comprise 25,000 and SEA units comprise 13,000 (equaling 17.39 million on-demand official streams of the set’s seven songs), rounded out by a negligible amount of TEA units.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.