SZA’s ‘SOS’ tops Billboard album chart for ninth week, breaking seven year record
SZA‘s ‘SOS’ has broken a seven-year chart record in the US as it celebrates its ninth week at Number One.
The long-awaited album, which was the singer’s first in half a decade and followed 2017’s ‘Ctrl’ upon release in December, has been riding high in the charts ever since it dropped.
This week, it celebrated its ninth week at the summit of the Billboard 200 chart, making it the first album by a woman to hit that milestone in seven years. In its ninth week, the record sold 93,000 equivalent album units.
The ninth chart-topping week breaks a record held by Adele‘s ’25’ since March 2016, with Taylor Swift the only other woman to achieve the mark in the last 10 years with ‘1989’.
Billboard 200: #1(=) @sza, SOS 93,000 (1,401,000 units since release). *ninth week at #1*
— chart data (@chartdata) February 19, 2023
Reviewing ‘SOS’ upon its release, NME said: “Five years ago, SZA was heralded for redefining R&B with her eclectic influences and ‘SOS’ takes that range even further. As well as grunge, pop-punk and acoustic guitars, it slinks through rumbling, dirty bass (‘Low’), soulful, classic ballads (‘Gone Girl’), chipmunk soul (‘Smoking On My Ex Pack’), and much more.
“In some other artists’ hands, that collage could feel unfocused, but under SZA’s command it feels cohesive, organic and like every skip into a new genre is completely justified for each track.”
Looking forwards, SZA recently hinted at a future collaboration with Miley Cyrus, after she teased future “surprises” for fans and hinted at a forthcoming deluxe edition of the new album.
One of those surprises may be a Cyrus collaboration, if a new tweet from SZA is to be believed.
Reacting to Cyrus’ own chart-topping success with new single ‘Flowers’, SZA tweeted: “MAJOR congrats to Miley !!!” adding: “Excited for her album and to work together.”
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Will Richards
NME
