Halsey First Woman to Earn Billboard No. 1 Album in 2017
Halsey earned her first No. 1 album with hopeless fountain kingdom this month, also marking the first woman to achieve a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 Chart in 2017. It's a major accomplishment: We're already halfway through the year!
According to Billboard, the last woman artist to top the Billboard 200 was Lady Gaga, whose album Joanne was released in November 2016.
"In the last 12 months, Halsey is only the fourth solo woman to top the Billboard 200, following Lady Gaga, Solange (A Seat at the Table) and Barbra Streisand (Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway)," Billboard writes. "Comparatively, in the last 12 months, 16 men have earned No. 1s (including a pair each for Drake and Future), 10 groups (and only one with a female member: Pentatonix), two soundtracks (Fifty Shades Darker and Suicide Squad) and one compilation (The Hamilton Mixtape)."
In its first week (ending June 9), hopeless fountain kingdom earned "106,000 equivalent album units," moving 76,000 in "traditional album sales."
On Instagram, the pop star gushed about her accomplishment, writing, "[IT'S] OFFICIAL! 1st female album to go #1 on @billboard this year!!!! I can't believe this! I executive produced this album and wrote every single word of it! I remember when I was just stoked to have cool blogs writing about me. I remember spending hours sending my demos to every blog on hypemachine begging them to feature me. (You know who you are if you were on it that early!) I remember playing my first SXSW and just hoping people would like me. I remember sitting down to write this album in one of the lowest points of my life and crying when the words wouldn't come."
"I have never been happier in my entire life and I can't stop smiling," she added. "I will never be able to express my gratitude and everyday I wake up and revel in how awe inspiring this is. Thank you guys for believing in me and making me feel like I'm not alone."
See her full statement, below:
hopeless fountain kingdom was released June 2.
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