Travis Scott impressed fans a couple of weeks ago when he dropped off his brand-new album, Utopia. Overall, this album was a huge triumph for Scott given all of the features. Moreover, it is an album that his core fanbase is appreciating quite a bit right now. Although the reviews have been fairly mixed, there is no doubt that commercial success is making up for it. For instance, in the first week, Scott was able to sell a total of 496K records. This was a massive accomplishment, even if bundles were involved.
Subsequently, many fans were interested in whether or not he would be able to carry this success into the second week. There hasn’t been a single hip-hop album to stay at number one for consecutive weeks in 2023. However, it looks like Travis Scott has gotten over the hump. According to AllHipHop, Scott sold 147,000 units in the album’s second week. This was good enough for first place as he exceeded Morgan Wallen by 50K units. Now, hip-hop finally has a multiweek number one in 2023.
If there was any artist who could have pulled this off, it most certainly would have been Travis. However, Drake is set to drop a new album as well, and he will likely go number one as well. Moving forward, it should be interesting to see how Travis does in his third week. Quavo is dropping an album this Friday and that will certainly be looking to compete for the top spot. However, Scott and Wallen appear to be immovable forces right now.
Let us know your thoughts on Utopia, in the comments section down below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will always be sure to keep you informed.
NEWS
Steve Albini‘s bands Shellac and Big Black now have their catalogues available for listening on Spotify.
Albini passed away aged 61 earlier this month due to a heart attack. He was well known for being the producer of major albums such as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid of Me’, Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and more.
Back in 2022, the late producer took his music off the streaming platform. He had previously criticised the company for platforming anti-vaxxers such as Joe Rogan, and tweeted later that they were a “terrible company”, adding: “I don’t want to be part of their business”.
He later told Attack Magazine that Spotify was “one of the few places outside of record stores where recorded music can earn anything at all, and for bands [with] more generous, honest relationships with independent labels not part of the ownership trust, then the payments from Spotify, though meager per-play, can add up to a viable income stream. Nobody’s getting rich, but it could pay for the groceries.”
Now, it appears that Albini’s work with his bands Shellac and Big Black are now available to stream on Spotify. This include’s Shellac’s final album ‘To All Trains’, which was announced shortly before Albini’s death and was released last Friday (May 17).
Tributes have poured in for the legendary producer since the announcement of his death. Our NME obituary hailed him as “a lone voice of anti-industry punk scene ethics, even as he worked with major labels on some of the biggest names in alternative rock.”
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina last week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’., and Joanna Newsom dedicated a version of her song ‘Cosmia’ to him, who engineered her 2006 album ‘Ys’. See further tributes here.
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo spoke to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini, who engineered the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
