This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
July 2, 2019, marked a significant week for the music industry, with the Raconteurs' album 'Help Us Stranger' taking the top spot on the Billboard chart. The album's success can be attributed to a clever marketing strategy that combined the release with tickets to the band's summer tour, as well as a large sale of vinyl LPs.
According to Billboard, the album sold 25,000 vinyl LPs, the largest vinyl sales week of the year so far and the sixth largest since 1991. This, combined with 4 million song streams and 84,000 traditional sales, resulted in a total of 88,000 units sold in its debut week.
Meanwhile, Lil Nas X's '7' EP, which followed his viral single 'Old Town Road,' came in second with 77,000 units sold. The EP included 90 million streams and just 3,853 album sales, as well as 79,000 individual track downloads.
The remix of 'Old Town Road' featuring Billy Ray Cyrus continued to reign atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the 13th consecutive week, marking the longest-ever reign for a hip-hop hit.