Four new songs was all it took. Drake’s HABIBTI (FOMO) deluxe pushed HABIBTI from No. 116 all the way back to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated October 17. That is a 114 spot climb, and it ties the album’s original peak from May. The only project ahead of it this week is Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.
The Numbers
- 71,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending October 8, according to Luminate, up 506% from the week before.
- Nearly 70,000 of those units came from streaming, up 497%. This was a streaming run, not a vinyl or bundle push.
- The four new songs combined for about 8.96 million Spotify streams in their first full day, per the streaming tracker Bars. “Solar Eclipse” led with roughly 3.3 million, “Cold Shoulder” and “Quebec” pulled about 2.2 million each, and “Classic PT2” did around 1.3 million.
- The rest of the top 5: Olivia Rodrigo at No. 3 (66,000), The Beatles’ Rubber Soul at No. 4 (58,000) and Morgan Wallen at No. 5 (55,000).
What FOMO Added
HABIBTI (FOMO) dropped October 2 and took the album from 11 tracks to 15. The new songs grew out of FOMO, the self funded short film Drake premiered during a September 15 YouTube livestream.
- “Solar Eclipse” featuring Don Toliver
- “Cold Shoulder” featuring Don Toliver and Yebba
- “Quebec”
- “Classic PT2,” an extended take on the original album’s “Classic”
For context, HABIBTI first arrived May 15 as one of three surprise albums, alongside ICEMAN and MAID OF HONOUR. Those three debuted at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, making Drake the first artist to hold the entire top three of the Billboard 200 at once. HABIBTI opened with 114,000 units back then.
“Solar Eclipse” Is the Engine
The biggest of the four new songs is the one doing the heavy lifting. “Solar Eclipse” hit No. 1 on Apple Music in the US and is projected to debut at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated October 17, with the full chart due October 13. If that projection holds, it would be Don Toliver’s first top 5 hit on the Hot 100 and Drake’s 48th.
The record slows down Ella Langley’s country hit “Choosin’ Texas” into late night R&B, with a sample of Bun B’s “Get Throwed” underneath. We broke down the full record in “Solar Eclipse” Is Here, and Mr. Lee Gets Paid Again.
The Houston Connection
This is where it gets personal for us. “Get Throwed” was produced by Mr. Lee, the Houston producer who cofounded XMG Hip Hop. Every stream of “Solar Eclipse” runs on a record he built in 2005, and a top 5 Hot 100 debut would put that Houston sound right back at the top of the charts. If you missed it, here is why Mr. Lee gets paid every time Drake touches “Get Throwed”, plus the 8 legendary records that made the True Texas sound.
The Takeaway
A four song deluxe usually gives an album a small bump. This one sent HABIBTI back to its peak, almost entirely on streams, and gave Drake another likely top 5 single. The official Hot 100 lands October 13, and we will see if “Solar Eclipse” holds at No. 5 or goes higher.