Can Dave Matthews Band Keep Its Streak Going Atop the Billboard 200?

The Contenders is simply a midweek file that looks astatine artists aiming for nan apical of nan Billboard charts, and nan strategies down their efforts. This week (for nan upcoming charts dated June 4), a seasoned stone group looks to people its first Billboard 200 No. 1 of nan 2020s, pinch title from a U.K. singer-songwriter, a mates difficult stone outfits, and – of people – Morgan Wallen.  

Dave Matthews Band, Walk Around nan Moon (RCA): It mightiness not beryllium nan first group that comes to mind erstwhile naming nan biggest acts of nan past 30 years, but fewer stone bands person ever enjoyed arsenic accordant occurrence arsenic nan Dave Matthews Band connected nan Billboard 200. The group has reached No. 1 pinch each of their past 7 workplace albums — a streak making love backmost to 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets – and hopes to make it 8 pinch nan merchandise of past Friday’s (May 19) Walk Around nan Moon, its first medium of nan 2020s.  

However, nan DMB’s chances to unseat Morgan Wallen (11 weeks and counting pinch his One Thing astatine a Time) will beryllium impacted by a alteration successful Billboard’s charts since nan past clip it released an album: nan 2020 elimination of summons bundles from Billboard 200 calculations, which antecedently provided a large boost to nan exceedingly celebrated unrecorded outfit. (Recent rule changes person reintroduced “fan pack” bundles to Billboard floor plan calculations, but done merch alternatively than tickets, and pinch overmuch stricter rules astir eligibility.) Instead, nan set will person to trust mostly connected beingness income — to which end, it has released aggregate vinyl variants, including exclusive colour variants for nan band’s instrumentality club, Barnes & Noble, independent grounds stores and Target. 

Lewis Capaldi, Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo/Universal/Capitol): Though Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi reached nan apex of nan Billboard Hot 100 pinch his late-’10s breakthrough deed “Someone You Loved,” he topped retired astatine No. 20 connected nan Billboard 200 pinch debut medium Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. After a fewer years of dependable fanbase building, he whitethorn fare a small amended pinch sophomore group Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent — which features a much humble Hot 100 occurrence pinch lead azygous “Forget Me” (No. 58) but has aggregate vinyl LPs, 4 CD editions and moreover 5 cassette variants disposable for purchase.  

Summer Walker, Clear 2: Soft Life (LVRN/Interscope): R&B prima Summer Walker is connected her measurement to being 1 of nan astir accordant LP artists of her procreation — 2019 debut group Over It deed No. 2 connected nan Billboard 200 and its 2021 sequel, Still Over It, made it to No. 1, some besides drafting sizeable captious acclaim – but her EP occurrence has been little resounding, pinch 2020’s Life connected Earth tapping retired astatine No. 8, pinch nary existent breakout hits. Her latest EP is Clear 2: Soft Life, a nine-track offering pinch a brace of big-name guests successful J. Cole and Childish Gambino — but again, nan set’s songs person not performed connected nan streaming charts nan measurement Still Over It’s tracks did successful their first week, suggesting fans still want to bask a longer Summer.  

In nan Mix

Ghost, Phantomine (Loma Vista) / Sleep Token, Take Me Back to Eden (Spinefarm): The streaming era has not been peculiarly generous to difficult stone and dense metal, but 2 bands from those genres that person recovered existent occurrence are Ghost and Sleep Token. Both will effect nan charts adjacent week pinch caller releases: Ghost pinch a covers EP (featuring takes connected Genesis, Iron Maiden and Tina Turner) and Sleep Token pinch their first LP since going viral pinch beforehand way “The Summoning” earlier this year. Those built-in streaming numbers will boost Eden, while Phantomine is aided by aggregate vinyl LP variants and (somewhat ironically) a Spotify-exclusive cassette.  

Beyoncé, Renaissance (Parkwood/Columbia): Whether it tin spark nan benignant of extended catalog-wide gains that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has successful its first mates months remains to beryllium seen, but nan motorboat of Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour has already fixed its titular medium a bully bump connected nan Billboard 200, lifting it 49-34 connected this week’s chart. It whitethorn emergence moreover higher adjacent week pinch nan Friday merchandise of her caller  “America Has a Problem” remix, featuring rap superstar Kendrick Lamar, which is disconnected to a bully commencement connected streaming and whose metrics will beryllium rolled successful pinch nan original Renaissance medium cut.