SZA’s second studio album, SOS, has reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the 10th non-consecutive week. Adele was the last female singer to do so with her 2015 album, 25. Before that, the last R&B album to spend its first seven weeks atop the chart was Whitney Houston’s Whitney.
SZA dropped the album back on December 9, 2022. It debuted immediately on the Billboard 200 with 318,000 equivalent album units sold. The album features appearances from Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott, and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Behind the scenes, she also worked with Babyface, Jeff Bhasker, Benny Blanco, Rodney Jerkins, DJ Dahi, Gabriel Hardeman, Ant Clemons, and Lizzo. It was promoted with by three singles, “Good Days”, “I Hate U”, and “Shirt.”
The feat comes after SZA was named Billboard’s Woman Of The Year, earlier this month. “Right now, I just have extreme gratitude because I swear to God, I never thought I’d be No. 1 for even a week, let alone seven,” she said at the time.
“SZA is a force,” Terrence “Punch” Henderson told Billboard. “To go seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 is legendary. She’s a true generational artist, a cultural reset, if you will. For her album SOS to blend so many different genres together in a cohesive frame shows her genius and versatility. Then you have the voice, the words, the pain, the growth, the relapsing, the delivery, the stories, etc. … a true masterpiece.”
Fans of SOS will be able to catch SZA on tour throughout the spring as she recently embarked on The SOS Tour. She’ll be making stops in Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Atlanta, and more through the end of March. In total, SZA will be making 19 stops across the United States and Canada. Omar Apollo serves as the opener. “Last night was the first night of my very first arena tour ever,” she wrote on Instagram after her show in Columbus last week. “I don’t have words. But thank you. So much.”
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