Tinashe's Popstar Debuts at No. 6 — a Career First
Tinashe has her first Billboard 200 top 10. Popstar, her eighth studio album, bows at No. 6 on the chart dated October 10 with 35,500 equivalent album units in the United States, per Luminate figures reported October 4 — the biggest week of her career. The total splits into 22,000 pure album sales, a personal best that also lands the set at No. 4 on Top Album Sales, plus 13,500 streaming-equivalent units from 13.73 million on-demand streams. The result eclipses her previous peak: Aquarius, which entered and peaked at No. 17 in 2014. Popstar is only her second top-40 album in more than a decade of solo work.
Released September 25 through her own Tinashe Music imprint alongside Nice Life and Atlantic, the album arrived with wide acclaim, including a rare 9.0 rating from Pitchfork. The runway came from sleeper heat: "No Broke Boys," first heard on 2024's Quantum Baby before a Disco Lines rework turned it into a breakout, reached No. 36 on the Hot 100 and spent 24 weeks atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. For an artist who told fans last week she had "given up" on ever winning a Grammy after more than a decade without even a nomination, this is vindication in full. She kept going — and the top 10 finally caught up.
The R&B Tour Rolls Through Texas
Usher and Chris Brown's co-headlining stadium run keeps rolling. After the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso on October 3, The R&B Tour hits San Antonio's Alamodome tonight, October 5, then pulls into Houston for back-to-back nights on October 9 and 10, per Ticketmaster's current itinerary. The tour launched in June at Denver's Empower Field at Mile High, and surprise guests have become its signature — none confirmed in advance, but the run has already featured Ye, Snoop Dogg, Nelly, 50 Cent, Fat Joe, Mary J. Blige, Future, Ashanti, Jadakiss, Method Man and Lil Baby, according to USA Today. The setlists lean on the catalogs both artists are built on: Brown's set runs through "Run It!", "Loyal", "Under the Influence" and "No Guidance", with joint moments alongside Usher on "Party", "New Flame" and "Back to Sleep". After Texas, the run continues to East Rutherford on October 15 and runs through November 20 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Filed under The Wire, MixShow Prime's music industry news desk.
