Jhené Aiko earns her first Billboard 200 No. 1 as Westside Whimsy opens with 74,000 equivalent album units.
Jhené Aiko earns her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as Westside Whimsy debuts at the top of the chart dated Sept. 26.
The album records 74,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Sept. 17, according to Luminate.
Westside Whimsy also becomes the first R&B album by a woman to top the Billboard 200 in 2026.
It is the first R&B album to reach No. 1 since SZA’s SOS spent its 13th and final week at the top in May 2025.
Bruno Mars’ The Romantic, which topped the chart in March, is the only other R&B album to reach No. 1 in 2026.
Aiko released Westside Whimsy on Sept. 11, three days after announcing the project. The album features collaborations with Ab-Soul, Larry June, Kendrick Lamar, Ohma and Tyga.
The album marks Aiko’s sixth top-10 entry on the Billboard 200
Her first came with Sail Out, which debuted and peaked at No. 8 in November 2013.
Westside Whimsy is also Aiko’s first full-length studio album since 2020’s Chilombo, which debuted and peaked at No. 2. The album later earned a Grammy nomination for album of the year.
Streaming accounts for most of Aiko’s first-week performance, with 70,000 equivalent album units coming from SEA. That represents 71.33 million official on-demand streams of songs from the album.
The project also debuts at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart.
Another 3,500 units come from album sales, while track-equivalent albums contribute 500 units.
The album was initially available only digitally, with physical editions scheduled for release in January.
Aiko waited 12 years and 10 months between her Billboard 200 debut with Sail Out and her first No. 1 album.
She is the second act in 2026 to wait at least 10 years between a Billboard 200 debut and a first chart-topping album.
Earlier this year, Megadeth earned its first No. 1 nearly four decades after making its Billboard 200 debut in 1986.
Andrea Bocelli holds the longer wait among soloists, taking more than 20 years to earn his first No. 1 with Sì in 2018.
Among women, Solange waited 13 years and eight months between her Billboard 200 debut in 2003 and her first No. 1 with A Seat at the Table in 2016.
The rest of the Billboard 200 top 10 is made up largely of previous No. 1 albums.
Ella Langley’s Dandelion falls to No. 2 with just over 60,000 units, while Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love drops to No. 3 with 60,000.
Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem falls to No. 4 with 57,000 units, while Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide remains at No. 5 with 46,000.
Drake’s ICEMAN climbs to No. 6 with 35,000 units.
Ariana Grande’s petal falls to No. 7 with 34,000, while Rod Wave’s Don’t Look Down drops to No. 8 with nearly 34,000.
Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rises to No. 9 with 33,000 units.
Kahan’s Stick Season rounds out the top 10 after climbing from No. 13 to No. 10 with nearly 33,000 units.
