Black Panther + Drake | Music Playlist 2018

"Black Panther" is a bonafide box office smash, and its soundtrack is tearing up the charts, too.



"Black
Panther: The Album" debuted atop the Billboard 200 this weekend after
selling 154,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Music.



That
number understates the success of the album, a collection of songs
curated by Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar. Billboard hasn't yet
factored in the additional 61,300 copies sold over the weekend after the
film came out.



To determine the number of copies sold,
the music industry uses a formula that incorporates physical albums,
digital albums, digital singles and song streams.



The
album has been particularly big for streaming: Nielsen's data shows that
the songs combined have been streamed nearly 190 million times since
the album was released February 9. About 50 million of those streams
were this weekend alone.



"This is much bigger than just
a music release. It's much bigger than just a compilation album," said
David Bakula, senior vice president of analytics at Nielsen
Entertainment.



It's not a surprise that the album is
doing so well. "Black Panther" has been described as not just a movie
but a cultural movement.



The film has shattered the
norms of black representation in Hollywood by featuring a mostly black
cast and having a black superhero. It's already one of the biggest
blockbusters in Disney's (DIS) Marvel franchise.



The
album was curated and produced by one of the most electrifying and
socially significant performers in entertainment. And the album itself
is a nontraditional soundtrack that could change the music industry.



Related: 'Black Panther' crushes box office records in opening weekend



Lamar
and artists like SZA and The Weeknd recorded songs that were inspired
by the groundbreaking comic book superhero. And only a few of the 14
tracks on "Black Panther: The Album" appear in the film.



Many
stand on their own. "All the Stars," "King's Dead" and "Pray for Me"
are singles that were promoted heavily in the weeks before the album
dropped. Nielsen says those three songs have been streamed a combined
132 million times.



"Kendrick's one of the most streamed
artists out there," Bakula said. "You do have an artist who's at the
absolute top of his game."



Bakula added that the
album's success could help some of the artists who aren't as well known
as Lamar and The Weeknd. Moviegoers who are introduced to the album
because of the film may discover someone like Jay Rock or Anderson .Paak
for the first time.



"This comes with the addition of
this gigantic $200 million box office opening," Bakula added. "The movie
sort of brings an additional element of exposure — a little bit like if
you had a no-name artist that appeared on the Grammys."



Related: More than a movie, 'Black Panther' is a movement



The
success of the album and others like it could also have repercussions
for the rest of the music industry, said Zach Fuller, a music analyst at
MIDiA Research.



Three of the top five albums on
Billboard's chart this week are movie soundtracks. Along with the Black
Panther album, "The Greatest Showman," which includes tracks from the
musical drama, and "Fifty Shades Freed," a collection of pop songs from
the erotic romance, are also performing well.



"You
could say that this is indicative of streaming bringing people back to
this model that the album's become very soundtrack-centric," Fuller told
CNN late last week.



One possible reason: The movie tie-in helps create a sentimental attachment for fans to latch on to.



"There
are parts of the movie, the visual experience of the movie, that are
made more complete by the music, and that has an additional emotional
effect," Bakula said.



Fuller also predicted that the film industry's influence on music producers could continue to grow.



In
a blog post Tuesday, he described Lamar's production and curation of
the Black Panther soundtrack as the model for what could become "the
holy grail for artists." It's a practice not unlike how India's
Bollywood industry drives the country's music, he wrote.



"Given
its influence on the film industry and considerable presence in music,
The Walt Disney Company would also thrive in such a world," Fuller
added. "Video kills radio stars, but it may well be the film industry
that leads the way in preserving the album as an artistic medium."