Jelly Roll, Rod Wave, Charli XCX: Who Will Top The Billboard 200 Next Week?

The contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top Bulletin board diagrams and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming October 26th Billboard 200, we look at the most competitive race we've had on the album chart in quite some time, as a pair of big new releases (and a slightly older one that just got a facelift) compete for the top spot. position.

jelly roll, Beautifully broken (Democracy): If it's impossible for Jelly Roll to only release their first album of 2024 this October, there's a reason for that. The 2023 country star has been ubiquitous throughout 2024, appearing everywhere from the Emmys to SNL in Congress (!!) to Twisters: The album on new sets by Post Malone, Eminem, Falling in Reverse and Jessie Murph – as well as several new releases of his own, including the Billboard Hot 100 Hits 'I Am Not Okay' and 'Liar'. But indeed, the follow-up to his LP last year Whitsitt Chapel it didn't arrive until last Friday (October 11), in the form of Beautifully broken.

The new set includes those two aforementioned hits, as well as guest appearances from rapper Wiz Khalifa, “Lonely Road” collaborator mgk, and singer-songwriter Isley Jubey. It's available as a standard 14-track physical album and a 22-track deluxe on digital download and streaming services – and if that's not enough Jelly Roll in your life, a super-deluxe 28-track subtitled edition was also released on Friday (picking up the pieces)which features additional guest appearances by country stars ERNEST and Keith Urban, singer-rapper Russ and singer-songwriters Halsey and Skylar Grey.

The 28-track length will certainly help the set's streaming numbers, where Jelly Roll usually performs quite well for a country artist – but Beautifully broken expected to do the most damage to sales. The album is available on his online store on cassette, CD and vinyl, including gold and camo vinyl variants and a signed CD, as well as a fan pack that includes the signed CD along with a t-shirt or hoodie. There's also a clear/gold vinyl version available exclusively at indie stores and a “silver nugget” variant exclusive to Amazon, while the digital deluxe and Pieces The album versions are sold on iTunes for $4.99 and $7.99, respectively. All of that could add up to Jelly Roll's first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 — though in a competitive week, he'll still need all the help he can get.

Rod Wave, Last Round (Alamo): An artist who already has multiple Billboard 200 No. 1 to his credit is Florida-born rapper Rod Wave. Despite keeping a low profile and never really achieving crossover pop success – with even hip-hop radio support remaining limited – Rod Wave has maintained consistent commercial success that most MCs can only dream of, with three consecutive No. 1 albums in three consecutive years this decade: 2021 SoulFlyof 2022 Beautiful mind and last year's Nostalgia.

Will Rod Wave be able to go 4-for-4? The stacked week could make it difficult, but the album is off to another hot start on streaming. Like Future's Mixtape Pluto a few weeks ago, Last RoundIts presence on Spotify was minimal – claiming just one spot on the current Daily Top Songs USA chart, ranking “25” at No. 138 – but it was absolutely dominant on Apple Music, occupying seven of the top 10 spots on the chart in DSP real-time, including the first three (headed by “25”). He'll need to continue this streaming performance to hit the top spot, because as is traditionally the case with new Rod Wave releases, the album isn't yet available for physical purchase – though it's also available digitally on iTunes for $4.99 .

Charli XCX, Brat (Atlantic): Although Brat Summer has come and gone – at least according to the weather outside – Charli XCX Brat The album held steady on the Billboard 200, ranking at No. 14 this week in its 18th week on the chart. It's going to get a huge boost next week from the release of the new remix supplemental version: Brat and it's totally different but still brata recently released 34-star (or 35, including the Kesha-featuring “Spring Breakers” add-on), featuring new versions of each of BratIts original 15 tracks (plus the bonus track “Guess”, now featuring Billie Eilish), with each iteration featuring one or more big-name new artists.

The long awaited completely different edition of Brat also features Charli's previously released spins on “360” (featuring Robyn and Yung Lean), “Girl So Confusing” (featuring Lorde), “Von Dutch” (featuring AG Cook and Addison Rae) and “Talk Talk” (with Troye Sivan). like the aforementioned “Guess”. Some of the more impressive names recently added to the guest list include The 1975 (with Jon Hopkins on “I Might Say Something Stupid”), Bon Iver (on “I Think About It All the Time”) and pop superstar Ariana Grande (on “Sympathy Is a Knife”). THE completely different edition of Bratas with all its other permutations Bratall will be combined into one Brat for charting purposes.

The set should garner plenty of curiosity for his new remixes and the big names on them, and is also available for purchase on Charli's webstore in double CD, double cassette and triple vinyl versions (and for $4.99 on iTunes ), all including the original Brat tracklist. But with brand new albums Jelly Roll and Rod Wave hitting the road this week, Charli will have his work cut out for him to top his initial No.3 debut Brat on the Billboard 200 even with the added help.

IN THE MIX

GloRilla, Glorious (CMG/Interscope): Although many wrote off GloRilla prematurely when her 2023 failed to maintain the momentum of her 2022 breakout, her official debut album now arrives at the right time – hot off the momentum of her 2024 hits 'Yeah Glo!', 'Wanna Be ” (with Megan Thee Stallion), “TGIF” and “Hollon”. The first two of these are not found in the Gloriousbut the latter two are, along with appearances from the aforementioned Stallion, Muni Long, Latto, Bossman Dlow, Sexyy Red and more big-name guests – with Sexyy's 'Whatchu Kno About Me' crew already looking to hit the road. situation. In many other weeks this fall, GloriousA strong streaming entry (and online store availability on signed CD and a digital download with an exclusive bonus track) would likely have it as a contender for the top Billboard 200 debut — but this stacked week, it might have to settle for top five.