NYTIMES - Kanye West's latest album, Ye, has just seven songs.

Its artwork was apparently finished on the way to its listening party in Wyoming. And the album's pre-release publicity tour included West calling 400 years of slavery "a choice."

Yet the album still opened at No. 1 on Billboard's chart, becoming West's eighth in a row to reach the top - tying a record of consecutive chart-toppers that is held only by Eminem and the Beatles.

Ye had 180 million streams and sold 85,000 copies as a full album, according to Nielsen, giving it the equivalent of 208,000 album sales in the United States in its first week out. Unlike West's last album, The Life of Pablo, which was at first available only through Tidal, Ye was widely available on major streaming services from the start.

Also this week, Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys, another recent streaming hit, held at No. 2 in its sixth week out, with 121 million streams. Ghost, a theatrical Swedish metal band that performs in full costume - including that of a skull-faced antipope for its lead singer, Papa Emeritus - opened at No. 3 with 61,000 sales and 5 million streams for Prequelle.

Country singer Luke Combs' This One's for You is No. 4; Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy holds in fifth place; and Shawn Mendes' self-titled new album, which opened at No. 1 last week, falls seven spots to No. 8.