USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
J.Cole's 'The Fall-Off' debuts at No. 1
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

J.Cole claims his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as his new studio album, The Fall-Off, opens atop the list dated Feb. 21. The set launches with 280,000 equivalent album units

earned in the United States in the week ending Feb. 12, according to Luminate. That marks the largest week for any R&B or hip-hop album in nearly a year, since Playboi Carti’s MUSIC opened at No. 1 with 298,000 (March 29, 2025-dated chart). J. Cole previously hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with The Off-Season (2021), KOD (2018), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), Born Sinner (2013) and Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011). Of The Fall-Off’s 280,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week SEA units comprise 166,500 (equaling 169.5 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 113,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 500. Bad Bunny rides his Super Bowl LX halftime show (Feb. 8) to big gains in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, as his former No. 1, and most recently released album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS

FOToS holds at No. 2 with 250,000 equivalent album units — its best week ever, up 194%. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’gain was also assisted by a new vinyl pressing that become widely available during the tracking week, helping the album’s sales for the week jump 732% to 61,000. On the streaming side, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS earned 186,000 in SEA units (equaling 195.31 million on-demand official streams of its songs; it returns to No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums for a fifth nonconsecutive week, with a 2-1 rise). Ateez earn their eighth top 10-charted album on the Billboard 200 as Golden Hour : Part.4 bows at No. 3 with 200,000 equivalent album units earned — marking the act’s best week ever by units. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 195,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, with the act’s best sales week yet), SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 5.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Don Toliver’s Octane falls 1-4 in its second week on the Billboard 200 with 97,000 equivalent album units earned (down 40%). Joji captures his fourth top 10-charted project on the Billboard 200 as Piss In the Wind arrives at No. 5 with 86,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 45,000 (his best sales week; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 41,000 (equaling 42.17 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, it debuts at No. 8 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability in deluxe edition boxed sets (containing a piece of branded clothing and a CD) and more than 10 vinyl variants (including a signed edition). Bad Bunny's 2022’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti jumps 16-6 with 81,000 (up 163%). It’s the first time Bad Bunny has placed two titles concurrently in the top 10. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 are: Morgan Wallen’s former leader I’m the Problem (3-7 with 77,000, down less than 1%); Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving (4-8 with 75,000, up 7%); Taylor Swift’s chart-topping The Life of a Showgirl (5-9 with 54,000, up 18%); and the former No. 1 KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack (6-10 with 42,000, down 2%). Bad Bunny's “DtMF” hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the superstar’s second leader on the list, and first on his own. He previously reigned with “I Like It,” with Cardi B and J Balvin, for a week in July 2018. “DtMF” blitzes 10-1 on the Hot 100 following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show spotlight Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif., with “DtMF” the closing song in the set. The Spanish-language “DtMF,” which originally reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in January 2025, heads up four Bad Bunny songs, all of which he performed at the Super Bowl, in the top 10, with two others likewise from his 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos: “Baile Inolvidable,” which bounds 19-2 for a new high, and “Nuevayol,” up 28-5, also a new best. Plus, “Tití Me Preguntó,” from his 2022 LP Un Verano Sin Ti, reenters the chart at No. 7 (after hitting No. 5 that year). “DtMF” — which leads the Hot 100 for the first time — drew 43 million official streams (up 85% week over week) and 5.3 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 56%) and sold 12,000 (up 262%) in the U.S. Feb. 6-12. The single surges 4-1 for a third week atop the Streaming Songs chart, after it led for two weeks in January-February 2025, and bounds 11-2 for a new high on Digital Song Sales. The streaming sum of 43 million for “DtMF” marks the highest for a song so far in 2026. It’s also the top weekly total for the song, which previously peaked with 34.9 million in its first week at No. 1 on Streaming Songs. Plus, it achieves the top streaming week for a song not primarily in English this decade, surpassing its prior best (which bested the 34.6 million tallied by Eslabón Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” in May 2023). Bad Bunny boasts four simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s for a second time, following his haul on the May 21, 2022, chart — when “Tití Me Preguntó” debuted — as Un Verano Sin Ti launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” dips to No. 3 from its No. 2 Hot 100 high, as it adds a third week at No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart (63.3 million, down 4%). Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” falls to No. 4 a week after it became her first Hot 100 No. 1. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” backtracks 3-6 on the Hot 100 after 10 weeks at No. 1 beginning last June. Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” rebounds 11-8 on the Hot 100 after it debuted at its No. 2 high in October as parent album The Life of a Showgirl made its record-shattering entrance on the Billboard 200. The song is up 76% to 14.2 million streams following the Feb. 6 premiere of its official video; it also drew 50.5 million in radio reach (up 8%) and sold 7,000 downloads (up 300%). Huntr/x’s “Golden” drops 5-9 on the Hot 100 and Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might,” which spent its first two weeks on the Hot 100 at No. 1 in January, slides 4-10.

Record Of The Month
'I Just Might' by Bruno Mars is the first big global release of 2026
and also the first sign of his new album 'The Romantic', available February 27.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Taylor Swift's 'Opalite' rockets to the top spot
Monday, February 16, 2026
by Alan Jones, London
 
No.2 to The Fate Of Ophelia on debut as an album track from The Life Of A Showgirl last October, Opalite responds to its new status as a single by exploding 15-1, with consumption growing 157.88% to 47,509 units. It was a hard-won victory for the Taylor Swift track, which trailed former incumbent Raindance

in the last two of the week’s sales flashes, but the last-minute addition of 5,899 CD sales and 5,219 vinyl sales to its 1,064 digital sales and the release of a star-studded video, which drove sales-equivalent streams of 35,327, saw it home. Swift’s sixth No.1 in total, Opalite is her fifth of the 2020s, in which respect she joins Lewis Capaldi as runner-up to Ed Sheeran, who has had six. She has been No.1 for 18 weeks in her career, 16 of them in the 2020s, the latter tally putting her third for the decade behind joint leaders Ed Sheeran and Sabrina Carpenter, both chart-toppers for 23 weeks. Opalite’s return to the Top 10 coincides with the departure of The Fate Of Ophelia, which falls 5-17 (18,162 sales) after falling into ACR. Both were written and produced by Swift alongside Swedish pair Max Martin and Shellback. Opalite is the 23rd No.1 written or co-written by 54-year-old Martin, who thus draws ever closer to matching the all-time record of 30 set by the late

John Lennon. Falling a slot apiece to accommodate Opalite, Raindance (1-2, 43,027 sales) by Dave & Tems and Where Is My Husband! (2-3, 39,839 sales) by Raye are heading for a bigger fall next week, when they will be on ACR. Bad Bunny’s 2025 No.26 hit DTMF re-emerged at No.43 last week after his Grammy wins and performance, and expands a further 315.22% this week, while jumping to No.4 (37,736 sales) after his half-time Superbowl appearance. It is now his highest charting song, supplanting his only previous Top 10 hit, Cardi B & J Balvin collaboration, I Like It, which reached No.8 in 2018. Three years after Boy’s A Liar reached No.2, PinkPantheress finally has her second Top 10 hit, with Stateside jumping 13-10 (26,333 sales), 42 weeks after it made its Top 75 debut. Its recent progress has been helped significantly by the Zara Larsson collaborative version. Meanwhile Larsson’s Lush Life – No3 in 2016 – equals the highest position of its current viral revival, jumping 9-7 (32,500 sales). On its 34th consecutive week in the Top 40, Rein Me In returns to its peak for Sam Fender & Olivia Dean, rising 7-5 (37,715 sales). No.1 on the album chart, Dean is currently on the crest of a wave, with a Grammy under her belt, and (surely) BRIT and MOBO awards to come, so it is no surprise to find that So Easy (To Fall In Love) (6-6, 34,106 sales) and Man I Need (11-8, 30,504 sales) are also prospering again. Encumbered by ACR on this chart, Man I Need is No.1 for the ninth time on the Top 200 Combined Tracks chart – where ACR and primary artist rules don’t exist – with unadjusted consumption of 60,057 units. That is its record 24th straight week above 50,000, and its highest tally for 15 weeks. Dean does the double in Ireland, where The Art Of Loving is No.1 album for the 10th time, while Rein Me In is No.1 for the first time. Rein Me In is her second No.1 there – Man I Need spent three weeks at No.1 last year – and Fender’s first. Completing the Top 10: I Just Might (8-9, 27,868 sales) by Bruno Mars. In last week’s Top 10, Raindance’s winning DUS tally of 43,829 was 39.9% higher than The Great Divide’s 31,325 at No.10. This is the smallest percentile difference spanned by the Top 10 in the 21st century, replacing the 46.56% difference between Drake’s One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla, 59,563 sales) at No.1 and Kent Jones’ Don’t Mind (40,639 sales) at No.10 in week 29, 2016. In absolute terms, the DUS difference of 12,504 was the fifth smallest of the 21st century and the smallest since week 25, 2008 when Coldplay’s Viva La Vida was No.1 with 23,212 and Jordin Sparks’ No Air was No.10 with 11,180 – a difference of 12,342. This week’s Top 10 is less concentrated with the No.1 80.42% (21,176 units) ahead of the No.10. Overall singles consumption is down 0.36% week-on-week to 31,551,765 units, 4.27% above same week 2025 sales of 30,259,353 units. Paid-for sales are up 0.15% week-on-week at 274,081, 6.02% above same week 2025 sales of 258,530. Olivia Dean is No.1 for the second week in a row, with second album, The Art Of Loving, racking up consumption of a further 18,490 units (1,218 CDs, 2,354 vinyl albums, 46 cassettes, 242 digital downloads and 14,630 sales-equivalent streams). In the top five continuously since release 20 weeks ago, The Art Of Loving has spent a total of seven of those weeks at No.1. The only album to spend longer at No.1 in the 2020s is The Tortured Poets Department (11 weeks) by Taylor Swift. The last album by a British female to spend longer at No.1 is 25 by Adele, which topped for 13 weeks in 2015/2016. With the Grammy effect fading, The Art Of Loving decreased consumption 0.36% week-on-week, but did well enough for its overall consumption to pass the 400,000 mark (400,130) and for its physical sales to surpass the 100,000 mark. Already on fire after its Grammy win the previous week, Bad Bunny’s latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, rockets 43-2 (10,932 sales) after his electrifying but polarising half-time performance at the Super Bowl last Sunday (February 8), with consumption surging 265.33% week-on-week. Debí Tirar Más Fotos previously debuted and peaked at No.13 in January 2025. Bad Bunny is from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rica, and ties as the highest-charting act from the territory with Ricky Martin, whose self-titles 1999 album was also No.2. Bad Bunny’s first Top 10 album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos came from behind and derailed Cole’s new – and he says final – album, The Fall-Off, which had been on course to become his third No.2 album. Opening instead at No.3 (9,922 sales), it is Cole’s fifth Top 10 and eighth charted album/mixtape, all of which have landed in the Top 30. In America, it is projected to become his eighth No.1 album this weekend. Born in Osaka to a Japanese mother and Australian father, Joji becomes only the second Japanese-born act after Babymetal – and the first solo act – to have three Top 20 albums, with latest release, Piss In The Wind, debuting at No.6 (6,961 sales). His fourth album – all of which have made the Top 30 – it is his second Top 10 entry, matching the peak of his 2020 second album, Nectar. Michael Jackson compilations The Essential and Number Ones are on diverse trajectories again this week, with the former reasserting its superiority over the latter. No.7 last week after being released on vinyl for the first time, Number One now exits the Top 200 (612 sales), while The Essential recovers 93-8 (6,582 sales), as it once again has a higher DUS, diverting streams of tracks common to both in its direction. The rest of the Top 10: 50 Years: Don’t Stop (5-4, 8,575 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, The Highlights (6-5, 7,429 sales) by The Weeknd, Man’s Best Friend (10-7, 6,680 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (15-9, 6,410 sales) by Alex Warren and +-=÷× Tour Collection (11-10, 6,376 sales) by Ed Sheeran. Overall album sales are down 2.72% week-on-week at 2,551,429 units, 1.31% below same week 2025 sales of 2,585,280. Physical product accounts for 294,100 sales, 11.53% of the total.