Melanie Martinez celebrates ‘Portals’ Billboard 200 No 2 debut

New album marks biggest first week for any solo female artist in 2023

Multi-Platinum alt pop phenomenon Melanie Martinez is celebrating the biggest first week for any solo female artist in 2023 so far, and her highest charting album to date with the Billboard 200 No. 2 debut of new album Portals. With 142,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, the album further proves Martinez is a one-of-a-kind hitmaker. Along with her career-high chart debut, Martinez surprise released an additional three new tracks with a digital deluxe album expansion.

Portals marks Martinez’s third consecutive Billboard 200 Top 10 album debut, following Cry Baby at No. 6 and K-12 at No. 3. An instant global success, Portals boasts further debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Alternative Albums, Current Pop Albums, Top Album Sales, Current Album Sales, Internet Albums, Digital Albums, and Top Alternative/Rock Albums charts, along with a No. 2 debut on the Top Vinyl Albums chart. International first week highlights include Martinez’s first No. 1 album debut in Australia, No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 2 in the UK, No. 3 in Canada, No. 3 in Ireland, and top 10 chart placements in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.

Portals includes lead single “Void,” written and produced by Martinez, which debuted this week at No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and quickly dethroned “Death” as her biggest streaming week for a single to date. Both of which make history as Martinez’s first original songs to debut on the Hot 100. “Death” is joined by a cinematic companion video – directed, conceived, and costume designed by Martinez herself – which trended No. 1 on YouTube’s Trending “Top Music Videos” chart and already boasts over 12 million official views.

“Death” was first teased last month with a series of otherworldly clips revealing the rebirth of Martinez’s character “Cry Baby,” quickly sparking a frenzy of theories and garnering over 115 million views across all socials.

The multi-Platinum, 12 billion-streaming Martinez made her live debut as the new creature over a series of extraordinary festival performances heralding Portals last month including Lollapalooza Argentina, Lollapalooza Chile, Bogota, Columbia’s Estéreo Picnic, and Lollapalooza Brazil. Martinez will embark on the 29-city Portals Tour this summer. Produced by Live Nation, the immediately sold out run will kick off on May 30th in Denver, making stops across the US and Canada in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and more before wrapping up in Montreal on July 15th.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com