Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN.’ Three-Peats at No. 1

Kendrick Lamar performing at Coachella in April. 

In its third week on the Billboard album chart, Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” relied on streaming to beat new releases by Gorillaz and Mary J. Blige and remain at No. 1.

Songs from “DAMN.”

(Interscope) were played 157 million times in the United States on services like Spotify and Apple Music — down some from 341 million and 204 million in the album’s first two weeks, according to Nielsen. 

But combined with 57,000 copies sold — for a total of 173,000 album equivalent units using Billboard’s chart formula — that was enough to keep “DAMN.” at the top, despite strong showings from two big debuts.

“Humanz” (Warner Bros.) by Gorillaz, the first album since 2010 from the cartoon avatars of 

Damon Albarn and his varied collaborators, was the best-selling album of the week, moving 115,000 copies, but it faltered with 32 million streams for a total of 140,000 units. 

Ms. Blige’s R&B breakup album, “Strength of a Woman” (Capitol), sold 72,000 albums and logged 61 million streams for a total of 78,000 units. (By these rules, 1,500 streams or 10 track downloads equal one album sold.)