Camila Cabello is a woman on top, as she joins an elite group of fellow musicians…
The 20-year-old Cuban and Mexican singer and former Fifth Harmony member debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her first solo album, Camila.
The album — released through SYCO/Epic Records on January 12 — earned 119,000 equivalent album units in the week ending January 18, according to Nielsen Music.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
With Cabello’s arrival at No. 1, she joins an exclusive club of female performers who initially reached the Billboard 200 as part of a group, and then later hit No. 1 with a solo album.
As a former member of the all-female vocal group Fifth Harmony, Cabello claimed three top 10s while in the group. Cabello departed Fifth Harmony in December of 2016.
Cabello now joins a list of the ladies who hit No. 1 after previously scoring chart success with a group, including Gwen Stefani, LeToya, Beyonce,, Lauryn Hill, Patti Labelle, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross and Janis Joplin.
An honorary mention goes to Selena Gomez, who notched three albums first with Selena Gomez & the Scene, before going totally solo with the No. 1 album Stars Dance in 2013.
Cabello is also the first woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her debut full-length album in three years – since Meghan Trainor’s Title (also on Epic) opened atop the list dated Jan. 31, 2015. (Trainor had a previous EP, also named Title, which reached No. 15.) If we count all initial chart appearances by women (including EPs), Cabello is the first woman to top the list with her first overall charting effort since Ariana Grande bowed at No. 1 with her first full-length album — and chart debut — Yours Truly on Sept. 21, 2013.
In addition, as Cabello is just 20 years and 10 months old, she is the youngest person to debut at No. 1 with their first full-length album since 2015, when a 16-year-old Shawn Mendes opened at No. 1 with Handwritten on the May 2, 2015-dated chart. Cabello is the youngest woman to bow at No. 1 with her first full-length set since 2013, when Ariana Grande (then 20 years and two months old) debuted at No. 1 with Yours Truly (Sept. 21, 2013).