TDE/Aftermath/Interscope’s Kendrick Lamar, who surprised everyone when he released his third full-length, To Pimp a Butterfly, a week early, tops both the HITS Building Album Sales Chart with 318k and the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart with 355k this week.

The strong SPS number can be attributed mainly to streaming in this case, considering the the album was streamed more than 9.6m times globally in its first day on Spotify (3/16), reportedly setting a new record for most worldwide streams in a single day by a new release.

Meanwhile, Twentieth Century Fox/Columbia’s Empire soundtrack roars like a Lyon, holding at #2 with another 87k, down just a mere 19%. Due to a star-studded track listing, it earns an additional 20k at SPS. The Shazam numbers on three songs from the finale indicate just how much consumer interest continues on this one.

Speaking of boosts from star-studded track listings, Republic's Fifty Shades of Grey ST enjoys a #10-3 difference between BAC and SPS. Single sales, primarily for The Weeknd's "Earned It" and Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do," earn the set 74k on SPS, as opposed to 29k for album sales alone.

As for the other debuts, Epic’s alt heroes, Modest Mouse, debut at #3 with an impressive 69k on the sales side. Marina and the Diamonds sits just beneath them at #4 with 38k, while Epitaph’s Sleeping With Sirens bows at #5 with 36k. Veteran singer/songwriter and Dire Straits frontman/lead guitarist Mark Knopfler appears at #6 with 35k for Verve with his ninth solo album.

Red Bull's AWOLNATION debuts at #9 with 31k, while SixStepRecords' Passion debuts at #11 with 29k.

Thanks again to strong singles, Big Machine's Taylor Swift (#5 SPS) and 222/Interscope's Maroon 5 (#8 SPS) more than double their album sales numbers on the all-in chart.

On the other hand, YMCMB/Republic's Drake, not unlike Kendrick, reaps the benefits of streaming as his mixtape sees a #13-6 difference between BAC and SPS, also doubling the former number.

Streeting this week are albums from Razor & Tie's Kidz Bop, Republic's James Bay and Columbia's Earl Sweatshirt of Odd Future. Oh, and we look forward to some exciting new sounds from Ted Cruz, who makes history as the first lunatic-American to openly seek the 2016 U.S. presidency.