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An old-fashioned rap war<\/a> that unfolded online at lightning speed has sent Kendrick Lamar to No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s latest singles chart, while Taylor Swift easily holds off a challenge from Dua Lipa\u2019s new album.<\/p>\n Relations between Lamar and Drake, two hip-hop giants and longtime rivals, exploded into a public war of words in recent weeks, in the form of a rapid-fire sequence of diss tracks packed with insults and unsavory (and unproven) accusations. Lamar seemed to get the last word with \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d released May 4, which becomes his fourth No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 singles chart. That total counts collaborative releases \u2014 among them \u201cLike That,\u201d a track in March with the Atlanta rapper Future and the producer Metro Boomin, which kicked off the latest volley.<\/p>\n Consumption of \u201cNot Like Us\u201d was driven by streaming, with 71 million clicks in the United States last week. Another Lamar diss track, \u201cEuphoria,\u201d which came out the week before, is No. 3 on the latest singles chart, while Drake\u2019s \u201cFamily Matters\u201d is No. 7.<\/p>\n For this week\u2019s Billboard 200 album chart, Lipa seemed to enter the contest with some advantages for \u201cRadical Optimism,\u201d her third studio LP. To promote it, she went on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d as both performer and host<\/a>, and was on the cover of Time<\/a> and Elle<\/a>. Earlier this year, she had prominent performances at the Grammy and Brit award shows, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But \u201cRadical Optimism<\/a>\u201d was still trounced by the third week of Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department,\u201d which holds at No. 1 with a wide margin.<\/p>\n \u201cTortured Poets\u201d had the equivalent of 282,000 album sales in the United States, including 298 million streams and 51,000 traditional sales, according to the tracking service Luminate. In its first three weeks out, \u201cTortured Poets\u201d \u2014 which smashed records<\/a> in its debut two weeks ago, despite mixed reviews \u2014 has racked up the equivalent of 3.3 million sales, including 1.6 billion streams for its 31 total tracks in the U.S. alone.<\/p>\n \u201cRadical Optimism,\u201d Lipa\u2019s first LP since \u201cFuture Nostalgia\u201d four years ago, which had ubiquitous dance-pop hits like \u201cDon\u2019t Start Now\u201d and \u201cLevitating\u201d \u2014 and since Lipa\u2019s hit \u201cDance the Night\u201d from the \u201cBarbie\u201d soundtrack \u2014 had the equivalent of 83,000 sales and opened at No. 2, Lipa\u2019s highest-ever chart position.<\/p>\n But the overall numbers for \u201cRadical Optimism\u201d were surprisingly low for a heavily promoted project by a major act. In its first week, the LP had 51,500 traditional sales \u2014 among them for 20 configurations on physical media, including 11 colored vinyl variants \u2014 and a very modest streaming take of about 40 million clicks. The chart performance of the album\u2019s first two singles were indicators: \u201cHoudini\u201d went to No. 11, while \u201cTraining Season\u201d stalled at No. 27.<\/p>\n Also this week, Morgan Wallen\u2019s \u201cOne Thing at a Time\u201d is No. 3 and Future and Metro Boomin\u2019s \u201cWe Don\u2019t Trust You\u201d is No. 4. The K-pop ensemble Seventeen opens at No. 5 with a hits compilation, \u201c17 Is Right Here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n