Tinashe

Tinashe's Popstar opened at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 35,500 units, and more than 60 percent of them were straight-up sales. Twelve years after Aquarius peaked at No. 17, the fans she built on her own finally showed up on the chart that counts.

Leon Bridges and Jungle, Tinashe's Popstar, Tank's EXPERIENCE, Tee Grizzley's They Forgot and Jae Stephens' debut lead a heavy Friday for hip-hop, R&B and soul.

Tinashe's new single "Melatonin" turns a late-night mood into a sharply controlled pop statement. The song further proves that her most compelling era is not a comeback campaign, but an artist refining her instincts in public.

Tinashe's new album Popstar looks like a major label comeback. It is actually the closing argument in a twelve year negotiation she started the day RCA let her go.

From MC Hammer's bankrupting tour to Marky Mark's accidental pivot to Hollywood, twenty R&B and hip-hop sophomore albums that ended a music career, some deservedly and some as pure bad timing.