Kesha’s Triumphant Comeback Takes Her to the Top of the Charts

Kesha’s latest album, Rainbow, was hailed as a triumphant comeback, and now her album’s got the Billboard certification to back it up. Rainbow debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, giving her her first number one album since Animal seven years ago.

Rainbow sold 116,000 albums; 89,000 were traditional album sales, and the rest were part of a concert tour ticket deal. As Pitchfork points out, Kesha also had the second largest week for a female artist, behind Katy Perry’s Witness. It’s an achievement made even more important in light of the utter lack of female artists succeeding on the charts right now. Kesha celebrated the album with an Instagram post:

Kesha’s success also comes after her years-long legal battle with producer Lukasz Gottwald, aka Dr. Luke, over alleged rape and abuse. Last year, a judge denied her request to be released from her contract with Kemosabe Records, a record label founded by Dr. Luke. Even though he is not listed as a producer on Rainbow and his role at the label has not been defined, the album was released under Kemosabe, meaning Dr. Luke is likely making money off the album.

Nonetheless, the success of Rainbow, a testament to resilience, belongs to Kesha.