A HANDWRITTEN
CHART STORY

Island’s Shawn Mendes has topped the HITS Building Album Sales Chart with 109k and the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart with 117k for his debut full-length, Handwritten.

The young singer-songwriter—whose rabid fan base helped place him among Time’s “Most Influential Teens of 2014”—has already enjoyed four iTunes #1s. These include last year’s The Shawn Mendes EP, the certified-gold single “Life of the Party,” “Never Be Alone” and Handwritten (which has racked up 65k in pre-orders). He’s sold more than a million singles overall.

Meanwhile, Nash Icon’s Reba McEntire bows at #2 with 57k for her 27th studio album, Love Somebody. Odd Future/Columbia’s controversial rapper Tyler the Creator rounds out the Top 3 with 49k for Cherry Bomb.

A handful of country artists saw strong bumps thanks to Sunday’s ACM Awards. MCA Nashville’s Sam Hunt moves #20-11, earning another 18k (+23%), Republic Nashville’s Florida Georgia Line goes #37-19, earning 13k (+77%) and Capitol Nashville’s Little Big Town re-enters the chart at #21 with 12k (+179%). We’re just tickled pinker than a porker on a summer's day in Texas.

Speaking of Nashville gunslingers, Warner Bros. Nashville’s Dwight Yoakam debuts at #10, as Second Hand Heart earns 18k.

In the wake of a Pop radio monster for Republic/XO’s The Weeknd (not to mention deafening post-Coachella buzz), Republic’s Fifty Shades of Grey ST moves #17-6 at SPS with 44k, up 109%. You could say they “Earned It.”

Speaking of Coachella stars, YMCMB/Republic’s Drake is #20 in album sales and #9 in SPS.

Streeting this week are albums from ATO’s Alabama Shakes, Slumerican/Shady/Interscope’s Yelawolf and Columbia’s Passion Pit. The physical version of Drake’s record is also out this week via YMCMB/Republic.