CHART STORY: BEYONCÉ’S LEMONADE WINS FIRST PRIZE

Columbia megastar and Queen of the Universe Beyoncé tops the HITS Album Sales Chart with around 501k for Lemonade. On the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart, she snagged an additional 163k, bringing that grand total to 664k. And if you break the SPS number down, it’s approximately 92k TEA (with huge single sales) and 76k SEA.

In an interesting exclusivity tactic, Lemonade was only made available for streaming on Tidal. Those unfamiliar with Tidal—or Spotify/Apple Music users unwilling to add another subscription to their bills—were then left with buying the set as their only option. So although fans had the option to stream, her sales were not affected. It’s also worth noting that Bey, being her typical atypical self, opted against a traditional rollout/setup, deciding not to preface the release with a single and to drop everything at once, following her 4/23 HBO special, which is bundled with the album at $17.99.

The rest of the Top 5 is made up entirely of Prince titles. Fans are still mourning the loss by buying Prince’s music and celebrating his trailblazing career. His Very Best Of (Warner Bros.) gracefully slid #1-2 with a whopping 220k, while Purple Rain went #2-3 with 129k. The rest, however were up in placement, as The Hits/B-Sides moved #7-4, Ultimate leapt #23-5 and 1999 jumped #14-6, while HITNRUN Phase One (#21), Prince (#22), Around the World (#23), Controversy (#24), Dirty Mind (#25) and Diamonds and Pearls (#46) all re-entered.

Stores just recently started to get physical stock of Prince’s discography. That said, these numbers have a shot at holding into this week’s chart.

As for the non-Bey bows, Sparrow/CCMG’s NF debuted at #7 and Up Down’s Blue October rounded out the Top 10.

And thanks to a $6.99 sale at iTunes, Sam Hunt’s Montevallo (MCA Nashville) moved #39-26, Luke Bryan’s Kill the Lights (Capitol Nashville) rocketed #41-27 and Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood (EMI Nashville) went #50-34, all of which is dandy with Dungan. Meanwhile, Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death (Bad Boy) re-entered at #43, powered by a 99-cent sale at Google Play.

Streeting on 4/29, Drake’s Views (YMCMB/Republic) has garnered first-week forecasts as high as 2m.

Also in stores is the first-ever physical release of last year’s digital-only HITNRUN Phase Two by Prince, thanks to NPG.

In other news, Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake… Oh, and did we mention Drake?