A THRILLING CHART STORY

Capitol balladeer Sam Smith has officially landed his first #1 album on the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart this week with 225k for The Thrill of It All. It’s also worth noting that, in tandem with this splashy entrance, his debut full-length, In the Lonely Hour, re-enters at #39.

222/Interscope’s Maroon 5 proves to be a strong second, though, as their Red Pill Blues follows the chart-topper with approximately 118k.

Warner Bros. Nashville’s Blake Shelton, meanwhile, comes in at #4, moving 56k units in its first week out.

Four other new releases can be found in the Top 20: Kelsea Ballerini’s Unapologetically (Black River Entertainment) at #7, Kid Rock’s Sweet Southern Sugar (BMG) at #8, NOW’s NOW 64 at #11 and Grace Vanderwaal’s Just the Beginning (Columbia) at #18.

Chris Brown’s Heartbreak on a Full Moon (RCA) and 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin’s “Without Warning” (Slaughter Gang/Epic) are both up in their second weeks. Brown, in fact, holds at #3 with 71k, while the collaborative project remains in the Top 5 with north of 56k.

And as Santa’s sleigh prepares for the big, yuletide flight, Pentatonix’s platinum A Pentatonix Christmas (RCA) re-enters the chart at #29. Ahead of their 11/27 NBC holiday special and just following the release of the deluxe version, that set moves #26-12 on the Album Sales Chart—where double-platinum prior release That’s Christmas to Me re-enters at #35.

As Def Jam celebrates Logic’s powerful “1-800-273-8255” going #1 at Pop radio, the rapper’s Everybody breaks back into the SPS Chart at #40.

But what about country? Two days after the CMAs, Mercury Nashville’s Chris Stapleton, who went home with Album and Male Vocalist of the Year trophies, proves to be the biggest winner in the marketplace. From a Room: Volume 1 re-enters at #31, while 2015 breakout Traveller goes #46-41. On the Sales Chart, Room sprints #30-13, while Traveller moves #32-19. There, Luke Combs’ This One’s for You (River House/Columbia Nashville) leaps #45-26, while Keith Urban’s Ripcord (Capitol Nashville) and Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings (Vanner/RCA Nashville) re-enter at #44 and #46, respectively.

Finally, we’ve got your SPS marketshare: UMG closes in the lead with 46%, SME is #2 with 28% and WMG is #3 with 24%, while the indies claim 1%.

Streeting this week is… Oh, do we really have to remind you? Fine. It’s a little thing called reputation by this buzzing Big Machine chick also known as Taylor Freakin’ Swift.