SNOW FOLLOWED BY SUMMER

We’re cold, we’re hot—but enough about the temperature in the HITS cesspool, where a distant thermostat condemns us to perpetual discomfort. We’re here to talk about how Disney’s frosty Frozen and Capitol’s sizzling 5 Seconds of Summer rule this week’s Album Sales Chart.

Frozen, which is nearing the 2 million sales mark, certainly looks like the year’s top-selling record; this week it adds another 148k (-6%) to Ken Bunt’s icy palace.

Meanwhile, this week’s cover models, Capitol’s Five Seconds of Summer, move 143k of their EP for a #2 bow. The last time an EP from a new artist made this kind of noise? Not recently.

Two more debuts, from Epic’s Chevelle (45k, besting their 2011 album, which has sold 239k RTD) and Atlantic’s Christina Perri (41k, down from her 58k bow with in 2011), come next; RCA’s Shakira rounds out the Top 5 with 30k (-65%).

Warner Bros. Nashville’s Dan + Shay debut at #6 with 29k, followed by Sony Legacy’s Johnny Cash (25k, -51%), Columbia’s Pharrell (25k, +1%) Nonesuch’s Nickel Creek, bowing with 22k and, closing out the Top 10, Lava/Republic’s Lorde with 19k (-6%).

The ACM Awards helped power late-week gains by Capitol Nashville’s Luke Bryan (#19-13, +20%)and Republic Nashville’s Florida Georgia Line (#23-17, +17%). Look for more yee-haws on next week’s chart.

Streeting today are Republic’s SoMo, Rico Love on Division 1/Interscope, eOne’s Black Label Society, Kobalt’s Martina McBride and Fair Trade’s MercyMe.

In other stories, we have good news and bad news about tax time: We finally figured out how to make weed deductible, but we can’t remember where we wrote it down.