Quantcast
Taylor celebrates a historic #1, and the Top 5 sees more debuts from Now, debut Country act Sam Hunt and
Barry Manilow. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin brings goodies just in time for the holidays.

SWIFT SUCCESS

Tay Breaks Record With Third $1M+ Release, Surpasses Red's Bow; Four Debuts in Top 5

In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t noticed, Big Machine’s Taylor Swift is the talk of the biz. Her all-pop tour de force has surpassed the first week sales from her preceding release, Red, topping the HITS Building Album Sales Chart and raking in 1.3m.

T Swift has not only bested herself, but she’s also made history as the first artist to earn over a million in first week sales on three separate occasions, each bigger than the last; 2012’s Red earned 1.2m and 2010’s Speak Now earned 1.05m.

On top of that, she’s also scored the second-biggest digital sales week ever, moving past Beyoncé’s 618k and behind only Lady Gaga’s 662k.

Oh, and her sales match about one-fifth of all albums sold over the last week. Got all that?

In a related story, some other records came out this week.

NOW’s Now 52 lands the #2 spot with 99k, while debut artist Sam Hunt brings in a tidy 68k for MCA Nashville at #3 and Verve’s Barry Manilow snags 50k, good for a round of drinks at the Copacabana and the #4 spot.

As for the rest of the debuts, Lava/Republic’s Black Veil Brides bows at #9 with 31k, while SixStepsRecordsChris Tomlin bows at #10 with 30k.

And you can’t forget about those delectable Led Zeppelin reissues via Rhino; IV appears at #7 with 33k and Houses of the Holy hits #12 with 28k. Fire up the GPen, crank up these puppies and relive your youth; we know we did.

Meanwhile, Country chart vets dig their cowboy boots in at the top, as Broken Bow’s Jason Aldean moves up a slot to round out the Top 5 with 43k (-24%), while Republic Nashville’s Florida Georgia Line slides just below Aldean with 37k (-37%) at #6.

In their second weeks, Capitol’s Neil Diamond moves to #15 with just under 23k (-72%) and Grand Hustle/Columbia’s T.I. stands at #14 with just over 23k (-68%).

For the rest of this week’s stats, click here.

Streeting at presstime are albums from Columbia's Calvin Harris, Columbia Legacy's Bob Dylan and Reprise's Neil Young.

In other news, Michael Schimmel reports that Sinead O'Connor has asked Pope Francis' blessing to make a dance-pop record.
NEAR TRUTHS:
SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/29a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/29a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/27a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
 Email

 First Name

 Last Name

 Company

 Country
CAPTCHA code
Captcha: (type the characters above)