Update: Lady Gaga’s “ARTPOP” tops this week’s Billboard 200 on the strength of 258,000 opening week sales. That marks a 77% decline from the opening week figure for predecessor “Born this Way.”
The rest of the top ten is as follows:
2) Eminem’s MMLP2 – 210K
3) NOW 48 – 114K
4) The Robertsons’ Duck the Halls – 66K
5) Katy Perry’s Prism – 46K
6) Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red – 42K
7) The Beatles’ On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2 – 37K
8) Jhene Aiko’s Sail Out EP – 34K
9) Drake’s Nothing was the Same – 33K
10) Lorde’s Pure Heroine – 32K
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When it comes to the opening week performance of Lady Gaga’s “ARTPOP,” there will be no surprises.
The album will certainly debut atop the Billboard 200 album sales chart, and based on the first wave of figures from Hits Daily Double, it will do so with a tally squarely in the projected range.
According to the Hits report, “ARTPOP” moved approximately 259,683 copies in its opening week. The final Billboard data will differ, but the slight disparity will not be enough to alter the current assessment of the album’s performance.
And that assessment is a negative one. While Lady Gaga can celebrate another number one, she will do so knowing the opening week tally for “ARTPOP” was down roughly 75% from the 1.1 million-plus launch for predecessor “Born This Way.” Even if one removes all of the $0.99 Amazon purchases from that “Born this Way” total, it still sold more than twice as many first-week copies as “ARTPOP.”
Gaga will also be forced to accept that “ARTPOP” debuted to a weaker total than the 286K for Katy Perry’s “Prism” and 270K for Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz.”
Hits’ estimated top ten:
1) Lady Gaga – ARTPOP – 260K
2) Eminem – MMLP2 – 208K
3) NOW 48 – 116K
4) The Robertsons – Duck the Halls – 65K
5) Katy Perry – Prism – 46K
6) Kelly Clarkson – Wrapped in Red – 41K
7) The Beatles – Live at the BBC, Volume 2 – 37K
8) Jhene Aiko – Sail Out EP – 33K
9) Drake – Nothing Was the Same – 33K
10) Lorde – Pure Heroine – 32K
