Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” was not hot enough to claim number one on the weekly sales chart, but the album greatly exceeded projections to land comfortably at number two.
Initially forecast for 55-60,000 based on its opening day sales, the album ended up moving in the realm of 86,000 copies, according to Hits Daily Double. Billboard will officially report the Nielsen SoundScan results, which usually differ by a few thousand from the Hits DD numbers, Wednesday morning.
That total gave the band’s debut studio album a solid lead over Lecrae’s third-place finisher “Gravity,” which had previously been tracking neck-and-neck with “Night Visions.” “Gravity” moved about 70,000 first-week copies, which is also ahead of initial forecasts.
Imagine Dragons, which was nominated for a VMA, will receive another valuable marketing opportunity Thursday when Darren Criss’ Blaine covers the band’s “It’s Time” on the “Glee” season premiere.
Matchbox 20’s “North” claimed the top weekly sales spot, although its total now looks likely to fall short of 100,000. When last week’s forecasts were reported, “North” was tracking for at least 110,000 debut sales.