Confirming Hits Daily Double’s preliminary report, Billboard announced Wednesday that Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande will debut at number one on its Billboard 200 album sales chart.
Fueled by a strong performance on the digital market, the singer’s “Yours Truly” moved an impressive 138,000 opening week copies. Stronger than the 110-120,000 total projected by Billboard last week, the mark greatly exceeds any single-week performance from comparable artists Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.
Though separated from the top by a comfortable margin, Tamar Braxton’s “Love & War” still had a strong week. With 114,000 sales, according to Billboard, it performed at the high-end of initial expectations.
Nine Inch Nails’ “Hesitation Marks” claimed third place with 107,000, besting the 68,000 moved by John Legend’s debuting “Love in the Future” and Luke Bryan’s monster holdover “Crash My Party.”