Update: With sales of 196,000, Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The iconic performer has now scored a number one album in each of the last six decades.
Chris Brown’s “X” claims the runner-up position with sales of 146,000. Better than expectations, the count also tops the 135,000 moved by predecessor “Fortune” in its first week of release in 2012
Other top albums:
3) Tim McGraw – Sundown Heaven Town – 71,000
4) George Strait – The Cowboy Rides Away: Live from AT&T Stadium – 51,000
5) Train – Bulletproof Picasso – 50,000
6) OneRepublic – Native – 49,000*
7) Maroon 5 – V – 34,000
8) Lecrae – Anomaly – 31,000
9) Motionless in White – Reincarnate – 31,000
10) Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – 29,000
*Driven by a discounted $0.99 price point on Google, the weekly “Native” sales figure is the album’s second largest to date. The only better performance came when it moved 60,000 in its debut frame.
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Music industry analysts spent the bulk of last week consistently upgrading forecasts for Barbra Streisand’s “Partners,” but when all was said and done, they were still unable to capture how well this release sold in its inaugural week.
According to Hits Daily Double’s sales report, which will differ only slightly from the final, more authoritative Billboard/Nielsen numbers, Streisand’s release moved 196,003 copies in its first week.
Initially expected to land in the 120,000 range, “Partners” seemed to get hotter by the hour. By midweek, it was clear the album would obliterate the initial forecast and emerge as the week’s clear top seller.
That it scored a convincing weekly sales victory does not, however, mean the runner-up disappointed. Chris Brown’s “X,” which was also pegged for a bow in the 120,000 range, ended up moving approximately 142,155 copies in its first week of release.
It easily bested Tim McGraw’s “Sundown Heaven Town” (~72,334), George Strait’s “The Cowboy Rides Away: Live from AT&T Stadium” (~53,405) and Train’s “Bulletproof Picasso” (~51,816) to claim second place.
The official data that informs the weekly Billboard 200 chart will be released Wednesday morning. It will not dramatically change the above sales race portrait.