Update: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek” was indeed this past week’s #1 album.
Billboard confirms that “Cheek to Cheek” debuts atop its Billboard 200 album sales chart on the strength of 131,000 first week sales. That total narrowly tops the 130,000 moved by Kenny Chesney’s #2 “The Big Revival” and 127,000 pushed by Barbra Streisand’s #2 “Partners.”
alt-Js “This is All Yours” follows in fourth place with 68,000 sales, while Pentatonix’s “PTX, Volume III” claims fifth place on the strength of 46,000.
Other top ten albums include Chris Brown’s “X” (#6, 37,000), “Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Volume 1” (#7, 30,000), Joe Bonamassa’s “Different Shades of Blue” (#8, 26,000), Maroon 5’s “V” (#9, 26,000) and Jennifer Hudson’s “JHUD” (#10, 24,000).
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According to Hits Daily Double’s sales chart, last week’s incredibly close, three-way album sales race fell in favor of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek.” Whether it will also claim the #1 position on the more authoritative Billboard 200 remains to be seen.
The disparity between HITS’ data and Billboard’s data is never significant, but insofar as HITS Daily Double’s #1, #2 and #3 albums are separated by less than 3000 weekly sales, even a slight discrepancy could produce a different pecking order on the Billboard chart.
As far as the HITS data goes, Bennett and Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek” moved approximately 131,169 copies in its first week. Better than what was expected, the total gave the album a narrow lead over Kenny Chesney’s “The Big Revival.”
The country veteran’s latest release opened to the tune of approximately 129,552 sales.
Barbra Streisand’s “Partners,” last week’s #1 album, follows at #3. It moved approximately 128,218 copies in its second week of release.
Regardless of how the Top 3 shakes out on Billboard, the occupants of the #4 and #5 positions seem clear. alt-J’s “This is All Yours” arrives at #4 on the strength of approximately 64,671 sales, while Pentatonix’s “PTX, Vol. III,” lands at #5 with sales of 47,326.