Update: Data from Billboard’s weekly sales report is now available, and it confirms that Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” moved 197,000 copies in its first week of release.
Enough for a convincing #1 debut atop the Billboard 200, the number nonetheless falls considerably short of the 250-300,000 forecast by industry experts ahead of the album’s 10/14 release.
Per Billboard, the weekly top ten breaks down as follows:
1) Florida Georgia Line – Anything Goes – 197K
2) Jason Aldean – Old Boots, New Dirt – 91K
3) Bob Seger – Ride – 59K
4) You+Me – Rose Ave. – 50K
5) Barbra Streisand – Partners – 40K
6) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 37K
7) Game – Blood Moon – 33K
8) Hoodie Allen – People Keep Talking – 30K
9) U2 – Songs of Innocence – 28K
10) Jessie J – Sweet Talker – 25K
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Two weeks ago, if you were to suggest that Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” would get off to a slower sales start than Brantley Gilbert’s “Just as I Am,” music industry types would have called you crazy.
You would not have been.
According to Hits Daily Double’s sales report, which typically differs only slightly from the authoritative Billboard 200 data, Florida Georgia Line’s new album opened with approximately 200,496 first-week sales.
Easily enough to give “Anything Goes” the weekly victory, the tally nonetheless comes in dramatically short of the 250-300,000 originally expected of the album. It also trails the 211,000 moved by the aforementioned Gilbert album earlier this year.
Assuming the Billboard number does not differ wildly from what Hits report, “Anything Goes” will rank as the fourth-hottest country opener thus far this year. In addition to the sales figure for the Gilbert album, its ~200K total trails the 288,000 earned by Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” and the 278,000 net by Jason Aldean’s “Old Boots, New Dirt.”
That album, which opened atop last week’s sales chart, slips to #2 this week with sales of approximately 91,870.
Per Hits, Bob Seger’s “Ride Out” follows with roughly 56,932 sales, while You+Me’s “Rose Ave” claims fourth on the strength of about 49,170 sales. Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” slides into fifth with a weekly total in the 41,030 range.
Also in the Hits top ten: Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (#6, ~37,092), Hoodie Allen’s “People Keep Talking’ (#7, ~32,849), Game’s “Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf” (#8, ~30,544), Jessie J’s “Sweet Talker” (#9, ~24,511) and Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek” (#10, ~24,326).
The first wave of Billboard 200 data will be published Wednesday morning.