Update: Slipknot’s “.5: The Gray Chapter” debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 thanks to first-week sales of 132,000.
The full top ten is as follows:
1) Slipknot – .5: The Gray Chapter – 132K
2) TI – Paperwork – 80K
3) Neil Diamond – Melody Road – 78K
4) Logic – Under Pressure – 73K
5) Florida Georgia Line – Anything Goes – 59K
6) Jason Aldean – Old Boots, New Dirt – 56K
7) Little Big Town – Pain Killer – 42K
8) Barbra Streisand – Partners – 40K
9) Pentatonix – That’s Christmas to Me – 32K
10) Annie Lennox – Nostalgia – 32K
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By the middle of last week, music industry analysts confidently declared that Slipknot’s “.5: The Gray Chapter” would debut atop the Billboard 200 album sales chart.
Their forecasts did not, however, successfully capture how well the album would move in its first week of release.
Eyed for a bow in the 100-110,000 range, the Slipknot album ended up moving approximately 126,679 copies in its first week of release. That number, published on Hits Daily Double’s final chart, will differ only slightly from the one to be delivered by the more authoritative Billboard publication Wednesday morning.
According to Hits, Neil Diamond’s “Melody Road” should claim second on the Billboard 200 thanks to an opening week tally in the vicinity of 82,280. TI’s “Paperwork” and Logic’s “Under Pressure” follow with rough counts of 74,197 and 71,511, respectively.
Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes,” last week’s leader, slips to fifth courtesy a sales count of about 59,075. An estimated total of 55,888 puts Jason Aldean’s former number one “Old Boots, New Dirt” closely behind.
Next on the countdown are Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” and Little Big Town’s “Pain Killer,” which are credited with respective, approximate sales counts of 40,503 and 40,305.
Other noteworthy performers include Pentatonix’ “That’s Christmas to Me” (~32,958, #9 on Hits DD), Annie Lennox’s “Nostalgia” (~27,829, #10), Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (~27,394, #11), Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek” (~26,508, #12) and Aretha Franklin’s “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics” (~22,605, #13).
Billboard will reveal official sales counts for the week’s top ten albums by 11:30AM ET Wednesday.
