Update: Once again the week’s best-selling album, Taylor Swift’s “1989” moved 326,000 copies during the final sales frame of 2014, says Billboard.
In bringing its cumulative total to roughly 3.66 million, the album’s Christmas week sales count helps “1989” become the year’s best-selling album.
Prior to last week, the “Frozen” soundtrack had spent the duration of 2014 in the #1 spot. But by only selling 64,000 in the final frame of 2014, it settles for a yearly total of 3.53 million and thus the #2 position on the 2014 leaderboard.
Not simply the week’s best-seller, “1989” also registers as the week’s best performer on the revamped Billboard 200. Thanks to a major boost in single track sales, Swift’s “1989” receives an additional 104,000 “credits” from Track Equivalent Album and Streaming Equivalent Album data. In all, it holds at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 430,000 total units.
The week’s Billboard 200 top ten:
1) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 430K total units, 326K from pure sales
2) Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint – 156K total units, 105K from pure sales
3) Pentatonix – That’s Christmas to Me – 131K total units, 121K from pure sales
4) One Direction – FOUR – 131K total units, 100K from pure sales
5) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 121K total units, 79K from pure sales
6) J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive – 120K total units, 104K from pure sales
7) Ed Sheeran – x – 113K total units, 63K from pure sales
8) Hozier – Hozier – 88K total units, 38K from pure sales
9) Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Volume 1 – 80K total units, 80K from pure sales
10) Ariana Grande – My Everything – 79K total units, 33K from pure sales
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Going into the final sales week of 2014, Taylor Swift’s “1989” trailed the blockbuster “Frozen” soundtrack by roughly 120,000-130,000 units. If it could make up that ground, it would claim 2014’s largest sales tally.
It made up that ground–and then some.
According to weekly sales data from Hits Daily Double, which should differ only slightly from the more authoritative Billboard/Nielsen Soundscan tally, Swift’s “1989” moved approximately 328,000 copies and won the Christmas week sales race. Enough to lift the album’s cumulative total to roughly 3.66 million, the weekly sum also thrusts “1989” ahead of “Frozen” in the yearly race.
“Frozen,” which claimed a year-to-date total of roughly 3.46 million going into the final frame, moved in the neighborhood of 57,000 Christmas week units. With a yearly total of 3.52 million, it ranks as 2014’s second-best-seller.
Particularly impressive about Taylor Swift’s “1989” ascent to #1 is the fact that it did not hit shelves until October 27. The “Frozen” soundtrack, as monstrous as it was, had the entire year to pad its total.