Update: Taylor Swift’s “1989” once again rules the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
It latest victory comes on the strength of the 111,000 copies it moved last week. That tally brings its cumulative total to 3.944 million and thus all but assures it will cross the 4 million mark by the end of the current tracking week.
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data included, “1989” sees its weekly unit total rise to 155,000. That is enough for a convincing weekly victory on the Billboard 200.
The BB200 top ten follows:
1) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 155K units (111K from pure sales)
2) Ed Sheeran – x – 76K units (34K from pure sales)
3) Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint – 60K units (34K from pure sales)
4) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 57K units (30K from pure sales)
5) Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife – 49K units (34K from pure sales)
6) Hozier – Hozier – 49K units (20K from pure sales)
7) J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive – 45K units (34K from pure sales)
8) Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Volume 1 – 35K units (35K from pure sales)
9) One Direction – FOUR – 32K units (17K from pure sales)
10) Ariana Grande – My Everything – 28K units (7K from pure sales)
==============
Now that the holiday rush is over and the buzz is (slightly) starting to fade, excitement over Taylor Swift’s “1989” is naturally beginning to cool.
That unavoidable cool down did not, however, prevent the album from dominating another weekly sales race.
According to Hits Daily Double, Swift sold another ~111,686 copies of “1989” last week and will thus hold the #1 position on this week’s album sales chart. Neither the slight disparities in Billboard’s more authoritative data nor the inclusion of Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) or Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) will prevent “1989” from reigning over the weekly Top Album Sales and hybrid Billboard 200 charts***.
With the latest weekly sales tally included, the “1989” cumulative total improves to roughly 3.945 million and thus puts “1989” in position to cross the 4 million mark by the end of the current tracking week. Insofar as Meghan Trainor’s new “Title” is due to dethrone “1989” on next week’s chart, the achievement of crossing the 4 million mark will represent valuable silver lining.
As for this week, a significant gap existed between “1989” and the week’s next-best-sellers.
Because those albums–Ed Sheeran’s “x” (~34,475, per Hits), J. Cole’s “2014 Forest Hills Drive” (~34,025), Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint” (~33,139), Rae Sremmurd’s “SremmLife” (~33,005), “Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Volume 1” (~32,280) and Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (~29,016)–were separated by so few units, it is unclear how they will precisely rank on Billboard’s weekly Top Album Sales chart (which will feature slightly different sales data for each album).
What is clear, however, is that none possessed anywhere near the sizzle of Swift’s “1989.”
***With TEA and SEA data included, the weekly “unit” count for Taylor Swift’s “1989” rises to ~161,686. Ed Sheeran’s “x” (~74,213), Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint” (~61,033), Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (~56,441) and Hozier’s “Hozier” (~48,218) most closely follow.
