Update 2: On the strength of 195,000 first-week sales, Meghan Trainor’s “Title” debuts atop the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
The inaugural tally ranks as the best for a solo female artist’s debut since Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” moved 701,000 in the fall of 2009. It is the best for any solo artist since Scotty McCreery’s “Clear as Day” opened to the tune of 197,000 sales in 2011.
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale), the album’s opening week unit count clocks in at 237,511.
That 237,511 thrusts “Title” into the #1 spot on the revamped Billboard 200. The top ten follows:
1) Meghan Trainor – Title – 238K total consumption units (195K from sales)
2) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 131K total units
3) Kidz Bop Kids – Kidz Bop 27 – 80K total units (77K from sales)
4) Ed Sheeran – x – 77K units (36K from sales)
5) Mark Ronson – Uptown Special – 77K units (30K from sales)
6) Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint – 54K units
7) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 50K units
8) Maroon 5 – V – 48K units (19K from sales)
9) Hozier – Hozier – 42K units
10) J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive – 38K units
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Update: With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data included, Hits says the first week “equivalent unit” count for Meghan Trainor’s “Title” was approximately 236,910. 195,906 of those were pure album sales.
Thanks to those totals (which will differ only slightly from the final Billboard data), “Title” will claim the number one spot on the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart.
Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which will be the runner-up on both listings, commanded a weekly “equivalent unit” total of about 132,102. 92,102 were pure sales.
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Last September, Meghan Trainor’s breakthrough single “All About That Bass” leapfrogged Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” to claim #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This week, Trainor’s “Title” seizes the album sales throne from Swift’s blockbuster “1989.”
According to data from Hits Daily Double, which will differ only slightly from the more authoritative report to be shared by Billboard Wednesday morning, “Title” moved approximately 195,906 copies in its inaugural week of release. It was the week’s best-selling album by a considerable margin.
Thanks to strong track sales and streaming, “Title” will also top Billboard’s revamped 200. That chart now is now based on total “equivalent units,” which include pure sales, track equivalent albums (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and streaming equivalent albums (1500 single streams = 1 album sale).
Ahead of the 150,000 forecast that was issued moments prior to the album’s Tuesday, January 13 release, the “Title” sales total bests that achieved by recent debut efforts from fellow pop standouts like Ariana Grande, Lorde and Sam Smith.
Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which spent the past several weeks at #1, slips to #2 this week. According to Hits, it moved approximately 92,102 copies during the latest tracking week.
