For the second consecutive week, a compilation album will reign as best-seller.
Last week’s race fell in favor of the NOW 53 album, which leveraged its 99,000 first-frame sales to claim #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
This week’s race will fall in the convincing favor of the “50 Shades of Grey” soundtrack. According to Hits Daily Double, the album is pacing for an opening week sales count of roughly 165-175,000.
Not simply enough for a dominant win on the pure sales chart, the total will also provide the soundtrack with the foundation needed to lead the revamped Billboard 200. With pure sales, track equivalent album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and streaming equivalent album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data included, “50 Shades” should be able to claim a consumption unit count of 185-195,000.
No other release–new or old, Grammy-showcased or not–is expected to compete with that quantity.
As far as new releases go, other projections include 18-20,000 sales (20-22,000 total units) for Blackberry Smoke’s “Holding All the Roses,” 14-16,000 sales (16-18,000 total units) for Ricky Martin’s “A Quien Quiera Escuchar,” 12-13,000 sales (13-14,000 total units) for Juan Gabriel’s “Los Duo” and 10-11,000 sales (11-12,000 total units) for Father John Misty’s “I Love You, Honeybear.”
