Update: An opening week sales total of 172,000 allows Imagine Dragons’ “Smoke + Mirrors” to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
The total, which provides the album with considerable distance from the rest of the pack (as far as the pure sales race goes), more than doubles the 83,000 opening week tally earned by the band’s debut “Night Visions.”
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) included, the album’s consumption unit total clocks in at 195,000. That gives “Smoke + Mirrors” the #1 position on the revamped Billboard 200. The week’s top ten is as follows:
1) Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors – 195K total units (172K from pure sales)
2) Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late – 187K total units (129K from pure sales)
3) 50 Shades of Grey – 165K total units
4) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 93K total units
5) Ed Sheeran – x – 81K total units
6) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 72K total units
7) Maroon 5 – V – 47K total units
8) Meghan Trainor – Title – 44K total units
9) Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint – 41K total units
10) Hozier – Hozier – 40K total units
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Analysts should have stuck with their original forecast.
After initially predicting a 150-175,000 first week sales total for Imagine Dragons’ sophomore album “Smoke + Mirrors,” industry forecasters quickly lowered their expectations. Projections Wednesday, Thursday and Friday called for an opening week bow in the 145-160,000 range.
Actual sales data is in, and it suggests that the original forecast was right on the money.
Per Hits Daily Double’s data, which should only differ slightly from the more authoritative Billboard/Soundscan report, the first week sales total for “Smoke + Mirrors” clocked in at ~169,688.
The week’s best sales total by a comfortable margin, it will earn “Smoke + Mirrors” the #1 position on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
The addition of Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data produces a total consumption unit count of ~194,130. That should give Imagine Dragons the lead–albeit a fairly narrow one–on the revamped Billboard 200.
— Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” should claim #2 on both charts. Its second week sales total clocks in at ~128,707, while its second week consumption unit count registers at ~186,277.
— Other top performers on the pure sales chart: “50 Shades of Grey” (~113,424), Taylor Swift’s “1989” (~55,618), Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (~46,781) and Ed Sheeran’s “x” (~44,195).
— Other top performers on the total consumption chart: 50 Shades of Grey” (~162,908 total units), “1989” (~82,888 total units), “x” (~75,707 total units) and “In the Lonely Hour” (~70,314 total units).