Update: A pure sales total of 214,000 powers Zac Brown Band’s “Jekyll + Hyde” to the top of the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
Down slightly from the 234,000 first-week total for predecessor “Uncaged,” the sales figure nonetheless gave “Jekyll + Hyde” an edge over the rest of this week’s pack.
The race was, however, far closer than experts expected. Initially expected to move about 125,000 copies, Josh Groban’s runner-up “Stages” ended up scoring an opening week sales total of 176,000.
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data included, “Jekyll + Hyde” earned a first week consumption total of 228,000 units. That gives it the #1 position on this week’s Billboard 200.
“Stages” lands at #2 with 180,000 total consumption units.
This week’s Billboard 200 Top 10:
1) Zac Brown Band – Jekyll + Hyde – 228K total units (214K from pure sales)
2) Josh Groban – Stages – 180K total units (176K from pure sales)
3) Furious 7 – 53K total units
4) Tyler Farr – Suffer in Peace – 41.629K total units (36K from pure sales)
5) Drake – If You’re Reading This it’s Too Late – 37K total units
6) 50 Shades of Grey – 36K total units
7) Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color – 34K total units
8) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 33K total units
9) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 32K total units
10) Meghan Trainor – Title – 31K total units
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While sales for Josh Groban’s “Stages” topped industry projections, they did not rival those of Zac Brown Band’s “Jekyll + Hyde.”
As a result, the new ZBB release will top this week’s Billboard Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts.
According to Hits Daily Double, its Top Album Sales victory will come thanks to an opening week pure sales total of approximately 217,482. Billboard’s more authoritative data will differ slightly, but it will not change the overall result: “Jekyll + Hyde” was last week’s best-selling album.
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album sale) data included, “Jekyll + Hyde” registered an opening week consumption total of approximately 231,803 units. The week’s greatest, the total will power Zac Brown Band’s genre-spanning album to the top spot on the Billboard 200.
When it comes to pure sales totals, other top performers include Groban’s “Stages” (~149,246 album sales), Tyler Farr’s “Suffer in Peace” (~36,927), Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color” (~31,373) and Taylor Swift’s “1989” (~20,533).
As far as the total consumption race goes, additional leaders include “Stages” (~152,497 total units), the “Furious 7” soundtrack (~46,144), Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color” (~42,387) and Tyler Farr’s “Suffer in Peace” (~41,368).
