The sales race between Demi Lovato’s “Confident” and Pentatonix’s “Pentatonix” currently looks like a tight one.
Based on opening day sales data, Hits Daily Double projects an opening week tally of 68-73,000 for each album.
Not simply competing against each other, the high-profile new releases are also likely competing for the #1 position on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart.
The aforementioned projections concern the albums’ pure sales totals. Projections for Track Equivalent Albums (10 single sales = 1 album equivalent unit) and Streaming Equivalent Albums (1500 single streams = 1 album equivalent unit), which will be combined with the pure sales figures to determine Billboard 200 placement, are not yet available.
If the current pure sales projection proves even reasonably accurate, “Confident” will post the lowest opening week sales total of Lovato’s career. Lovato, whose 2013 predecessor “DEMI” sold 110,000 en route to a #3 debut on the then-sales-only Billboard 200, has never launched an album with fewer than 89,000 first week sales.
Prior to “Pentatonix,” the a capella group released the holiday album “That’s Christmas To Me.” The LP debuted with 32,000 weekly sales (#9) but truly took flight as the holiday season progressed. It ended up with a platinum certification.