Last week, the “complete my album” effect caused Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” to slip on the Digital Songs chart.
This week, the effect works to the song’s advantage. By adversely impacting the weekly sales total for Adele’s “Hello,” the tally allows Bieber’s “Sorry” to reach the top of the digital sales mountain.
According to Nielsen Music, “Sorry” drove 178,047 paid US downloads during the November 20-26 tracking week. The tally earns Bieber’s single the #1 spot on the weekly Billboard/Nielsen Digital Songs chart.
In addition to ranking as the nation’s best-selling single, “Sorry” was also the top performer in many individual markets (including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago).
The 178,047 weekly figure, which bests last week’s official mark by 117%, brings the song’s cumulative US sales total to 819,119.
Adele’s “Hello” technically generated more paid downloads during the tracking week, but its official sales total received a negative adjustment due to the “complete my album” effect.
If a customer who previously bought the “Hello” single upgraded to the whole “25” album, Nielsen tracking would consider that tantamount to returning the single and buying the album. Instead of retroactively adjusting the data from past weeks, Nielsen simply subtracts such sales from the current weekly total.
The effect explains why “Sorry” slipped to #5 on — and why “What Do You Mean?” completely fell off — last week’s Digital Songs chart. This week, it explains why Adele’s “Hello” is not #1 on Digital Songs.
When calculating points for the Hot 100, Billboard will nonetheless use the unadjusted weekly download total. “Hello,” therefore, should still reign over that all-encompassing chart.