At the beginning of the December 18-24 tracking week, Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” held 2015’s fifth-greatest US album sales total.
By the end of the week, it was 2015’s third-best seller.
According to Nielsen Music, “Purpose” sold 153,000 pure US copies during the most recent tracking period. That brought its cumulative US total to approximately 1.167 million.
It also thrust “Purpose” past Ed Sheeran’s “x” and Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” on the year-to-date sales list.
In terms of US album sales within the 2015 calendar year, “Purpose” now trails only Adele’s “25” (~7.13 million) and Taylor Swift’s “1989” (~1.96 million).
Of note: Two of those albums — “Purpose” and “25” — did not arrive until the fourth quarter of 2015. “Purpose” shipped on November 13, while “25” debuted on November 20. “1989” was released on October 27, 2014; it sold over 3.6 million US copies before the end of 2014.
