Gwen Stefani [ABC]
“This Is What The Truth Feels Like” has indeed become the first Gwen Stefani solo album to win a weekly US album sales race.
According to Hits Daily Double, “Truth” sold approximately 80,551 US copies during the March 18-24 tracking week. The tally easily ranks as the week’s best.
Due later this weekend, Billboard’s more authoritative data will likely differ from that reported by Hits. The differential will not, however, be nearly enough to change the overall outcome: “This Is What The Truth Feels Like” will take #1 on Top Album Sales.
It will also take #1 on the Billboard 200, which ranks albums based on total consumption (pure album sales + track sales/10 + track streams/1500).
— On the pure sales front, Jordan Smith’s “Something Beautiful” ranks as the week’s next-best performer. Per Hits, it sold approximately 53,258 first-week copies.
The tally marks the best opening week sum ever posted by an album from a “The Voice” contestant. Season three winner Cassadee Pope previously held the distinction; her debut solo/post-show album “Frame By Frame” sold 43,000 first week copies in the US.
Other top weekly sellers include Adele’s “25” (~43,183), “The Passion: New Orleans” (~29,132), Joey + Rory’s “Hymns” (~26,198), Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” (~26,012), and Kane Brown’s “Chapter 1” (~23,345).