With the first half of the April 15-21 tracking week in the books, Hits Daily Double projects that Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” will win the weekly US album sales race.
Simpson’s album is on track to sell 40-45,000 pure copies during the tracking week. Barring an unexpected turn of events, that should comfortably position “Earth” atop the Top Album Sales chart.
Santana’s “Santana IV” and Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller,” which are projected as the week’s next-best sellers, are expected to post weekly totals in the 29-33,000 range.
“A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” is not, however, assured of a victory on the consumption-oriented Billboard 200. Based on current tracking, Rihanna’s consumption powerhouse “ANTI” and Simpson’s album are both on track to generate 43-48,000 weekly units (pure sales + track sales/10 + track streams/1500). “ANTI” would be vying for a third, non-consecutive week on top.
Other albums set to land near the top of the consumption chart include “Traveller” (~38-43,000 units) and Kanye West’s “The Life Of Pablo” (~37-42,000 units).