Update: When reporting Hits Daily Double’s sales data, we noted the possibility that Billboard’s final data would differ.
It did. And that difference in reported sales was enough to produce a different leader on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.
Whereas Hits Daily Double said Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool” won the May 6-12 US album sales race, Billboard declares Drake’s “Views” the winner. The music publication says “Views” sold 175,000 weekly copies, while “Pool” shifted 173,000.
Drake’s “Views” also tops the Billboard 200 consumption chart, which ranks albums based on the sum of pure sales, Track Equivalent Albums (track sales/10) and Streaming Equivalent Albums (track streams/1500).
Billboard says “Views” generated 313,000 weekly consumption units. Beyonce’s “Lemonade” takes #2 with 202,000 total units (153,000 from sales, good for #3 on Top Album Sales), while “A Moon Shaped Pool” earns #3 on the BB 200 with 181,000 units.
Keith Urban’s “Ripcord” takes #4 on the Billboard 200, while Prince’s “The Very Best Of Prince” earns #5. Cole Swindell’s “You Should Be Here” debuts at #6.
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When the week began, Drake’s “Views” appeared headed for a second straight week at #1 on the US album sales chart.
The race appears to have played out differently. Based on data from Hits Daily Double, Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool,” not Drake’s album, was the week’s best-selling album.
Hits says “Pool” sold approximately ~174,991 US copies during the May 6-12 tracking week (it did not actually arrive until May 8). “Views” reportedly sold about 168,481 weekly albums.
Music fans should thus expect to see “A Moon Shaped Pool” at #1 on this week’s Top Album Sales chart. Of course, insofar as Billboard’s often differs slightly from that reported by Hits, Radiohead’s team may want to wait before pouring the champagne.
Drake’s team, in fact, can feel safer in celebrating. While it appears to have narrowly lost the pure US album sales race, “Views” definitely won the consumption race, which accounts for the sum of album sales, track sales/10 and track streams/1500.
Hits estimates that “Views” drove ~306,302 in weekly consumption units. That tally should be more than enough for another week at #1 on the Billboard 200.
The Radiohead album is actually expected to take third on that chart. Its estimated consumption total of ~183,338 trails the ~220,860 generated by Beyonce’s “Lemonade.”
“Lemonade” will meanwhile take #3 on Top Album Sales with a strong ~154,492 in its third week.
Other top pure sales performers: Keith Urban’s “Ripcord” (~94,983), Cole Swindell’s “You Should Be Here” (~68,688), and Prince’s “The Very Best Of Prince” (~65,432)
Other top consumption performers: “Ripcord” (~106,077), “You Should Be Here” (~78,951), and “The Very Best Of Prince” (~78,101).