Powered by the greatest opening week total of his career, Dierks Bentley’s “Black” won the May 27-July 2 sales race.
According to Hits Daily Double, “Black” sold approximately 88,939 pure US copies during the official tracking period. While Billboard’s final, more authoritative data will likely differ slightly, the discrepancy will not change the overall conclusion: “Black” was the week’s best-selling album. It will debut at #1 on Top Album Sales.
The opening week total will rank as the best ever posted by a Dierks Bentley album. Dierks Bentley’s 2006 album “Long Trip Alone,” which previously held that distinction, sold 82,000 US copies in its first week.
“Riser,” the predecessor to “Black,” sold 63,000 first-week copies.
This week’s other top performers from a pure sales standpoint include Beyonce’s “Lemonade” (~58,442), Fifth Harmony’s “7/27” (~54,570), Blake Shelton’s “If I’m Honest” (~49,154) and Drake’s “Views” (~35,625).
While “Black” is the week’s clear winner from a pure sales standpoint, it will not top the Billboard 200 consumption chart. That honor will go to Drake’s “Views,” which will celebrate a fifth straight week at #1 on the chart.
According to Hits, “Views” generated approximately 149,080 in weekly US consumption units. Consumption is the sum of pure album sales, Track Equivalent Albums (track sales/10) and Streaming Equivalent Albums (track streams/1500).
“Black” will take second with ~102,071, besting the ~83,221 generated by Beyonce’s “Lemonade.” Fifth Harmony’s “7/27” will follow with ~78,422, while Blake Shelton’s “If I’m Honest” is set to take #5 o the strength of its ~60,356 weekly units.