Update: Billboard has made the news official: Kesha’s “Rainbow” earns #1 on this week’s Billboard Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts.
It tops the former thanks to 89,000 in pure US sales.
The inclusion of TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1500) yields an opening week unit total of 116,000, which is enough for #1 on the Billboard 200.
Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” takes #2 on the Billboard 200 with 43,000, while DJ Khaled’s “Grateful” grabs #3 with 34,000.
A unit total of 32,000 scores Khalid’s “American Teen” #4, while Moneybagg Yo grabs #5 on the strength of 30,000 units.
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Kesha’s third full-length album predictably takes first place in this week’s US album sales and consumption races.
According to Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, Kesha’s “Rainbow” sold about 93,269 pure US copies during the August 11-17 tracking week. The figure tops that of the week’s #2 seller by a factor of nearly 6.
With TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1500) included, “Rainbow” generated ~119,980 first-week consumption units in the US. The consumption tally nearly triples that of this week’s runner-up.
Due Sunday, Billboard’s more authoritative data will differ slightly. The discrepancies will not, however, be nearly enough to affect the overall outcomes. The pure sales figure will earn “Rainbow” #1 on Top Album Sales, while the consumption sum will be enough for #1 on the Billboard 200.
“Rainbow” will follow Kesha’s debut studio release “Animal” in becoming her Billboard 200 chart-topper.
This week’s top pure sales performers (via BuzzAngle):
Kesha – Rainbow (~93,269 pure US sales)
NOW 63 (~15,798)
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (~13,787)
Descendants 2 (~11,760)
Jay-Z – 4:44 (~11,214)
This week’s top consumption performers (via BuzzAngle):
Kesha – Rainbow (~119,980 total US units)
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (~44,134)
DJ Khaled – Grateful (~34,281)
Khalid – American Teen (~31,787)
Imagine Dragons – Evolve (~30,474)
