Update: Billboard has made the news official: Eminem’s “Revival” is #1 on this week’s Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts.
It tops the former thanks to what Billboard reports as 197K in pure opening week US sales.
With TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1500) included, it generated 267K in first-week consumption units. The consumption tally yields the #1 spot on this week’s Billboard 200.
Taylor Swift’s “reputation” takes #2 on the Billboard 200 with 133K units, while a unit count of 122K drives a #3 debut for G-Eazy’s “The Beautiful & Damned.”
Ed Sheeran’s “Divide” (#4, 90K) and Pentatonix’s “A Pentatonix Christmas” (#5, 75K) complete the Top 5.
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Its numbers pale in comparison to those posted by 2013 predecessor “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” but Eminem’s “Revival” still comfortably won this week’s US album sales and consumption races.
According to Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, Eminem’s “Revival” sold about 197,000 pure US copies during the December 15-21 tracking week.
The inclusion of TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1500) yields a consumption tally of roughly 265,000.
Due in the next few days, Billboard’s more authoritative data may differ slightly from that reported by Hits. The discrepancies will not, however, be nearly enough to change the overall narrative.
“Revival” was the week’s top album in the United States. It will debut as a dominant #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales (pure sales) and Billboard 200 (consumption) charts.
Taylor Swift’s “reputation,” which will likely take #2 on the pure sales chart, sold approximately 93,000 pure US copies this week. Hits has G-Eazy’s “The Beautiful & Damned” taking third place with about 70,000 pure sales.
It is too early to declare which album will take #2 on the Billboard 200. Hits has “The Beautiful & Damned” at #2 with 122,000 units and “reputation” at #3 with 121,000, but the difference in Billboard’s data could be enough to flip those positions. Headline Planet will share the Billboard rankings upon availability.
— “Revival” is the follow-up to the aforementioned “MMLP2,” which debuted at #1 on the strength of 792,000 opening week sales. Billboard’s charts did not incorporate TEA and SEA at the time.