The Top 5 of this week’s Billboard Top Album Sales chart may feature as many as four new entries.
Kenny Chesney’s new “Songs For The Saints” will rank as a dominant #1 on the chart. Based on sales data reported by Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, Halestorm’s new “Vicious,” Daughtry’s new “Cage To Rattle,” and Cody Jinks’ new “Lifers” should also land in the Top 5.
The “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” soundtrack is the only holdover album expected to rank in this week’s Top 5.
Billboard Top Album Sales, as a reminder, measures albums based on pure US album sales. Unlike the Billboard 200, it does not take into account streams or individual track sales.
While it does not precisely match that reported by Billboard, Hits Daily Double’s data provides a good indication of where albums may chart.
In this case, it is clear “Songs For The Saints” will be #1 on Top Album Sales. Hits reports that the album sold nearly 69K pure copies, a figure that nearly triples that of the #2 album.
Hits lists “Vicious” at #2 with 26K, while “Cage To Rattle” appears at #3 with 24K. “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” (#4, 22K) and “Lifers” (#5, 22K) follow in the Top 5.
As they are separated by only a few thousand copies (the typical “margin of error” between Billboard and Hits), they may not appear in those exact positions on the Billboard chart. All, however, should be somewhere in the Top 5; Grateful Dead’s “Dave’s Picks Volume 27,” which Hits lists as the #6 seller, is comfortably behind with 16K.
Insofar as none of the aforementioned albums fared proportionately well on the TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1250 for paid services + track streams/3750 for free services), none is expected to chart as highly on the overall Billboard 200.
“Songs For The Saints” is a safe bet for #2, but the other four albums may miss the consumption chart’s Top 5. All, however, should rank within the Top 15 — and some may appear in the lower-half of the Top 10.
Pictured: Halestorm by Jimmy Fontaine, courtesy of Atlantic
