Update: Billboard has made the news official. Mumford & Sons’ “Delta” debuts at #1 on the Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts.
It tops the former with what Billboard reports as 214K in pure opening week US sales. The inclusion of units from track streams and sales yields a consumption tally of 230K, which scores “Delta” #1 on the Billboard 200.
Earlier this weekend, Hits Daily Double reported the numbers as 217K and 231K, respectively.
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Making good on early projections, Mumford & Sons’ “Delta” comfortably wins this week’s US album sales and consumption races.
According to Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, the album sold 217K in pure US copies during the November 16-22 tracking period. With units from track sales and streams included, it generated upwards of 231K in total US consumption units.
Due Sunday, Billboard’s more authoritative data may differ slightly from that reported by Hits and BuzzAngle. The discrepancies will not, however, impact the overall outcome: “Delta” will take #1 on the Top Album Sales (pure sales) and Billboard 200 (consumption charts).
According to Hits, no other album even hit 100K this week.
In addition to the enthusiasm one would expect for a new Mumford & Sons album, “Delta” benefited from a ticket-album promotion. Albums redeemed as part of the promotion count as pure sales.