Kodak Black [Atlantic Records Press Photo]
This week’s US album race yields a split-chart scenario. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” reportedly leads in pure US sales, while Kodak Black’s “Dying To Live” takes first place for total consumption.
According to Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, “A Star Is Born” shifted approximately 42K pure US sales during the December 14-20 tracking period. That narrowly ranks as the week’s top pure sales total, besting Bruce Springsteen’s “Springsteen On Broadway” (~38K) and Michael Buble’s “Love” (~35K).
“Dying To Live” only sold about 4K pure albums, but it received a far bigger lift from track sales and streams. With those units included, the album generated roughly 94K in first-week consumption.
“A Star Is Born” generated about 59K in consumption, trailing “Dying To Live,” Meek Mill’s “Championships” (~78K units) and Michael Buble’s “Christmas” (~65K).
Due in the next few days, Billboard’s more authoritative data may differ from that reported by Hits. The discrepancies should not, however, be enough to prevent “Dying To Live” from claiming #1 on the Billboard 200.
With fairly similar sales figures for the Springsteen and Buble albums, slight discrepancies could, however, impact placement atop the Billboard Top Album Sales chart.