Update: Billboard has made the news official – Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” takes #1 on this week’s Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts.
According to Billboard, “thank u, next” tops the former thanks to the 116K pure US copies it sold during its first week. The inclusion of units from track sales and streams yields a total consumption figure of 360K.
That figure yields a #1 bow on the Billboard 200.
The numbers narrowly top those reported by Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, who had “thank u, next” selling 112K in pure copies and 355K in total units.
Both, however, had the album debuting as a dominant #1. They also credit the album with over 300 million opening week US audio streams (Hits had the streaming count at over 306 million; Billboard reports 307 million). The tally represents a single-week record for a pop album and for any album by a female artist.
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Six months ago, Ariana Grande’s “sweetener” debuted atop the US album sales and consumption charts.
This week, her follow-up “thank u, next” will do the same.
According to Hits Daily Double and BuzzAngle, the album sold approximately 112K pure US copies during the February 8-14 tracking period. The inclusion of units from track sales and streams yields a first-week consumption total of 355K units.
The streaming figure was particularly mammoth; Hits says “thank u, next” generated over 227K streaming equivalent albums (accounting for over 300 million single-week track streams, a new record for an album by a woman).
Due later this weekend, Billboard’s more authoritative data may differ slightly from that reported by Hits. The discrepancies will not, however, remotely impact its claim to #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales (pure sales) and Billboard 200 (consumption) charts.
Hits has “thank u, next” moving nearly 5x more pure copies and 8x more consumption units than the #2 album.
The “A Star Is Born” soundtrack, which Hits lists as the #2 performer for both columns, shifted just under 24K pure copies and just over 45K total units this week.
“thank u, next” will be Grande’s fourth #1 on the Billboard 200.
