Ed Sheeran’s new album “x” debuted at the high end of sales expectations to achieve a dominant first place on the Billboard 200 albums chart.<\/p>\n
The album’s opening week sales tally of 210,000 exceeds that of predecessor “+” (42,000) by a multiple of 5.<\/p>\n
Trailing only Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories” (383,000), Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” (288,000) and Brantley Gilbert’s “Just as I Am” (211,000), it ranks as the 2014’s fourth-best debut sales total. It is the best for a pop release.<\/p>\n
Among albums released by solo British male acts, “x” scores the best debut week since Rod Stewart’s “Stardust \u2026 The Great American Songbook Vol. III” moved 240,000 in 2004.<\/p>\n
Down only 60% from its debut count, Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” holds at #2 on the weekly Billboard 200. It moved 67,000 copies this past week.<\/p>\n
G-Eazy claims third on the Billboard 200 with “These Things Happen.” The album garnered 46,000 purchases in its first week.<\/p>\n
Lana Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence” follows at #4 with 44,000 in its second week, while the “Frozen” soundtrack scores another week in the top 5 (#5 with 38,000 sales).<\/p>\n
The full top ten follows:<\/p>\n
1) Ed Sheeran – x – 210K
\n2) Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour – 67K
\n3) G-Eazy – These Things Happen – 46K
\n4) Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence – 44K
\n5) Frozen Soundtrack – 38K
\n6) Mastodon – Once More ‘Round the Sun – 34K
\n7) Phish – Fuego – 32K
\n8) Miranda Lambert – Platinum – 29K
\n9) Linkin Park – The Hunting Party – 29K
\n10) NOW 50 – 22K<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[183,1047,206],"tags":[314,176,2460,2510,1819,2082],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n