Update:<\/b> An impressive weekly total of 326,000 pure copies allows The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness” to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart.<\/p>\n
The debut sales figure is the second-greatest for a 2015 release. Only Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” shifted more traditional copies (495,000).<\/p>\n
With Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album equivalent unit) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album equivalent unit) data included, The Weeknd’s “Beauty” posted a first week consumption total of 412,000 units. That earns it the #1 spot on the revamped, consumption-driven Billboard 200 chart.<\/p>\n
The Top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 follows (tentative until the chart goes to print Tuesday):<\/p>\n
1) The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness – 412K total units (326K from pure sales)
\n2) Halsey – Badlands – 115K total units (97K from pure sales)
\n3) Luke Bryan – Kill The Lights – 50K total units
\n4) Taylor Swift – 1989 – 44K total units (24K from pure sales)
\n5) Dr. Dre – Compton – 32K total units
\n6) Ed Sheeran – x – 28K total units
\n7) Maddie & Tae – Start Here – 28K total units
\n8) Beach House – Depression Cherry – 27K total units
\n9) Ben Rector – Brand New – 26K total units (25K from pure sales)
\n10) Disturbed – Immortalized – 26K total units
\n==============<\/p>\n
A weekly total in excess of 300,000 powers The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness” to #1 on the album sales chart.<\/p>\n
According to Hits Daily Double, the singer-songwriter’s blockbuster album moved approximately 325,267 copies during the August 28 – September 3 tracking week. Billboard’s more authoritative data will differ slightly, but the disparity will not affect the ultimate conclusion: “Beauty Behind the Madness” was the week’s top album.<\/p>\n
It will debut at #1 on the album sales chart.<\/p>\n
In addition to posting an impressive pure sales figure, “Beauty Behind the Madness” posted massive first week Track Equivalent Album (10 single sales = 1 album equivalent unit) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 single streams = 1 album equivalent unit) totals. With sales, TEA and SEA combined, Hits estimates that “Beauty” generated a first week consumption total of ~415,267 album equivalent units.<\/p>\n
That sum — second only to that of Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” among 2015 releases — will earn “Beauty” the top spot on the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n
While it did not challenge The Weeknd’s album for #1, Halsey’s “Badlands” got off to a strong start in its own right. Hits estimates that the album moved 97,782 pure copies and ~111,782 total consumption units during its first week; the totals will comfortably position “Badlands” at #2 on Top Album Sales and the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n
Other top performers from a pure sales standpoint: Luke Bryan’s “Kill the Lights” (~42,570 sales), Ben Rector’s “Brand New” (~26,644), Taylor Swift’s “1989” (~25,307), Beach House’s “Depression Cherry” (~24,091), Maddie & Tae’s “Start Here” (~23,229), NOW 55 (~23,184), Disturbed’s “Immortalized” (~22,630), and Dr. Dre’s “Compton” (~18,019).<\/p>\n
Other top performers from a total consumption standpoint: Luke Bryan’s “Kill the Lights” (~55,349 total units), Taylor Swift’s “1989” (~38,757), Ed Sheeran’s “x” (~28,026), Disturbed’s “Immortalized” (~27,612), Ben Rector’s “Brand New” (~27,244), Maddie & Tae’s “Start Here” (~27,229), Beach House’s “Depression Cherry” (~27,091), and Sam Hunt’s “Montevallo” (~25,449), and Future’s “DS2” (~25,264).<\/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":[4587,4937,4750,4891,4417,698,314,176,2102,4585,598,2641,145,791],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n