US album consumption data reported by Hits Daily Double typically differs slightly from the final, more authoritative Billboard data. Given that reality, it is too early to declare the #1 album on this week’s Billboard 200.<\/p>\n
It does, however, appear safe to assume that Blake Shelton’s new “If I’m Honest” will be #1 on the Top Album Sales chart.<\/p>\n
According to the HDD data, “If I’m Honest” sold approximately 151,592 US copies during the May 20-26 tracking week. The count gives “If I’m Honest” a comfortable lead over Ariana Grande’s debuting “Dangerous Woman,” which sold approximately 131,065 pure copies during the official tracking period.<\/p>\n
The “If I’m Honest” opening week sales total even more comfortably tops the 101,000 first-week sales generated by Shelton’s previous album “Bringing Back The Sunshine.” It similarly bests the intraweek projections, which began at 120-130,000 and went as high as 150,000 by Thursday.<\/p>\n
The “Dangerous Woman” total, on the other hand, represents a decline from the 169,000 mark set by Grande’s previous “My Everything.” It will also likely end up below the 138,000 opening week figure for Grande’s debut album “Yours Truly.”<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, some insiders were forecasting an opening week figure in the 200,000 range. That figure was reduced to 150,000 at the onset of the week.<\/p>\n
The week’s other notable pure sales performers include Beyonce’s “Lemonade” (~68,785), Drake’s “Views” (~49,966), Bob Dylan’s “Fallen Angels” (~44,152), and Eric Clapton’s “I Still Do” (~42,720).<\/p>\n
— The aforementioned Billboard 200 race, which focuses on total consumption (album sales + track sales\/10 + track streams\/1500) will apparently come down to “Views” and “Dangerous Woman.”<\/p>\n
Hits currently has “Views” ahead of “Dangerous Woman,” noting that the former generated about 178,034 in weekly consumption while the latter posted a total of roughly 176,174.<\/p>\n
That gap of fewer than 2000 units, however, is well within the discrepancy that often exists between the Hits and Billboard data. The race is presently too close to call — and likely will be until Billboard officially comments.<\/p>\n
Should “Views” prevail, it would be scoring its fourth straight week atop the Billboard 200. A “Dangerous Woman” win would give Grande her third straight #1 album (in as many tries).<\/p>\n
Other notable consumption performers include “If I’m Honest” (~165,604), “Lemonade” (~99,646), and “ANTI” (~46,572).<\/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":[5162,692,1397,390,3602,5986,54,2659,6308,6309,129,6365],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n