Norah Jones’ Visions bows at No. 9 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 23) and at No. 1 on both the overall Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums rankings. It’s the eighth top 10 on the Album Sales tally for Jones, and her fourth leader on both Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums.
Visions also enters at No. 40 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, her first debut on the list since Dec. 2013, when Foreverly, her collaborative album with Billie Joe Armstrong, opened at No. 7 on its way to a No. 4 peak in Jan. 2014.
Visions was preceded by the radio-promoted single “Running,” which has so-far peaked at No. 7 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart – marking her eighth top 10 and highest-charting song on the list in over a decade, since “Happy Pills” hit No. 4 in 2012.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: the latest releases from Ariana Grande, Judas Priest, xikers and Bleachers arrive.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
In the tracking week ending March 14 (which is reflected on the March 23-dated Top Album Sales chart), Visions sold 7,000 copies in the U.S., according to Luminate. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 5,500 (3,500 on CD and 2,000 on vinyl) and digital download sales comprise 1,500. The album was available in four vinyl variants (including exclusive iterations for Barnes & Noble, indie retailers and Spotify), a standard CD, a Target-exclusive CD (with a bonus track and a poster) and a signed CD (available in Jones’ webstore).
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine starts with 77,000 copies sold – earning Grande her sixth chart-topper. The set was available in a dozen physical configurations and two digital download offerings.
Veteran rock band Judas Priest starts at No. 2 with Invincible Shield (23,000 sold), scoring the group its third top 10-charting set on Top Album Sales. (The list began in 1991, well after Judas Priest began its overall Billboard chart career in 1978 on the Billboard 200 with Stained Class.) The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across six vinyl variants, a standard CD and a Target-exclusive CD with a lenticular cover.
South Korean pop group xikers nabs its highest-charting effort on Top Album Sales, and second top 10-charting set, as House of Tricky: Trial and Error debuts at No. 3 with 12,500 copies sold (the act’s best sales week). The set’s sales were almost entirely from CDs, with a minimal number of sales from digital downloads. The album was issued in 10 collectible CD editions, all including branded paper merchandise (some randomized).
TWICE’s With YOU-th falls 1-4 in its third week on the chart, selling 10,500 copies (down 37%).
Bleachers’ new self-titled album opens at No. 5 with 9,500 copies sold. It’s the second top 10-charting effort the for the act, led by Jack Antonoff. The album was available in a standard 14-track edition on digital download, CD and cassette. It was also available on 10 vinyl editions, all boasting bonus tracks and most pressed on colored vinyl.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart: Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falls 3-6 (9,000; up 2%), Swift’s former leader Lover is steady at No. 7 (8,000; up 8%), LE SSERAFIM’s Easy falls 2-8 (7,000; down 30%) and Swift’s chart-topping Folklore dips 8-10 (6,000; up 4%).
In the week ending March 14, there were 1.196 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 3.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 909,000 (up 7%) and digital albums comprised 287,000 (down 5.5%).
There were 474,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 14 (up 7.3% week-over-week) and 430,000 vinyl albums sold (up 6.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 4.792 million (down 30.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.031 million (down 48%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 13.132 million (down 36.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 9.872 million (down 40.9%) and digital album sales total 3.260 million (down 16.5%).
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