The Zac Brown Band found itself on top of the Billboard 200 for the third time with its new album Jekyll + Hyde. Although it wasn't the group's biggest sales week (that goes to its last record, Uncaged) but it still managed to move 228,000 equivalent albums. The band has also been busy away from album sales, topping both the Country Airplay Chart and the Mainstream Rock Songs charts with different songs from the album. The only other act in Nielsen history to hit that mark was Bon Jovi.
The no. 2 album this week was another big seller, and another new album at that. Josh Groban made his eighth appearance in the Billboard 200 Top 10 (literally every studio record he's ever released). The album, a collection of Broadway covers, moved 180,000 equivalent units. One returning album-the Furious 7 soundtrack-came in before this week's last debut. Tyler Farr had his best sales week ever with Suffer in Peace, which sold 42,000 copies. Furious moved 53,000 equivalent copies, again riding the continued success of the single "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa.
Drake continues his return to the Top 5 with If You're Reading This It's Too Late, which sold another 37,000 copies in its 12th week. It would seem as if the high numbers are largely because the CD version of the album just became available two weeks ago. Yet Taylor Swift and 1989 outsold Drake on the albums chart while he stayed ahead on the Billboard 200. This suggests the rapper is actually making most of his equivalent sales on streams and single downloads still.
The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack comes in at no. 6, moving 36,000 copies. These are definitely influenced by downloads, as two of the album's singles ("Earned It" by The Weeknd and "Love Me Like You Do" by Elle Goulding) are in the Top 10 of the Hot 100.
Last week's no. 1 album, Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes hangs on for one more week, moving another 34,000 copies and taking no. 7. The last two new albums to Top the Billboard 200—by Shawn Mendes and Wale—failed to return to the Top 10 in their second week.
Sam Smith takes no. 8 with In The Lonely Hour, which sold another 33,000 copies. The aforementioned Swift album, 1989, fell from no. 6 to no. 9, indicating that it may fall from the Top 10 for the first time, just a few weeks after leaving the Top 5 for the first time. The album sold 32,000 copies.
Megan Trainor stayed in the no. 10 for a second week, seeing a small sales boost with 31,000 copies sold.