It took another super-fan phenom to take Taylor Swift from the top spot on the Billboard 200: One Direction gained the no. 1 position with its new album Four, which sold 387,000 copies. Despite being the second highest sales week of the year (which it took from Swift's second week), the sales for the album were lower than analysts expected.
Not that Swift is hurting: 1989 sold another 214,000 copies during its fourth week on the chart, bringing it into the 2.2 million-album neighborhood. Billboard suggests that the album could make a move for the year's highest-selling album. That depends on whether sales for the current top-seller, the Frozen soundtrack, moves more copies as the holidays approach.
Speaking of the holidays approaching, Pentatonix is raking it in with its new album That's Christmas To Me. Despite having been out for more than a month, this was still the highest-selling week for the album and the a cappella group in general, moving more than 99,000 copies.
Nickelback tops rock albums for the week, moving 80,000 copies during the first week of its new album No Fixed Address.
Spots five through seven belong to big sellers who also placed right next to each other last week, and have stayed close during their respective second weeks. The order has changed however: Garth Brooks moves from no. 4 to no. 5 with Man Against Machine, which sold another 62,000 physical copies (as mentioned last week, Brooks' digital music platform has yet to report digital copies sold so his true tally is probably much higher). Pink Floyd falls to no. 6 with The Endless River, which moved 45,000 units. Foo Fighters, which bested this bunch last week with Sonic Highways, which sold another 36,000 copies.
Another rock group takes the no. 8 spot, as In This Moment and Black Widow sold 30,000 copies, the band's highest sales week to date.
Christmas has started to make a major impact on the Billboard 200, as two collections of holiday songs come in at no. 9 and no. 10. Michael Bublé is always popular this time of year, and his Christmas album returns to the Top 10 with 35,000 copies sold. Idina Menzel's Holiday Wishes is a new set but it cracks the Top 10 for the first time in its six weeks after moving 33,000 copies.
