Good news for album lovers out there: Billboard may have jumped ship on reporting strictly album sales for its weekly Billboard 200 list, but we've got our hands on the Top 10 albums of the week (actual albums...not giving performers credit for singles and streams...there are other charts for that). Not that it matters too much at the top: J. Cole and his new set 2014 Forest Hills Drive topped both, and grabbed the highest sales week for hip-hop during 2014. That album sold more than 361,000 copies during its first week.
Taylor Swift doesn't fall too far-in fact she sold more copies of 1989 since last week despite slipping to no. 2 for the second time. Her album moved 279,000 copies last week. Pentatonix slipped just barely in terms of sales, moving to no. 3 while selling 203,000 copies of That's Christmas To Me.
AC/DC also lost only one spot despite seeing a predictable drop off during Rock Or Bust's second week on the charts. That album took no. 4 with 94,000 copies. Carrie Underwood didn't release any new material but her first hits compilation, Greatest Hits: Decade #1, managed to sell 91,000 possibly as a country music stocking stuffer.
The last new album to drop in this week's Top 10 was K. Michelle, who saw a slight rise in sales from the release of her debut. New album Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart? moved more than 83,000 copies...an improvement of 11,000 from her last album. One Direction got a boost in sales thanks to the approaching holiday as Four took no. 7 with more than 68,000 in sales.
Garth Brooks is another winner thanks to the Christmas season as his Man Against Machine sold nearly 61,000 copies and took no. 8. Again, keep in mind that those numbers are strictly physical copies as his site (the only place to buy the album digitally) hasn't reported to Nielsen Soundscan. Sam Smith continues on the Christmas sales train as In The Lonely Hour sits at no. 9, selling just a few copies less than Brooks. Idina Menzel and her Christmas collection Holiday Wishes also saw a slight fall, like Pentatonix, as folks have already stocked up on their holiday collections at this point. Wishes ended the week with more than 56,000 albums sold.
