Things started off big on the Billboard 200, with Meek Mill's Dreams Worth More Than Money, but then quickly dropped off. Mill might argue that his ideals have more philosophical value, but he can't argue with the financial results: Dreams opened with 246,000 in equivalent sales, easily marking his best sales week ever, as well as the fourth-largest opening of 2015 (trailing only Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and Mumford & Sons' Wilder Mind).
As we mentioned, the album sales drop off from there. Miguel was the second best-selling album of the week with his debut Wildheart, but that "only" managed to move 48,000 copies. Compare that with last week, where three new albums moved more than 50k.
That left the door open for older albums to make moves. Taylor Swift and 1989 spent a 36th-consecutive week in the Top 10, selling nearly 48,000 equivalent copies along the way. Ed Sheeran actually saw a boost in sales for his x, which gathered 39,000 copies and no. 4 this week. James Taylor's Before This World hasn't been on the charts for nearly as long as those two, but he's got to feel good about being at no. 5 with 33,000 copies sold after three weeks.
Last week's no. 1, Breaking Benjamin's Dark Before Dawn, fell more steeply to no. 6, selling another 31,000 copies.
A number of smaller acts managed to crack the Top 10 with new albums, thanks to the otherwise lack of huge names. X Ambassadors has topped the alt rock charts with its single "renegades" for four weeks, and that translated to 30,000 in sales...good enough for the no. 7 spot. No. 9 went to fellow rockers August Burns Red, which sold 29,000 copies of its Found In Far Away Places. The final spot on the list goes to the soundtrack for Magic Mike XXL, which can only hope to see a huge boost, similar to its buddies Furious 7 and Fifty Shades of Grey.
You'll note we skipped no. 8 while discussing the new releases. That spot went, once again, to Sam Hunt and Montevallo, which spends a fourth-week in the Top 10 after its newfound popularity.
