Luke Bryan's new album may be called Kill the Lights, but he's living it up at the top of the charts. The "Kick the Dust Up" singer's latest LP has topped the Billboard 200 charts this week, besting recent releases from Dr. Dre, TobyMac and Taylor Swift.
After a dismal sales week last week, in which Disney's Descendants soundtrack topped the charts with the lowest first-week start ever, album sales made a huge recovery thanks to the much hyped releases from Bryan and Dre, Billboard reports.
Kill the Lights moved 345,000 album equivalent units (which incorporate album sales, streams and individual single sales) and 320,000 of those units were actual records sold, giving the music industry a big boost. Led by single "Kick the Dust Up," Kill the Lights is just the latest chart topper for Bryan, who previously led the charts with Crash My Party and Spring Break...Here to Party in 2013.
Just narrowly missing the top spot on the charts, Dr. Dre's semi-surprise album Compton moved 295,000 album equivalent units (276,000 pure sales). Exclusively available on iTunes and Apple Music, Compton is Dre's first new album since Dr. Dre - 2001 in 1999. Like Compton, Dr. Dre - 2001 also peaked at No. 2 for four weeks back in the day.
The top four albums in the country are all new releases, marking a big week for sales. The Now 55 compilation, which features hits such as "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding, "Want to Want Me" by Jason Derulo and "Cheerleader" by OMI landed at No. 3, with 76,000 albums sold.
Christian act TobyMac also had a top five debut this week, with its latest album This Is Not a Test, which starts its chart run at No, 4 with 38,000 units moved.
The rest of the Billboard 200's top 10 is made up of leftover albums from weeks past. Swift's 1989 spends yet another week in the top five this week at No. 5. She's followed closely by friend Ed Sheeran, whose latest record x slipped from No. 4 to No. 6 this week. Future's DS2 stumbled down the charts five spots in its third week with 31,000 units moved and a No. 7 spot. Last week's topper Descendants stumbled down seven spots to No. 8.
Sam Hunt's latest record Montevallo and Drake's January smash If You're Reading This It's Too Late round things out at Nos. 9 and 10, respectively.
