• Madonna and 'Rebel Heart' Trump 'Empire' Soundtrack on Albums Chart, Luke Bryan Debuts New 'Spring Break' Chapter

    Yesterday we reported that the Empire Season One Soundtrack had topped Madonna's Rebel Heart on the Billboard 200, thanks to the number of additional downloads and streams that it got, allowing it to take advantage of Billboard's new metrics and top the iconic chart. However pure album sales tell a different story. While Empire edged Rebel Heart by around 9,000 copies on the 200, the opposite was true on the Albums Chart, where Rebel Heart placed no. 1 with 116,500 copies sold and Empire took no. 2 with 107,000 copies moved.

  • Kelly Clarkson Gets Cushion for 'Piece By Piece' on Albums Chart, Brandi Carlile Cracks Top 5 with 'Firewatcher's Daughter'

    Kelly Clarkson found a bit more breathing room on the Official Albums Chart this week, as her new album 'Piece By Piece' gets a nicer cushion over the 'Fifty Shades of Grey Soundtrack' on the Billboard 200. Thanks to the removal of individual streams and downloads for Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding's singles from the latter, Clarkson won the pure albums race with 80,500 copies sold, compared to 57,000 copies of 'Fifty Shades.'

  • Imagine Dragon Outsells Drake on Albums Chart; Grammy Winners Slide Down and Aaron Watson Debuts

    Imagine Dragons narrowly edged out Drake on this week's Billboard 200 charts, as streaming and single downloads allowed the emcee and 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late' to almost catch the rock band's 'Smoke + Mirrors.' On the pure albums chart however, the Las Vegas band had a more significant cushion: Its second album sold 169,500 copies, marking the highest sales week of its career. Drake's surprise album sold 129,000 copies in its second week.

  • Drake Shocks 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Soundtrack, Tops Billboard 200 with Surprise 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late'

    Everyone expected the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack to run away with this week's Billboard 200 chart...but then Drake happened. The emcee and his LP/mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late topped the list by moving 575,000 equivalent albums. The new metric for the chart, which takes streams into consideration, played to his favor as the album received more first-week streams than any other album in Spotify history. Among the other accomplishments that Drake managed to nab with his surprise album was becoming just the second hip-hop act to land his first four albums atop the Billboard 200 (the other is DMX). He quickly became the second bestselling performer for 2015 (behind Taylor Swift).

  • Taylor Swift Tops Billboard 200 Again, Fifth Harmony Shows Up, Bob Dylan and Diana Krall Cover, Nicki Minaj Sets Interesting Mark

    Taylor Swift and 1989 is at no. 1 in the Billboard 200 for the 11th time, tying Fearless for the performer's most weeks at the top of the charts with one album. The record shifted 108,000 equivalent units, a slight uptick from last week. 1989 is one of four albums that have spent at least ten weeks at no. 1 since 2010, the others being Fearless, the Frozen soundtrack as well as Adele's 21. Swift's album is followed this week by Now 53, the newest edition of the hits collection, at no. 2 with 99,000 units moved.
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