Taylor Swift keeps on trucking following the Thanksgiving sales binge, keeping her no. 1 spot for 1989 for a fourth week with 244,000 equivalent sales. All told, Swift has been atop the Billboard 200 for 29 total weeks through her career. The only women ahead of her are Mariah Carey wit h30 weeks and Whitney Houston with 46, and it seems Swift could catch the former act next week if 1989 keeps its sales up.
She faces a challenge from Pentatonix however, who continue to make strides with That's Christmas to Me as the holiday approaches. The group stays at no. 2 this week with 221,000 equivalent album sales. Stay tuned.
The week's biggest debut comes from AC/DC, who persevered with Rock or Bust despite recent drama within the group. The 174,000 equivalent sales for the album was way down from 2008's Black Ice however, which sold 784,000 copies.
Sam Smith has found renewed popularity during the post-Thanksgiving lull as In The Lonely Hour, which generated 81,000 equivalent album sales and moving up to no. 4...benefitting much from Billboard's new streaming and single download metrics. One Direction lost one spot to no. 5 with Four but it also got a hand from streams and downloads.
Idina Menzel actually sold more albums than the previous two acts but she only takes no. 6 with Holiday Wishes due to low streaming counts (66,000 total equivalent albums). Michael Bublé (who appears on Menzel's collection) is back in the Top 10 thanks to previous Christmas successes, as his aptly titled Christmas rises to no. 7 with 66,000 equivalent albums.
Garth Brooks returns to the Top 10 with Man Against Machine and we know his numbers are strictly for album sales, as his catalogue isn't available for streaming or individual song downloads. That album moved 57,000 copies. Mary J. Blige came close with 57,000 equivalent album sales for her new collection The London Sessions.
Frozen hangs around for at least one more week. The year's bestselling album moved another 43,000 equivalent units last week and took the last spot.
