This week served as another chance for 2013's biggest hits to spend another week in the Billboard Top 10 as only one new release managed to crack into the upper ranks of album sales. The albums that stuck around managed to make some marks however.
Frozen: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack managed to spend a second week atop the list, keeping Beyoncé at bay. The consecutive weeks at no. 1 make Frozen the first soundtrack (of any variety, not just animated) to spend multiple week on top since Dream Girls during 2007. That said, the album saw a drop off in sales for the first time since its release seven weeks ago. Its 86,000 copies sold was the least for a no. 1 album since J. Cole's Born Sinner during July.
Going back to Beyoncé, the songstress managed to move 79,000 copies of her self-titled album during its fifth week. She was followed by the only new album of the week, Kid Ink's My Own Lane, which placed at no. 3 by selling 50,000 copies of his first major label album.
Eminem and The Marshall Mathers LP 2 stayed in a prime position during its tenth week of release, tying the most recent record set by Kelly Clarkson and The Duck Dynasty crew for their respective Christmas albums. The rapper will probably surpass them next week. For now, MMLP2 moved 36,000 units.
Lorde took advantage of her reemergence on the list during the Christmas season, sticking around at no. 5 with Pure Heroine selling 33,000 copies. Katy Perry has followed a similar path, now at no. 7 with PRISM, which sold 23,000 copies last week. Perry is also seeing a boost thanks to the success of her most recent single, "Dark Horse."
One Direction separates the two pop stars with Midnight Memories, which sold 24,000 in its seventh week of release.
The rest of the list is comprised of Miley Cyrus and Bangerz at no. 8 (20,000 sold), and Imagine Dragons and R. Kelly rounding out the list with around 17,000 in sales each (Billboard has Night Visions edging Black Panties slightly).
The last two songs on the list represent the third-smallest total for a no. 10 album in the history of the chart, going back to 1991.
