If you're a fan of music, there's something soothing about waking up to the album charts and seeing four brand new titles at the top: Shawn Mendes and Handwritten topped the sales charts this week, and he was followed in the nos. 2-4 spots by three other debut releases.
Mendes and his first full-length sold 108,500 full copies, making him the youngest performer since Justin Bieber during 2010 to top the album sales charts (which previously was simply titled the Billboard 200...until the metrics got more complicated). The previous high for the performer was last year, when Mendes debut EP peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Although youth was served in the top spot, the no. 2 position demonstrates that a few years of experience also serves well: Reba McEntire comes in with Love Somebody, which sold 56,500 copies during its first week. That was followed by Tyler, The Creator at no. 3 with Cherry Bomb, which sold 49,000 copies, and Halestorm takes the no. 4 position with Into The Wild Life, which moved 45,000 copies.
Some things we can take from those last three debuts: Reba's release confirms that country fans are more likely to buy the actual album, versus streaming it or just downloading streams: More than 91 percent of her Billboard 200 sales were actual albums, compared to 84 percent for Tyler and 80 percent for Halestorm. Tyler's relatively low placement this week is probably because Cherry Bomb was a somewhat-surprise release. Halestorm is happy either way...as this was by far the biggest sales week of its career.
The Furious 7 soundtrack is the first returning title on the list, gathering 26,000 in sales and taking no. 5. Taylor Swift's 1989 places higher on the albums chart versus the Billboard 200 for the first time in quite a while, as her 24,000 in sales gives her the no. 6 spot (compared to no. 7 on the other chart). Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour sold just a hundred more copies than Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, as both hovered around the 19,000 album range. All Time Low gets one more week in the Albums Top 10 as Future Hearts falls from no. 1 to no. 9, selling 18,500 copies.
One more debut rounds out the Top 10, as Dwight Yoakam's Second Hand Heart sold 18,000 copies.
