'Twas another good week for new album releases, as half of the Top 10 spots on this week's Billboard 200 were occupied by new names, and four of those debuts managed to land in the top five.
Rick Ross came up on top with his new album Mastermind, as analysts had expected. It's not a new experience for the bawse, who now has five no. 1 albums to his name. His newest release was on par with his previous releases in terms of first-week sales, moving 179,000 copies. Hip-hop debuts have dominated the charts the last two weeks, as ScHoolboy Q topped the chart last week.
Pharrell Williams' G I R L was the second new release to reach the charts this week, as it sold 112,000 copies. It's the biggest solo debut by far for the performer, but it's not surprising considering his singles success. His track "Happy" has spent three weeks atop both the Hot 100 and Digital Downloads chart with "Happy."
The big debuts meant that the Frozen Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was outside of the top two for the first time in ten weeks. The album still saw a boost in sales after its Oscar win for "Let It Go," which brought 100,000 units sold despite dropping to no. 3.
Two more new albums come in at no. 4 and 5. Lea Michele makes her solo debut as the former, with her record Louder moving 60,000 copies. The performer had made numerous Top 10 debuts from her work with Glee however. Country group the Eli Young Band comes in at no. 5 with 36,000 in sales for its 10,000 Towns.
Beck might not have been the top album last week, but he did manage to fall slower than ScHoolboy Q did. The former's Morning Phase sold 33,000 copies and placed at no. 6 this week, while the latter's Oxymoron sold 30,000 and placed no. 8. Lorde and Pure Heroine came back to the Top 10 and fell between those two albums, selling 31,000 copies.
Eric Church managed to slow his record's fall, with The Outsiders falling only two spots to no. 9 with 30,000 copies sold during its third week on the charts. A new release closes out the Top 10, as Ashanti's Braveheart, her first album since 2008, comes in with 28,000 first-week sales.
