THE GHOST AT #1
Parlophone’s Coldplay and Valory’s Brantley Gilbert—who scored the biggest and third-biggest bows of the year, respectively, last week—retain the Top Two spots on this week’s HITS Album Sales Chart.
Coldplay’s Ghost Stories dipped 78% with 85k, while Gilbert’s 67k was a 69% decline for Just as I Am.
If you consider Def Jam’s Mariah Carey an Elusive Chanteuse, as her new album’s title has it, we know where to find her: in the Top 5. Her 57k bow nets her #3. Mariah’s 2009 set debuted with 168k and has moved 549k RTD.
Disney’s Frozen keeps chugging along, scoring #4 with 56k (-13%), followed by another bow, from Chase/Republic’s Austin Mahone. The pop heartthrob’s The Secret sold 48k in its first week.
Apart from sixstepsrecords’ Xian title Crowder (#9, 24k), the remainder of the Top 10 is full of familiar faces. The hits comp Now 50—on the NOW label, a UMG-Sony JV that’s also part of the UMe universe, as we’ve been trying to tell you, if you’d only listen—holds onto #6 with 40k (-20%); Nonesuch/Warner Bros.’ The Black Keys (#7, 31k, -43%), Epic’s Michael Jackson (#8, 31k, -54%) and Grand Hustle/Def Jam’s Iggy Azalea (#10, 18k, -16%) round out the Top 10.
Bowing in the Top 20 are Epic’s Cher Lloyd (#11, 17k), Reprise’s Neil Young (#14, 14k) and CherryTree/Interscope’s Röyksopp & Robin (14k).
The greatest gainer in a down week is KidinaKorner/Interscope’s Imagine Dragons, who spiked 10% and landed the #20 spot.
Take a gander at the rest of the chart here.
Streeting at presstime are RCA Nashville’s Miranda Lambert (who’s looking like a danged ol’ shoo-in for #1), G-Unit/Caroline’s 50 Cent, Disney Nashville’s Lucy Hale, NOW’s Now Country 7 (what’s the story on that label?), Rhino’s yummy Led Zeppelin reissues and UMe’s 20th reissue of Soundgarden’s gigantic Superunknown, among others.
The following week includes Third Man/Columbia’s Jack White, Nettwerk’s Passenger and RCA’s Imogen Heap. On 6/17 Capitol’s Sam Smith, Interscope’s Lana Del Rey, Warner Bros.’ Linkin Park lead the field.
In an unrelated story, a new app rolled out at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference can write a HITS chart story with 73% fresher jokes.
