TWICE scores its second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Sept. 10) as Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album debuts atop the tally. The set enters with a career-high 94,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 1, according to Luminate. That sum also marks the fifth-largest sales week for any album in 2022.
The South Korean group previously hit No. 1 with Taste of Love: The 10th Mini Album in 2021.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of Between 1&2 was issued in collectible deluxe packages (17 total, including versions exclusively sold through Target, Barnes & Noble and the group’s official webstore), each with a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as photocards, posters and stickers); 96.5% of the album’s first-week sales were on CD. The other 3.5% were digital album sales (a little over 3,000). The set was not released in any other physical format, such as vinyl or cassette.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and Silk Sonic’s An Evening With Silk Sonic both re-enter the chart (at Nos. 2 and 3) after their vinyl releases (with the latter setting a new modern-era vinyl sales record for an R&B album); Muse’s new album Will of the People bows at No. 4, Casting Crowns’ Healer hits the top five for the first time (re-entering the chart at No. 5) after its deluxe reissue with additional tracks; and DJ Khaled’s star-studded God Did bows at No. 6.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new Sept. 10, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Wednesday, Sept. 7 (one day later than usual, owed to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. on Sept. 5). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Between 1&2’s launch of 94,000 sold is the fifth-largest sales week for any album in 2022, trailing the debut frames of Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (330,000), BTS’ Proof (266,000), Beyoncé’s Renaissance (190,000) and Stray Kids’ Stray Kids Mini Album: Oddinary (103,000).
Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 2 with 38,000 copies sold (up 2,408%), following its vinyl release on Aug. 26. Of that sales sum, vinyl sales comprise nearly 36,000 – Lamar’s best sales week ever on vinyl. (It debuts at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart, which ranks the week’s top-selling vinyl titles.)
The No. 2 rank is a new high for the album, which previously debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the May 28-dated chart from only digital download and CD sales. Plus, the 38,000 copies sold marks the album’s best sales week yet, surpassing its 35,000 launch.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers also nets the third-largest sales week for a rap album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The only bigger weeks were logged by the opening frames of Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost (50,000; chart dated April 30) and Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (42,000; chart dated Jan. 1). (Rap albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart.)
Like Mr. Morale, both Call Me and Man on the Moon III saw their vinyl releases arrive after the album was initially bowed via streamers and through other retail-available formats. Mr. Morale was released to streamers and on CD and digital download on May 13 – three months before its vinyl release. Both Call Me and Man on the Moon III hit vinyl nearly a year after their initial releases.
Silk Sonic also surges back onto Top Album Sales after a delayed vinyl release, as the duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak sees its An Evening With Silk Sonic re-enter at No. 3 with 38,000 sold (up 4,595%). Its vinyl dropped on Aug. 26 – nine months after the album’s initial streaming and retail release (on download and CD).
The album’s 38,000 sold in the week ending Sept. 1 marks the album’s second-largest sales week yet, only trumped by its opening week of 42,000 (on digital download and CD, chart dated Nov. 27, 2021).
In the week ending Sept. 1, An Evening With Silk Sonic sold 37,000 copies on vinyl – prompting its debut at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart. Further, An Evening With Silk Sonic scores the largest sales week for an R&B album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The previous biggest week for an R&B set on wax was earned by the vinyl debut of The Weeknd’s Dawn FM earlier this year. (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)
Muse’s new album Will of the People debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales with 20,000 copies sold. It’s the sixth top 10-charting effort for the band. Over on the Vinyl Albums chart, the set launches at No. 3 with 8,000 sold – the act’s best sales week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.
Casting Crowns’ Healer charges back onto Top Album Sales, re-entering the chart at No. 5 with 10,000 sold (up 3,335%) after the album was reissued with seven additional tracks. It’s a new chart peak and sales high for the album, which had previously debuted and peaked at No. 9 with 7,000 sold on the Jan. 29-dated chart. The deluxe album’s CD sales were bolstered by its availability in a signed edition on the act’s official webstore that was sold as low as $5.
DJ Khaled’s new guest-filled God Did enters Top Album Sales at No. 6 with 10,000 sold – largely from digital downloads. (88% of its first week sales was digital album sales; the remaining 12% comprise CD sales.) God Did is Khaled’s 11th top 10 on Top Album Sales. His first came a little more than 15 years ago, with We the Best (debuting and peaking at No. 8 on the June 30, 2007-dated chart).
ENHYPEN’s former leader Manifesto: Day 1 falls 6-7 on Top Album Sales with 8,000 sold (down 22%) and Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House dips 7-8 with nearly 8,000 (down 20%).
Five Finger Death Punch’s AfterLife tumbles 2-9 in its second week with 6,000 sold (down 75%) while Madonna’s Finally Enough Love drops 1-10 in its second frame with nearly 6,000 (down 81%). In the week ending Sept. 1, there were 1.758 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 1.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.382 million (up 2.5%) and digital albums comprised 377,000 (down 3%).
There were 669,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Sept. 1 (up 5% week-over-week) and 702,000 vinyl albums sold (up 0.3%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 22.870 million (down 8.5% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 25.868 million (up 0.1%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 62.884 million (down 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 49.085 million (down 4%) and digital album sales total 13.799 million (down 20.1%).
