Karol G and Trippie Redd see their latest projects debut in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Aug. 26), while Travis Scott’s Utopia continues atop the list with a big gain owed to bargain-basement sale pricing.
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. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Utopia sold 99,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 17 (up 169%), according to Luminate. Utopia’s album sales grew in the set’s third week on the chart thanks in part to a promotional offer in Scott’s official webstore, which discounted the Utopia vinyl LP from $50 to only $5 for a limited time. Of Utopia’s 99,000 sales for the week, vinyl accounted for 93,000. That sum marks Utopia’s best week on vinyl yet, the seventh-largest sales week on vinyl for any album since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, and the biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop or rap album on vinyl in that same period.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) rises 5-2 on Top Album Sales with 23,000 (up 14%) while NewJeans’ former leader 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ falls 2-4 with 20,000 (down 24%).
Karol G logs her highest-charting set ever on Top Album Sales (and second top 10) – with her largest sales week yet – as Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) starts at No. 4 with 17,000 sold. The new collection was available as a digital download album, CD and vinyl LP. The latter sold about 3,500 copies and arrives at No. 14 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights bumps 9-5 with 13,000 (up 26%), the Barbie soundtrack is a non-mover at No. 6 with nearly 13,000 (down 10%) and Swift’s former leader Folklore climbs 8-7 with 12,000 (up 12%).
Trippie Redd scores his fifth top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales as A Love Letter to You 5 debuts at No. 8 with 11,000 sold. He notched his first top 10 five years ago with the No. 5-peaking Life’s a Trip.
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart are a pair former No. 1s: Swift’s Lover (rising 12-9 with 11,000; up 28%) and Stray Kids’ 5-Star: The 3rd Album (11-10 with 9,000; down 5%).
In the week ending Aug. 17, there were 1.869 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 4.5% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.540 million (up 6.4%) and digital albums comprised 329,000 (down 3.6%).
There were 646,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Aug. 17 (down 1.4% week-over-week) and 885,000 vinyl albums sold (up 13.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 22.236 million (up 3.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 29.613 million (up 21%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 63.938 million (up 7.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 52.191 million (up 12.6%) and digital album sales total 11.747 million (down 9.9%).
