Less than 2,000 units separated the "Les Misรฉrables" soundtrack and Mumford & Sons' "Babel" in early 2013. In July 2012, Linkin Park's "Living Things" topped Maroon 5's "Overexposed" by just a bit more than 1,000.
Not sure what the record is off-hand- will edit if I find it. :)
EDIT: A bunch of close calls here (percentages):
bit.ly/1sMH1J2 OH, AL....CHART DATE: 07/21/2014
LAST UPDATE: 07/22/2014 13:10:18
NOW IN:
FINAL LW TW artist / album label sales index % change
-- 1 "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC RCA 104,007 --
MANDATORY FUN
-- 2 JASON MRAZ ATLANTIC 83,941 --
YES!
-- 3 RISE AGAINST DGC/INTERSCOPE 50,284 --
BLACK MARKET
-- 4 KIDZ BOP KIDS RAZOR & TIE 45,278 --
KIDZ BOP 26
2 5 FROZEN WALT DISNEY 43,387 -9%
SOUNDTRACK
3 6 SAM SMITH CAPITOL 35,362 -17%
IN THE LONELY HOUR
5 7 ED SHEERAN ATLANTIC 24,760 -22%
X
10 8 NOW 50 NOW 23,187 +19%
VARIOUS ARTISTS
4 9 TREY SONGZ ATLANTIC 21,853 -35%
TRIGGA
-- 10 BLAKE SHELTON WARNER BROS. NASHVILLE 21,587 --
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
-- 11 BLEACHERS RCA 19,085 --
STRANGE DESIRE
9 12 MIRANDA LAMBERT RCA NASHVILLE 16,330 -20%
PLATINUM
-- 13 MARSHA AMBROSIUS RCA 16,173 --
FRIENDS & LOVERS
12 14 BRANTLEY GILBERT VALORY 15,006 -12%
JUST AS I AM
-- 15 SUICIDE SILENCE NUCLEAR BLAST AMERICA 14,460 --
YOU CAN'T STOP ME
-- 16 JASON DERULO WARNER BROS. 14,280 --
TALK DIRTY
11 17 LANA DEL REY INTERSCOPE 14,186 -18%
ULTRAVIOLENCE
-- 18 MORRISSEY HARVEST 13,538 --
WORLD PEACE IS NONE OF YOUR BUSI
1 19 SIA MONKEY PUZZLE/RCA 13,498 -74%
1000 FORMS OF FEAR
17 20 IGGY AZALEA GRAND HUSTLE/DEF JAM 13,030 -5%
NEW CLASSIC
32 21 BEGIN AGAIN INTERSCOPE 12,861 +49%
SOUNDTRACK
6 22 JUDAS PRIEST EPIC 12,654 -59%
REDEEMER OF SOULS
15 23 COLDPLAY PARLOPHONE 12,535 -12%
GHOST STORIES
27 24 LORDE REPUBLIC 12,024 +18%
PURE HEROINE
21 25 LUKE BRYAN CAPITOL NASHVILLE 11,321 -4%
CRASH MY PARTY
16 26 NEIL DIAMOND CAPITOL 11,000 -22%
ALL TIME GREATEST HITS
20 27 ONEREPUBLIC INTERSCOPE 10,917 -9%
NATIVE
24 28 LINKIN PARK WARNER BROS. 10,286 -5%
HUNTING PARTY
26 29 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 9,895 -8%
HERE'S TO THE GOOD TIMES
18 30 MICHAEL JACKSON EPIC 9,840 -25%
XSCAPE
13 31 MAGIC! LATIUM/RCA 9,779 -36%
DON'T KILL THE MAGIC!
25 32 JACK WHITE THIRD MAN/COLUMBIA 9,639 -11%
LAZARETTO
28 33 JERSEY BOYS RHINO 9,010 -8%
SOUNDTRACK
-- 34 SARA BAREILLES EPIC 8,905 --
BLESSED UNREST
35 35 THE BLACK KEYS NONESUCH/WARNER BROS. 8,884 +20%
TURN BLUE
33 36 NOW COUNTRY 7 NOW 8,127 -3%
VARIOUS ARTISTS
-- 37 KONGOS EPIC 7,945 --
LUNATIC
-- 38 WISH I WAS HEAR COLUMBIA 7,915 --
SOUNDTRACK
34 39 ARCTIC MONKEYS DOMINO 7,663 -4%
AM
31 40 IMAGINE DRAGONS KIDINAKORNER/INTERSCOPE 7,471 -15%
NIGHT VISIONS
29 41 JOHN LEGEND COLUMBIA 7,396 -21%
LOVE IN THE FUTURE
22 42 SEETHER BICYCLE MUSIC/CONCORD 7,251 -37%
ISOLATE & MEDICATE
30 43 PHARRELL WILLIAMS COLUMBIA 6,145 -31%
G I R L
-- 44 TRAMPLED BY TURTLES BANJODAD 6,144 --
WILD ANIMALS
41 45 ERIC CHURCH EMI NASHVILLE 6,072 -4%
THE OUTSIDERS
42 46 KATY PERRY CAPITOL 6,044 -3%
PRISM
-- 47 DISCLOSURE INTERSCOPE 5,659 --
SETTLE
36 48 FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS RHINO 5,627 -23%
THE VERY BEST OF
38 49 LANA DEL REY INTERSCOPE 5,483 -21%
BORN TO DIE
-- 50 BRUNO MARS ATLANTIC 5,423 --
UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX