Billboard 200 3/4/17: 50 Shades Darker #1, Grammy Effect

[HolidayGuy]

^In full agreement. I maintain that it's nice to have a multi-metric chart, but Top Album Sales is my go-to for peaks/performances compared to the past, and additions to historical data.

[Gary]

Though one thing that the Top Album Sales chart is NOT, at least not anymore is a popularity chart.

You can no longer say that the "best selling" album in the country is the most popular; especially with streaming.

So as a straight up comparison, how equal would you say the #5 best selling album of the week on the Top Album Sales Chart is to the #5 album on the BB200 in say 2010?

Is that apples to apples? In other words an even comparison? The #5 album on the BB200 in 2010, you could say is the 5th most popular album in the country for that week. Can you say the same for the #5 best selling album on the Top Album Sales chart for this week?

I get that is your preference and I respect that but, I disagree that it is a good comparison to historical data.

[brady47]

It's interesting. Obviously album sales is not the preferred method to consume albums. When you have the top-selling album only selling 40-50k physical copies, it's hard to gauge how streaming should come to play. Perhaps all these people who would've bought this person's album in the past is transferring to streaming, and there's a shift in the preferences of consuming albums.

What's awkward to me is how a single's streaming can play a dual role in it's charting as a single, and also inflate an album's charting. In the past, we could really distinguish singles artists from album artists, but I don't think we can really do that anymore. I think naturally, you may see longer chart runs on the Billboard 200, especially for artists who release multiple singles from an album because streaming is always going to keep them on the charts. Like Anti - if Rihanna keeps releasing singles for it, I don't see it leaving the Billboard 200 anytime soon, even if a huge portion stop buying the album.

Side note: I find it funny how Billboard's 2016 year end charts doesn't even have a year-end chart for "Top Album Sales" on their website.

[HolidayGuy]

In terms of position for the top selling album of the week, yes, Top Album Sales is a valid comparison to rankings/showings on the BB 200 prior to the inclusion of streaming/TEA. In 2010 and prior, albums whose singles sold a lot more than their parent album would have fared better with a multi-metric system, so comparisons to positions on the multi-metric chart certainly aren't apples to apples.

brady- agreed, that is a head-scratcher (likewise for TEA information). The multi-metric system is good for showing how the music *from* an album is being consumed, but not necessarily the album as a whole.

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7710057/nirvana-nevermind-landmark-350th-week-billboard-200

Nirvana's 'Nevermind' Scores Landmark 350th Week on Billboard 200 Albums Chart
3/3/2017 by Keith Caulfield

On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 11), Future nabbed his fourth No. 1 with the debut of his new self-titled release. The set, which was released on Feb. 17, earned 140,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 60,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the latest Billboard 200 chart:

— Shawn Mendes, Illuminate - No. 19 — Shawn Mendes’ former No. 1 album zips from No. 42 to No. 19 with 23,000 units (and a 55 percent gain) following sales of the album in conjunction with a concert ticket/album promotion. The title sold 13,000 in traditional album sales – a gain of 222 percent. The same kind of promotion lifts DNCE’s self-titled album back onto the list at No. 90 with 7,000 units (up 115 percent) and 4,000 in sales (up 773 percent).

— Bebe Rexha, All Your Fault, Pt. 1 (EP) – No. 51 — The first installment of the singer’s two-part album arrives at No. 51 with 11,000 units (4,000 in traditional album sales). The title includes her current hit single, “I Got You,” which climbs 18-17 on the Pop Songs airplay chart. All Your Fault, Pt. 1 is Rexha’s first album release to reach the Billboard 200, and follows three-and-a-half years of building success with singles. She made her Billboard chart debut as the featured guest on Cash Cash’s “Take Me Home” on the Aug. 3, 2013-dated Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. The song would later climb to No. 14 on the Pop Songs chart, where she’s tallied a total of eight hits.

— Lana Del Rey, Born to Die - No. 110 — The singer’s album rises 174-110 (6,000 units; up 25 percent) following the release of her latest single, “Love,” which concurrently enters the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44. While “Love” is from a forthcoming album, and not on Born to Die, the latter set rallies thanks likely to renewed interest in and promotion of the artist.

— Nirvana, Nevermind – No. 134 — The album returns to the list (5,000 units; up 50 percent) to collect a landmark 350th nonconsecutive week on the tally. Nevermind has the eighth-most total weeks on the chart in its nearly 61-year history. The longest run on the list continues to belong to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, with 927 weeks.

Nevermind debuted on the Billboard 200 chart dated Oct. 12, 1991 at No. 144. It would eventually climb to No. 1 on the Jan. 11, 1992 tally, logging two nonconsecutive weeks atop the list. The album has sold 9.46 million copies in the U.S.

— Britney Spears, The Essential Britney Spears - No. 185 — The pop princess collects her 15th charting album as this 2013 greatest hits package debuts at No. 185 (4,000 units; up 22 percent). The bow is mostly supported by TEA and SEA units (91 percent of its sum for the week, in fact). Eighteen years ago this month, Spears’ debut album …Baby One More Time was in the midst of a six-week nonconsecutive run at No. 1. In total, Spears has tallied 10 top 10-charting efforts, with six of those reaching No. 1.