Billboard 200 - 2/26/22 - Encanto

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Eddie Vedder’s ‘Earthling’ Lands at No. 1 Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart

2/23/2022

By Keith Caulfield

Six albums debut in the top 10, from Vedder, Spoon, Mary J. Blige, Big Thief, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators & The Weeknd.

Eddie Vedder’s new studio album, Earthling, lands at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Feb. 26), marking the Pearl Jam frontman’s first solo leader on the tally. The effort leads a busy top 10, where five more albums debut in the region, from Spoon, Mary J. Blige, Big Thief, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators and The Weeknd.

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 MRC Data. 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.

Of Earthling’s 16,000 copies sold in the week end Feb. 17, physical sales comprise 11,000 (3,000 on vinyl and 8,000 on CD) and digital sales comprise 5,000. The album’s vinyl LP sales came from a limited-edition $40 pressing (dubbed “fresh-pressed”) sold only to members of Pearl Jam’s fan club (Ten Club). The album’s standard wide release on vinyl is not scheduled until July 29.

Earthling also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Current Album Sales charts – Vedder’s first solo No. 1 on both charts. Top Rock Albums ranks the week’s most popular rock releases by equivalent album units. Top Current Album Sales ranks the week’s biggest-selling current albums (not including catalog – older – releases).

Spoon’s Lucifer on the Sofa starts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales – the act’s highest-charting album yet. The set bows with just over 14,000 copies sold, with nearly 8,000 of that in vinyl LP sales. Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous debuts at No. 3 with 14,000 sold – her 15th top 10. Big Thief visits the top 10 for the first time, as Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You bows at No. 4 with nearly 14,000 sold (10,000 of that sum on vinyl – enabling its No. 1 debut on the Vinyl Albums chart).

Two former No. 1s are next up on Top Album Sales, as the soundtrack to Encanto falls 3-5 with just over 12,000 (down 25%) and Adele’s 30 dips 5-6 with 12,000 (up 4%).

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators’ new album 4 debuts at No. 7 with 10,000 sold.

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours falls 6-8 with 8,000 sold (down 31%) and Mitski’s Laurel Hell drops 1-9 in its second week with 7,000 sold (down 72%).

Rounding out the new top 10 on Top Album Sales is the debut of The Weeknd’s House of Balloons at No. 10 with nearly 7,000 sold – almost all from vinyl LP sales. The mixtape was originally released in 2011 and arrives on Top Album Sales thanks to vinyl LP sales.

In the week ending Feb. 17, there were 1.785 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 1.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.373 million (up 3.3%) and digital albums comprised 412,000 (down 3.6%).

There were 635,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 17 (up 4.2% week-over-week) and 729,000 vinyl albums sold (up 2.6%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 4.284 million (down 8.6% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 4.949 million (down 5%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 12.16 million (down 8.8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 9.29 million (down 6.6%) and digital album sales total 2.869 million (down 15.5%).

[Gary]

Mary J. Blige Thrives on Charts With ‘Gorgeous’ New Album & Super Bowl Gains
The R&B veteran's latest album arrives and its title track rules Adult R&B Airplay. Plus, Super Bowl gains fuel Blige's catalog sales.



Mary J. Blige performs during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13, 2022 in Inglewood, Calif. Kevin C. Cox/GI
AA whirlwind two weeks for Mary J. Blige come to fruition on the Billboard charts. Following the R&B veteran’s appearance as one of the marquee acts for the halftime show of Super Bowl 2022, her latest album, Good Morning Gorgeous, arrives at No. 9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while its title track becomes the new No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay.

Gorgeous starts on the charts dated Feb. 26 with 25,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 17, according to MRC Data. The set’s No. 9 entrance secures Blige’s 19th top 10 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, a run that stretches 29-and-a half-years since her debut project, What’s the 411?, climbed 15-7 on the chart dated Sept. 5, 1992. 411 later became the first of her 10 No. 1s.

Eminem, Dr. Dre & Mary J. Blige Surge Back to Billboard Artist 100's Top 10 After 2022 Super Bowl…
With a 19th top 10, Blige breaks from a tie with Mariah Carey for the second-most such titles on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart among solo women artists. Aretha Franklin leads the category, with 33.

Here’s a rundown of Mary J. Blige’s top 10 collection:

What’s the 411?, No. 1 (seven weeks), beginning Oct. 3, 1992
My Life, No. 1 (eight weeks), Dec. 17, 1994
Share My World, No. 1 (four weeks), May 10, 1997
The Tour, No. 7, Aug. 15, 1998
Mary, No. 1 (three weeks), Sept. 4, 1999
No More Drama, No. 1 (two weeks), Sept. 15, 2001
No More Drama (2002), No. 3, March 23, 2002
Love & Life, No. 1 (two weeks), Sept. 13, 2003
The Breakthrough, No. 1 (three weeks), Jan. 7, 2006
Reflections (A Retrospective), No. 2, Dec. 30, 2006
Mary J. Blige & Friends, No. 8, Dec. 8, 2007
Growing Pains, No. 1 (seven weeks), Jan. 5, 2008
Stronger With Each Tear, No. 1 (one week), Jan. 9, 2010
My Life II…The Journey Continues (Act 1), No. 2, Dec. 17, 2011
A Mary Christmas, No. 2, Dec. 21, 2013
Think Like a Man Too (Soundtrack), No. 6, July 5, 2014
The London Sessions, No. 1 (one week), Dec. 20, 2014
Strength of a Woman, No. 2, May 20, 2017
Good Morning Gorgeous, No. 9 (to date), Feb. 26, 2022
Elsewhere, Gorgeous debuts at No. 4 on the Top R&B Albums chart and at No. 14 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

Plus, Gorgeous’ title track advances to No. 1 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart. The single climbs from the runner-up rank through a 4% gain in plays in the week ending Feb. 20 to become the most-played track on U.S. monitored adult R&B radio stations, according to MRC Data.

“Gorgeous” gives Blige her seventh Adult R&B Airplay champ, which brings her level to H.E.R. for a tie for the third-most among women since the chart began in 1992. Alicia Keys, with 12, leads all acts, while Toni Braxton is just behind, with 11.

Ironically, H.E.R. plays a key role in assisting Blige matching her mark. The young R&B star has co-writing and co-production credits on “Gorgeous.” Hitmaker D’Mile also shares both production and writing credits, while Blige, Lucky Daye and Tiara Thomas all boast a writing share, as well. The pairing unites Blige with some of the most celebrated writers today – H.E.R., D’Mile, and Tiara Thomas won both the Grammy Award for song of the year (“I Can’t Breathe”) and the Academy Award for best original song (“Fight for You”) in 2021.

While Blige’s new material makes a statement, her catalog also reaps the benefits of her Super Bowl Halftime Show slot on Feb. 13. One of the songs she performed, “Family Affair,” leads the R&B Digital Song Sales chart for a second week, with 17,000 in sales, up 143% from the prior week, while the other, “No More Drama,” debuts at No. 3 with 4,000 purchases. The lift, though, applies to other material – “Gorgeous” re-enters at No. 4 with 3,300 sales, and her 1992 hit “Real Love” rallies 11-5 with 2,900, despite not appearing in the halftime set.