Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Broken’ Bows In Top 10 Billboard’s Album Sales Chart
Written by djfrosty on June 1, 2023
Lewis Capaldi claims his first top 10-charting effort on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated June 3) as his second studio album, Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent, debuts at No. 4 with his best sales week ever — 20,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending May 25, according to Luminate.
Capaldi’s first studio album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, saw its largest sales week in its opening frame, when it sold about 3,500 copies (bowing and peaking at No. 26 on the June 1, 2019-dated chart).
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Dave Matthews Band notches its eighth No. 1 with the chart-topping bow of Walk Around the Moon, Ghost’s five-song covers set Phantomime enters at No. 2, SZA’s SOS re-enters at No. 3 after its physical release on CD and vinyl, Sleep Token’s Take Me Back to Eden bows at No. 6, (G)I-DLE’s I Feel starts at No. 7 and Def Leppard’s Drastic Symphonies, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, rocks in at No. 8.
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.
Of Broken By Desire…’s 20,000 sold, physical sales comprise 15,000 (8,000 on CD, 7,000 on vinyl) and digital download sales comprise 5,000. The set’s first-week sales were supported by its availability across multiple vinyl LPs (including exclusive color variants for Target, independent record stores, Spotify and the artist’s official webstore; as well as a signed vinyl sold through the artist’s webstore), four CD editions (including a Target-exclusive with two bonus tracks, a signed edition sold in his webstore and an Amazon-exclusive variant with an alternative cover), and an iTunes Store-exclusive digital album with two bonus tracks.
Dave Matthews Band’s Walk Around the Moon lands at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, marking the eighth chart-topper for the group. It launches with 40,000 copies sold. The album’s sales were bolstered by its availability across multiple vinyl variants, including exclusive color variants for the band’s fan club, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores and Target.
Ghost’s five-song covers project Phantomime bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 34,000 copies sold, supported by its availability across multiple vinyl variants (resulting in 16,500 copies sold on the format – the week’s second-largest selling album on vinyl).
SZA’s SOS, released in December, re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 3 – its first week in the top 10 – following the set’s debut on physical formats (CD and vinyl). It surges back onto the chart with 29,000 copies sold across all of its retail formats. The bulk of that figure comprises vinyl LPs – with 25,000 copies sold on vinyl, marking the largest sales week on vinyl in 2023 for an R&B/hip-hop album. It debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
SEVENTEEN’s former No. 1 SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML rises 6-5 with a little over 16,000 copies sold (up 2%). Sleep Token’s Take Me Back to Eden debuts at No. 6 with 16,000. (G)I-DLE’s I Feel bows at No. 7 with 16,000, while Def Leppard’s Drastic Symphonies, with the Philharmonic Orchestra, starts at No. 8 with 15,000 sold.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack falls 5-9 with 12,000 (down 37%) and Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights dips 8-10 with 12,000 (down 5%).
In the week ending May 25, there were 1.795 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 1% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.436 million (down 0.8%) and digital albums comprised 359,000 (up 8.6%).
There were 625,000 CD albums sold in the week ending May 25 (up 0.9% week-over-week) and 799,000 vinyl albums sold (down 2.2%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 13.918 million (up 4.3% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 19.588 million (up 25.8%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 41.127 million (up 9.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 33.726 million (up 15.8%) and digital album sales total 7.402 million (down 12.8%).