Jung Kook’s ‘Golden’ Debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart
Written by djfrosty on November 16, 2023
Jung Kook’s first solo album, Golden, debuts atop Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Nov. 18), selling 164,800 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 9, according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, the late Jimmy Buffett’s new studio album Equal Strain On all Parts bows at No. 3, Jason Aldean’s latest effort Highway Desperado starts at No. 6, anniversary reissues of Dave Matthews Band’s Before These Crowded Streets and Coheeed and Cambria’s The Second Stage Turbine Blade prompt their re-entries, while the physical release of Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You pushes the album to a No. 9 debut.
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 the 164,800 copies sold of Golden, physical sales comprise 128,500 (all CD sales) and digital downloads comprise 36,500. As with many major K-pop releases, Golden was issued in 16 collectible CD editions, all with the same tracklist, but alternative packaging and covers, with different merchandise (some randomized) contained inside. Among the variants were retail-exclusive sold through Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart. Golden was also available to purchase across nine different digital download editions: a standard version, one with three music videos, a version with a “digitally signed” cover, two alternative cover versions, and four “voice memo” versions (each of the four came with a different short voice memo recorded by the artist as a bonus track).
Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) slips to No. 2 with 122,000 copies sold (down 91%) after debuting at No. 1 the week previous.
The late Jimmy Buffett, who died on Sept. 1, debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with the final studio album he completed during his lifetime: Equal Strain On all Parts. It launches with 51,000 copies sold. The set was issued as a standard digital album, a standard CD and in two vinyl editions – a widely available Key West Blue-colored version, and an indie store exclusive Paradise Blue-colored version that contains a poster inside. Of the album’s 51,000 sold, CD sales comprise 26,000, digital album sales comprise 15,000 and vinyl sales comprise 10,000.
SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEENTH Heaven: 11th Mini Album falls 2-4 on Top Album Sales with 22,000 (down 77%) while The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds dips 3-5 with 17,000 (down 48%).
Jason Aldean’s new studio album Highway Desperado drives in at No. 6 in its first week, selling 16,500 copies. It’s the 11th top 10, all consecutive, for the country star. He first visited the region with Relentless, hitting No. 4 in 2007.
Dave Matthews Band’s former No. 1, Before These Crowded Streets, re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 7 with nearly 15,000 sold, following a new 25th anniversary pressing on vinyl. (Essentially all of its sales for the week were on vinyl.) It was available in four vinyl variants: a standard black-colored edition, with clear, yellow and red/blue marbled version.
Another anniversary vinyl pressing brings an album back to the chart, as Coheed and Cambria’s The Second Stage Turbine Blade reaches the top 10 for the first time, as it re-enters at No. 8 with 13,000 sold (its best sales week ever). Nearly all of that sum is driven by vinyl sales, as the album garnered a new vinyl pressing for its 20th anniversary. It was available in five color variants: black transparent, yellow opaque, white with black splatter, yellow with white and black splatter and green with white and yellow splatter. Second Stage now marks the ninth top 10-charting effort for the act on Top Album Sales.
Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, debuts at No. 9 on Top Album Sales with a little over 11,000 copies sold (up from a negligible sum the week previous), following the album’s release on physical formats on Nov. 3. It was available in four vinyl variants, a CD and cassette tape. The album was initially released as a digital download and via streaming services in February.
Rounding out the new top 10 is TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s former leader The Name Chapter: Freefall, which drops 5-10 with 10,000 sold (down 31%).
In the week ending Nov. 9, there were 2.074 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 33.1% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.651 million (down 38.6%) and digital albums comprised 423,000 (up 2.5%).
There were 796,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Nov. 9 (down 35.5% week-over-week) and 845,000 vinyl albums sold (down 41%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 30.041 million (up 1.3% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 39.430 million (up 18.4%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 85.832 million (up 6% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 69.947 million (up 10.3%) and digital album sales total 15.885 million (down 9.7%).