State Champ Radio album sales
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Fleetwood Mac’s from-the-vaults release Rumours: Live debuts at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Sept. 23). It’s the highest debut on the list for the band in more than 20 years, since the act’s last full-length studio album, Say You Will, opened at No. 2 in May 2003.
Comprised almost entirely of previously unreleased recordings, Rumours: Live captures the band’s Aug. 29, 1977, concert at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., during the act’s Rumours Tour. The trek was in support of its then-most-recent studio release Rumours, which had bowed earlier in 1977. That album would spend 31 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart – still the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a group. The set launched four top 10-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the group’s lone chart-topper, “Dreams.”
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, new releases from Olivia Rodrigo, V, Tyler Childers and BOYNEXTDOOR all arrive, while Lauren Daigle’s self-titled album re-enters the chart straight into the top 10 after a deluxe reissue.
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.
Rumours: Live sold a little over 10,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Luminate. Among the songs featured on the album are such Hot 100 hits as “Dreams,” “Oh Well,” “Landslide,” “Over My Head,” “Rhiannon,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “Go Your Own Way.” Rumours: Live was available to purchase as a digital download album or in three physical iterations (a 180-gram double vinyl set, a crystal-clear colored double vinyl set sold via Walmart, and a two-CD package). Vinyl accounted for 44.5% of the album’s first-week sales.
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts debuts with 150,000 copies sold. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 138,000 (94,000 on vinyl, 43,000 on CD and 1,000 on cassette) and digital download sales comprise 12,000. Guts’ vinyl sales mark the seventh-largest week for a vinyl album since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991.
Guts’ first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 13 different vinyl variants. Among the variants: a signed edition and exclusive color vinyl and picture-disc editions sold through Amazon, independent record stores, Spotify, Target, Urban Outfitters, Walmart and Rodrigo’s webstore. Guts’ sales also got a boost from four CD editions (including a signed version), a cassette tape and four deluxe boxed sets sold through Rodrigo’s webstore (each containing a CD or vinyl LP along with branded merchandise).
BTS’ V sees his debut solo studio effort Layover enter at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 88,000 copies sold. Of its first-week sales, physical sales comprise 79,000 (all on CD) and digital download sales comprise a little over 9,000. Layover’s debut was enhanced by its availability in collectible CD offerings – 13 in total.
The set was released in three standard iterations (dubbed Layover 1, Layover 2 and Layover 3, each containing branded paper goods and merchandise specific to the iteration like photobooks, lyric books, posters, postcards and photocards, as well as randomized stickers). Each iteration was also available in variants sold exclusively through Barnes & Noble, Walmart and the Weverse store (a total of nine; and each retailer had its own exclusive photocard enclosed in the three variants). Lastly, Target carried its own exclusive version of the album (with a Target-exclusive photocard), where one of the three iterations of the album (Layover 1, 2 or 3) were sold to the customer (with online buyers randomly shipped one of the three iterations).
Tyler Childers’ Rustin’ in the Rain bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 25,000 copies sold. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 17,500 (with 15,000 on vinyl and 2,500 on CD) and digital album sales comprise 7,500. The album was sold in four different vinyl variants, as well as three deluxe boxed sets exclusive to his webstore (each containing a vinyl LP and branded merch).
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover at No. 5 on Top Album Sales with a little over 9,000 sold (down 3%), NewJeans’ former leader 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ falls 4-8 with nearly 9,000 (down 19%), Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Sour shoots 50-7 with a little over 8,000 (up 288%), and Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights dips 7-8 with nearly 8,000 (up 1%).
Lauren Daigle’s self-titled album re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 9 (nearly 8,000 sold; up 1,255%), prompted by its deluxe reissue on Sept. 8 with additional tracks. The set initially debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the May 27-dated chart. The deluxe edition of the album was released in four vinyl variants (including exclusives for Barnes & Noble and the artist’s webstore), four CD variants (including a Target-exclusive cover variant, a zine/CD package, a signed CD and a lenticular cover version), and was available in two Fan Pack offerings (where a piece of branded merchandise was sold alongside a physical copy of the album).
Rounding out the top 10 of Top Album Sales is BOYNEXTDOOR’s debut album Why.., which starts at No. 10 with nearly 8,000 sold. The K-pop effort was available in eight collectible CD editions (including exclusive iterations sold through Barnes & Noble, Target and the Weverse store), each with a standard set of branded paper goods and merchandise items (photobooks, film photos, posters, stickers, and the like) and randomized items (including photocards and post cards).
The album was initially released to purchase as a digital download album on Sept. 4, followed by its CD release on Sept. 8. In the week ending Sept. 14, CD sales comprised 99.8% of the album’s sales, with digital downloads comprising the remaining 0.2%.
In the week ending Sept. 14, there were 1.766 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 8.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.437 million (up 11.6%) and digital albums comprised 328,000 (down 4.1%).
There were 649,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Sept. 14 (up 19.4% week-over-week) and 779,000 vinyl albums sold (up 6.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 24.475 million (up 1.5% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 32.66 million (up 20.1%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 70.597 million (up 6.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 57.512 million (up 11.3%) and digital album sales total 13.085 million (down 9.9%).
Slowdive scores its first top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Sept. 16) as the band’s new album Everything Is Alive debuts at No. 3. The set launches with 12,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 7, according to Luminate. It’s the best sales week yet for the British group, and its second chart entry, having previously topped out at No. 22 with its self-titled release 2017.
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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, the late Jimmy Buffett’s 1985 best-of album Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) re-enters the list at No. 1 – its first week atop the 32-year-old tally. Plus, YouTuber and Twitch streamer Dream sees his debut effort To Whoever Wants to Hear launch 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.
Songs You Know by Heart sold 15,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 7 (up from about 200 copies in the previous week), following Buffett’s death on Sept. 1. It’s the best sales week for the album in 24 years, since the chart date of July 3, 1999, when it sold 17,000 copies.
Travis Scott’s chart-topping Utopia holds at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 12,000 sold (down 58%), while NewJeans’ former leader 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ is a non-mover at No. 4 with 11,000 (down 19%) and Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) rises 6-5 with 10,000 (down 23%). NCT Dream’s ISTJ: The 3rd Album climbs one spot to No. 6 (8,000; down 37%) while Swift’s chart-topping Midnights bumps 9-7 (nearly 8,000; down 24%).
YouTuber and Twitch streamer Dream starts at No. 8 with his first album release, To Whoever Wants to Hear, with nearly 7,000 copies sold. J-Hope’s Jack in the Box slips 8-9 (6,000; down 49%) and Stray Kids’ 5-Star: The 3rd Album rises 15-10 (6,000; down 17%).
In the week ending Sept. 7, there were 1.630 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 2.2% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.287 million (down 3.4%) and digital albums comprised 342,000 (up 2.6%).
There were 543,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Sept. 7 (down 1.5% week-over-week) and 734,000 vinyl albums sold (down 5.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 23.826 million (up 1.5% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 31.881 million (up 20.1%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 68.831 million (up 6.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 56.075 million (up 11.3%) and digital album sales total 12.756 million (down 9.9%).
ITZY, Mammoth WVH and TOMORROW X TOGETHER all debut in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Aug. 19) with their latest efforts, while Mac Miller’s Swimming surges 77-10 after the release of its fifth anniversary vinyl reissue.
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At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Travis Scott’s Utopia holds for a second week (37,000; down 85%) after bowing atop the list a week ago. NewJeans’ 2nd EP ‘Get Up’ is a non-mover at No. 2 with 27,000 (down 31%).
ITZY’s Kill My Doubt bows at No. 3 with 23,000 copies sold, marking the Korean pop act’s fourth top 10-charting set. As is typical with many K-pop projects, the set was issued in collectible CD packages (14 different versions in all) that contain branded merchandise (including randomized elements).
Rock act Mammoth WVH scores a No. 4 debut with its second album, Mammoth II. It launches with just over 20,000 copies sold and follows the act’s self-titled set, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2021.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) rises 4-5 with 20,000 sold (down 14%) and the Barbie soundtrack is a non-mover at No. 6 with 14,000 (down 30%).
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Sweet starts at No. 7 with 14,000 sold. The Japanese-language project was issued in four collectible CD iterations and grants the Korean act its sixth top 10-charting title on Top Album Sales.
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart are two former No. 1s from Swift (Folklore moves 9-8 with 11,000; up 5% and Midnights rises 10-9 with 10,000; up 11%) and Mac Miller’s Swimming. The latter flies 77-10 with 10,000 sold (up 409%) after the release of a fifth anniversary vinyl edition of the album. The set debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2018.
In the week ending Aug. 10, there were 1.788 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 13% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.447 million (down 9.8%) and digital albums comprised 341,000 (down 24.2%).
There were 655,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Aug. 10 (down 9.7% week-over-week) and 782,000 vinyl albums sold (down 9.9%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 21.59 million (up 3.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 28.728 million (up 20.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 62.069 million (up 7.6% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 50.651 million (up 12.5%) and digital album sales total 11.418 million (down 9.8%).
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.
John Coltrane’s Evenings at the Village Gate with Eric Dolphy makes a splash across Billboard’s album chart (dated July 29). The recently rediscovered set – recorded in 1961 – bows at No. 8 on Top Album Sales, No. 1 on Jazz Albums, No. 1 on Traditional Jazz Albums, No. 4 on Tastemaker Albums, No. 7 on Top Current Album Sales and No. 10 on Vinyl Albums. It also launches at No. 156 on the overall Billboard 200 chart.
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Evenings is jazz legend Coltrane’s eighth No. 1 on both Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums, and the first leader for Dolphy. Coltrane and Dolphy died in 1967 and 1964, respectively.
The 80-minute album of previously unreleased music was released by Impulse!/UMe and showcases performances by the quintet of Coltrane, Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones recorded in the summer of 1961 at New York’s Village Gate club.
According to Impulse!, the recordings were originally made as a test of the Village Gate’s then-new sound system and discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Further, it was apparently the second time the recordings were found in the Public Library’s archives, after they previously were found, and lost.
Evenings at the Village Gate sold nearly 9,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending July 20, according to Luminate. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise just over 4,000.
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.
Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums rank the week’s most popular overall jazz and traditional jazz albums, respectively, by equivalent album units. Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales. Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s top-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores. Vinyl Albums lists the week’s top-selling vinyl albums.
As for the rest of the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart, Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) retains the No. 1 slot for a second week (47,000; down 91%), Stray Kids’ chart-topping 5-STAR is steady at No. 2 (19,000; down 32%) and RM’s Indigo re-enters at No. 3 (14,000; up 1,772% after its vinyl release). Three former No. 1s from Swift follow, as Midnights falls 3-4 (12,000; down 29%), Folklore rises 6-5 (11,000; down 12%) and Lover bumps 7-6 (9,000; down 21%). Aespa’s chart-topping MY WORLD descends 4-7 (9,000; down 31%), Colter Wall’s Little Songs debuts at No. 9 (8,000) and ENHYPEN’s Dark Blood climbs 13-10 (8,000; up 2%).
In the week ending July 20, there were 1.753 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 17.8% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.428 million (down 17.4%) and digital albums comprised 325,000 (down 19.2%).
There were 572,000 CD albums sold in the week ending July 20 (down 18.8% week-over-week) and 846,000 vinyl albums sold (down 16.2%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 19.456 million (up 3.4% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 26.218 million (up 21.2%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 56.264 million (up 7.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 45.976 million (up 12.9%) and digital album sales total 10.288 million (down 10.7%).
Driven by K-pop groups such as Seventeen, Stray Kids and Tomorrow X Together, sales of the top 400 physical albums in South Korea totaled 55 million through June — a 57% increase from the prior-year period, according to Circle Chart, the company that manages music charts in the country.
Seventeen had 21 titles in the top 400 albums and accounted for 16.2% of the tally’s sales, totaling 8.9 million units. Meanwhile, HYBE, the company behind Seventeen, was responsible for 40.4% of sales in the top 400.
Physical album sales in the United States don’t come close to those numbers. In a country of about 52 million people — less than one-sixth of the United States’ 332 million people — South Koreans bought an average of 1.06 albums per person in the first half of the year (counting only the top 400). That’s 23 times the United States’ per-capita album purchase rate of roughly 0.05 units (also counting only the top 400, according to Luminate).
Comparing South Korea’s first-half physical album sales numbers to those of the United States demonstrates just how big of a gap exists between the two countries in terms of consumption habits. In the United States, superfans and direct-to-consumer sales helped boost physical album sales 13.3% to 41.1 million in the first half of the year — a big improvement from 4.7% decline in the year-ago period. But that figure pales in comparison to South Korea, a country with less than one-sixth the population. Sales of the top 400 physical albums in the United States totaled 15.4 million units over the same period — 72% fewer than in South Korea.
Taylor Swift’s rabid fanbase is the closest thing the United States has to the fandom seen in South Korea for K-pop groups such as BTS. Swifties, as they’re known, helped created intense demand for the pop titan’s Eras Tour, which overloaded Ticketmaster’s website in the United States and turned her concerts into civic events recognized by local politicians. Her album releases have become events unto themselves as fans snap up multiple versions of vinyl LP and CDs.
But Swift’s U.S. physical album sales in the first half of 2023 can’t compare to sales for the top artists in South Korea. In the United States, Swift dominated physical album sales in the first half of the year with a 7.4% share of the top 400 — more than twice the number of the runner-up artist, K-pop group Stray Kids. Through June 30, she totaled 1.15 million physical album sales across her catalog. Those numbers sound impressive until you consider them against the 8.9 million overall sales for Seventeen in South Korea.
In terms of physical sales for single albums, Swift also finished atop the heap in the United States. Her 2022 album, Midnights, sold 430,000 units through June 30. (Swift’s new album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), was not included in the top 400 of the first half of 2023 because it was released in July). But the top-selling album in South Korea was Seventeen’s 10th Mini Album ‘FML,’ which sold 5.5 million units over the same period. In fact, a whopping 13 albums surpassed the 1-million-unit threshold in South Korea through mid-year. It’s worth noting that even if Midnights had doubled its physical sales number in the United States through mid-year, it wouldn’t have reached the top 10 on South Korea’s chart.
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), was a hot seller in its first week of a release in the U.S., according to the data tracking firm Luminate. In the week ending July 13, the set sold 507,000 copies across all of its physical and digital retail formats (CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download album). That sum represents nearly a quarter of all album sales in the U.S. that week (2.131 million).
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Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s share of the album sales market is similar to when she dominated the landscape during the debut week of Midnights in 2022. That album sold 1.14 million copies in the week ending Oct. 27, 2022 – accounting for 41% of all albums sold in the U.S. that week (2.79 million).
Swift can capture a large chunk of the album sales market in a given week because she remains a solid seller at a time when yearly album sales have declined in 10 of the last 11 years, as more music fan adopt streaming services as their primary means of consuming music. Thus, Swift’s outsized album sales dwarf the rest of the industry.
In 2022, Swift was the top-selling act for the year in terms of total album sales, with 2.93 million copies sold across her entire catalog – about 3% of total album sales across all albums from all artists (100.09 million). She also had the year’s top-selling album, with Midnights selling 1.818 million copies (more than twice the sum of the year’s second biggest seller, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, with 757,000).
In 2023 so far, through July 13, Swift’s total album sales across all of her releases stands at 2.096 million – 3.8% of all album sales this year, by all artists (54.519 million).
Swift’s selling power is further evidenced on Billboard’s latest 100-position Top Album Sales chart (dated July 22, reflecting the sales week ending July 13), where Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1 with 507,000 copies sold, the Nos. 2-100 titles – combined – sold just 381,000.
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. The new July 22, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 18. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recorded version of Swift’s 2010 studio album Speak Now, which topped both the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales chart. The 22-track re-recorded edition includes new recordings of the original album’s 14 standard tracks, along with bonus cuts and previously unreleased “From the Vault” recordings. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Swift’s re-recorded Red and Fearless albums, released in 2021.
Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 507,000 copies sold, physical sales comprise 410,000 (268,000 on vinyl; 134,000 on CD and 8,000 on cassette) while digital album download purchases comprise 97,000. The album’s vinyl sales mark the second-largest week for a vinyl album since Luminate began tracking data in 1991 – only the debut week of Midnights posted a bigger vinyl week (575,000).
Swift announced the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on May 5, the same day she began taking pre-orders for the album via her official webstore. The set sold as a digital download album, double-CD, double-cassette and in three color vinyl LP variants (orchid marbled, violet marbled and a Target-exclusive lilac marbled color). The iTunes Store also carried an exclusive edition of the album with a short video clip as a bonus feature. On the final day (July 13) of the album’s debut tracking week, Swift released a deluxe digital album download of the set exclusively sold through her official webstore, which added two bonus live tracks recorded during her ongoing The Eras Tour (“Dear John” and “Last Kiss,” both of which were originally released in their studio form on the Speak Now album in 2010).
All told, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is the 12th No. 1 on Top Album Sales for Swift.
Elsewhere on the latest Top Album Sales chart, Swift has five more titles in the top 10, as her former No. 1s Midnights (a non-mover at No. 3 with 18,000; up 49%), Folklore (8-6 with 13,000; up 45%), Lover (10-7 with 12,000; up 50%), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (14-9 with 11,000; up 81%) and Red (Taylor’s Version) (19-10 with 10,000; up 89%). It’s the second time Swift has placed at least six titles in the top 10 concurrently. She did it previously on the July 22-dated list. No other act has charted six or more albums in the top 10 at the same time.
As for the non-Swift titles in the top 10: Stray Kids’ former No. 1 5-STAR is a non-mover at No. 2 (27,000; up 70% after the release of a new CD edition), aespa’s MY WORLD falls 1-4 in its second week (14,000; down 65%), Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. jumps 33-5 (13,000; up 265% after a new vinyl edition of the album was released) and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation debuts at No. 8 (11,000).
In the week ending July 13, there were 2.131 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 22% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.729 million (up 21.8%) and digital albums comprised 402,000 (up 23.2%).
There were 705,000 CD albums sold in the week ending July 13 (up 8% week-over-week) and 1.008 million vinyl albums sold (up 33.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 18.893 million (up 4.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 25.371 million (up 21.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 54.519 million (up 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 44.556 million (up 13.4%) and digital album sales total 9.962 million (down 10.5%).
aespa achieves its second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated July 15) as the Korean group’s latest release MY WORLD: The 3rd Mini Album debuts atop the list with 39,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending July 6, according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape bows at No. 4, Phish nets its highest-charting album ever as its 2000 studio album Farmhouse re-enters at No. 5 after a vinyl reissue, and Lucinda Williams earns her best sales week in over seven years as Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart debuts at No. 9.
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 MY WORLD’s 39,000 copies sold in its first week, physical sales comprise effectively all of that sum – and all on the CD format. Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of MY WORLD was issued in collectible CD packages (more than 16, including exclusive editions for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the act’s webstore), each containing a standard set of branded merchandise items and randomized branded elements (such as photo cards, posters and stickers).
Stray Kids’ chart-topping 5-STAR rises 3-2 on Top Album Sales with 16,000 sold (down 17%) while Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights climbs 5-3 with 12,000 (up 9%). Lil Uzi Vert’s latest studio set Pink Tape arrives at No. 4 with a little over 11,000 sold, marking their third top 10-charting effort.
Phish’s studio album Farmhouse, released in 2000, returns to Top Album Sales at a new peak, as the set re-enters at No. 5 with a little over 11,000 sold (up 26,731%) – basically on in vinyl LP sales – after a new vinyl reissue. The set was reissued on 180-gram colored (blue and nebulous green) double-vinyl on June 30. Farmhouse also debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart (a little over 11,000 copies sold) – marking the band’s third leader on the list and its best sales week on vinyl ever.
Farmhouse originally debuted and peaked at No. 12 on the Top Album Sales chart in 2000. With its re-entry at No. 5, it marks Phish’s eighth top 10 on the tally.
ATEEZ’s former leader The World EP.2: Outlaw falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales with 11,000 sold (down 65%), ENHYPEN’s Dark Blood dips 4-7 with 9,000 (down 19%) and Swift’s chart-topping Folklore is pushed down 7-8 with nearly 9,000 (despite an 11% gain).
Lucinda Williams’ Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart bows at No. 9 on Top Album Sales with the singer’s best sales week in over seven years – 8,500. She last sold more in a week when The Ghosts of Highway 20 launched at No. 16 on the Feb. 27, 2016-dated chart with 16,000 sold. Stories is Williams’ third top 10 on Top Album Sales.
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart is Swift’s former No. 1 Lover, which falls 8-10 with nearly 8,000 (though up 10%).
In the week ending July 6, there were 1.746 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 2.2% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.420 million (up 4.2%) and digital albums comprised 327,000 (down 5.5%).
There were 652,000 CD albums sold in the week ending July 6 (up 5.2 % week-over-week) and 756,000 vinyl albums sold (up 2.9%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 18.189 million (up 4% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 24.362 million (up 21.2%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 52.387 million (up 7.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 42.827 million (up 13.2%) and digital album sales total 9.560 million (down 11.3%).
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated July 22), Taylor Swift once again leaves the rest of the pop world in the dust with perhaps her best-performing Taylor’s Version full-album recreation yet.
Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (Republic): When it was released in 2010 as her third album, Speak Now became Taylor Swift’s first set to sell over a million copies in its first week. Her Taylor’s Version re-recording of the fan-favorite album might not post a seven-digit debut, but it’s already come closer than any other album in 2023. Billboard reported on Tuesday (July 11) that this Speak Now had passed 575,000 equivalent album units in just its first four days — already blowing past the 501,000 moved by previous mark-setter, Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, in its first frame.
Those would be incredible numbers for any new release in 2023, let alone one where 16 of the 22 tracks included are near-soundalike re-dos of 13-year-old songs. Making the 400,000 in direct sales that the album has already accrued even more impressive is that the album is only available in a handful of physical editions – three vinyl variants (including an exclusive color for Target), a CD, a cassette, and a digital release – compared to many 2020s best-sellers (including Swift’s own 2022 blockbuster Midnights), which are released in dozens of physical editions to maximize fan purchases.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has already put Swift’s peers in its rearview, but how will it compare to her own recently set standards? It’s unlikely to get close to the first-week numbers of Midnights, which scored an unthinkable-for-2022 1.578 million units. But it has a very good chance of passing 2021’s Red (Taylor’s Version), which debuted with 605,000 units, to become the biggest first week for any of her three re-recordings to date.
To pass Red (Taylor’s Version) would also be pretty staggering for this Speak Now, considering it has fewer tracks (22 to Red (TV)’s 30) and lacks a song driving as much pre-release excitement as that set’s “All Too Well (10-Minute Version),” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the same week the new Red topped the Billboard 200. (“I Can See You,” one of the set’s six first-time recordings, did receive a music video co-starring Speak Now-era Taylorverse fixtures Joey King, Taylor Lautner and Presley Cash, and looks to be due for a major Hot 100 debut next week.)
In the Mix
Lucki, S*x M*ney Dr*gs (EMPIRE): One of the most acclaimed rappers from the current rising wave of Chicago MCs, Lucki reached a career-best No. 12 on the Billboard 200 with 2012’s Flawless Like Me set. He may do even better with this month’s S*x M*ney Dr*gs mixtape, which only features one guest (fellow cult favorite Veeze) on its 15 tracks, but is already posting career-best streaming numbers that most rappers would be, well, lucky to have in 2023.
Dominic Fike, Sunburn (Columbia): If you listened to Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist last week, you might have noticed that the lead track was not from Taylor Swift’s latest, but rather from the long-awaited second album for singer-songwriter Dominic Fike. Columbia executives still have big hopes for Fike, who greatly increased his profile last year with a big role on HBO phenomenon Euphoria, and he may have something of a breakout hit with the album’s “Mona Lisa” — written for and briefly included on the deluxe edition of Metro Boomin’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack — which climbs to No. 36 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart this week.
Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Polydor/Interscope): Lana Del Rey’s ninth album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in April — and while it’s remained on the chart for the past 15 weeks, it’s dropped all the way to No. 184. It should rebound significantly next week, though. thanks to a recent vinyl reissue with a cover featuring a partially nude photo of Del Rey. (She had previously considered the image for the album’s original cover, before deciding to “let the songs do the talking for now.”)
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), has earned over 575,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first four days of release (July 7-10), according to initial reports to Luminate — marking the biggest week for any album in 2023. Of that sum, album sales comprise over 400,000 copies – the largest sales week for an album this year, too.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recorded version of Swift’s 2010 No. 1 Billboard 200 studio album Speak Now. The 22-track re-recorded edition includes new recordings of the original album’s 14 standard tracks, along with bonus cuts and previously unreleased “From the Vault” recordings. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Swift’s re-recorded Red and Fearless albums, released in 2021. Both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
If Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1 on the July 22-dated Billboard 200 chart (which reflects the tracking week ending July 13), Swift’s count of No. 1 albums will rise to 12, surpassing Barbra Streisand (with 11 leaders) for the most No. 1 albums among female artists. Swift would also tie Drake for the third-most No. 1s among all acts, with only The Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (14) ahead of them. (The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.) The top 10 of the July 22-dated Billboard 200 chart is scheduled to be announced on Sunday, July 16.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
2023’s previous largest week, by equivalent album units earned, was tallied by Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which launched with 501,000 units in the week ending March 9, as reflected on the Billboard 200 chart dated March 18. The year’s largest sales week was held by the debut frame of Stray Kids’ 5-STAR with 235,000 copies sold in the week ending June 8, as reflected on the June 17-dated charts.
Sales: With over 400,000 sold in only four days, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) already has the largest sales week for any album since Swift’s own last studio album, Midnights, debuted with 1.14 million copies sold last year (week ending Oct. 27, 2022; as reflected on the Nov. 5-dated Billboard charts).
Vinyl sales comprise over half of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s sales – as the three-LP set has sold over 225,000 copies on wax. The latter marks the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era (since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991). It is second only to the first week of Midnights’ vinyl LP, with 575,000 sold in its opening frame. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is available in three color variants on vinyl – orchid marbled, violet marbled and a Target-exclusive lilac marbled color.
The remainder of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) sales is comprised of CDs, digital album download purchases and cassette tape sales.
Streaming: The collected 22 songs on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) generated more than 200 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. July 7-10, according to Luminate. The most-streamed tune on the album, by audio on-demand official streams, is the “from the vault” cut “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version),” with over 13 million on-demand official audio streams in those four tracking days.
Kelly Clarkson earns her fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated July 8) as her latest studio effort, Chemistry, debuts atop the list. The set sold 43,000 copes in the U.S. in the week ending June 29, according to Luminate. Clarkson previously led the tally with Piece by Piece (2015), All I Ever Wanted (2009) and Thankful (2003). All told, Chemistry is her 10th top 10-charting title on Top Album Sales.
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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Young Thug nabs his sixth top 10 set as Business Is Business bows at No. 6.
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. The new July 8, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 5, one day later than usual, owed to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S. on July 4. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Chemistry’s 43,000 copies sold in its first week, physical sales comprise 25,500 (18,000 on CD and 7,500 on vinyl) and digital album sales comprise 17,500. The set also enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart (her first leader there), and with 7,500 sold, Chemistry lands Clarkson her best week ever on vinyl.
Chemistry’s sales were bolstered by its availability across multiple vinyl variants, including exclusive color editions for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Clarkson’s webstore, Spotify, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart. (Target’s edition also had an alternative cover.) Clarkson’s CD sales were enhanced by multiple editions, including a signed version sold through her webstore, an Amazon-exclusive that contained a poster and a Target-exclusive variant with an alternative cover.
ATEEZ’s The World EP.2: Outlaw falls to No. 2 in its second week, with 32,000 sold (down 68%) after debuting atop the list a week ago. Stray Kids’ former No. 1 5-STAR is a non-mover at No. 3 with 19,000 (down 28%) and ENHYPEN’s Dark Blood is also stationary at No. 4 with 11,000 (down 10%). Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights is steady at No. 5 with nearly 11,000 sold (down 4%).
Young Thug’s Business Is Business is the second and final debut in the top 10, as it starts at No. 6 with 8,500 sold, with 97% of that figure from digital album sales. A small number of sales were generated by a CD edition of the album that was released late in the tracking week to a limited number of independent record stores. Business is the sixth top 10-charting set for the rapper.
Swift has two more albums in the top 10, as her former No. 1s Folklore (10-7 with 8,000; up 4%) and Lover (16-8 with 7,000; up 16%) both climb. Two more chart-topping sets round out the top 10, as SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML is a non-mover at No. 9 (nearly 7,000; down 19%) and TWICE’s Ready to Be rises 13-10 (6,000; down 9%).
In the week ending June 29, there were 1.708 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 13.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.363 million (down 17%) and digital albums comprised 346,000 (up 3.1%).
There were 620,000 CD albums sold in the week ending June 29 (down 14.4% week-over-week) and 735,000 vinyl albums sold (down 19.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 17.537 million (up 3.9% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 23.606 million (up 21.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 50.641 million (up 7.9% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 41.407 million (up 13.3%) and digital album sales total 9.234 million (down 11.2%).
