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Each year Billboard’s Women in Music event recognizes music’s rising artists, creators, producers and executives for their contributions to the industry and community. Hosted by Quinta Brunson, the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Awards will honor powerhouses who are shaping the music landscape at the ceremony including SZA as Woman of the Year, Becky G, Doechii, Ivy Queen, Kim Petras, Lainey Wilson, Lana Del Rey, Rosalía and TWICE.
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P!nk scores her third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 4) as her latest studio effort, Trustfall, bows atop the list. The set sold 59,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate.
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Overall, Trustfall marks P!nk’s 10th consecutive, and total, top 10-charting effort on the tally. She first visited the top 10 with her second studio album M!ssundaztood in 2001 and has reached the top 10 with every charting release on through Trustfall.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: ATEEZ’s Spin Off: From the Witness re-enters the chart at No. 3 after a new Target-exclusive edition of the album was released, Taylor Swift’s official webstore-exclusive vinyl album Lover: Live From Paris opens at No. 5 and Twenty One Pilots’ Vessel re-enters at No. 8 – its first time in the top 10 – after its release in a 10th anniversary vinyl boxed set.
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 March 4-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 28. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Trustfall’s 59,000 sold, physical sales comprise 28,000 (22,000 CDs and 6,000 vinyl LPs) and digital album sales comprise 31,000. The arrival marks the largest sales week for a digital album since Taylor Swift’s Midnights sold 161,000 digital albums in its first week (on the chart dated Nov. 2, 2022).
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s former leader The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION is a non-mover with 22,000 (down 22%). ATEEZ’s Spin Off: From the Witness re-enters the chart at No. 3 with 21,000 (up 1,232%) after a new Target-exclusive edition of the album was released on Feb. 17. The Name Chapter debuted at No. 2 on the Jan. 14 chart, spent six weeks on the list, and then left the tally after the Feb. 18 chart.
Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights is stationary at No. 4 with 14,000 (down 18%) while her new Lover: Live From Paris debuts at No. 5 with 13,500 sold. The set was sold exclusively through Swift’s official webstore and only available on vinyl. It also starts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart – marking Swift’s ninth leader on the tally. She continues to have the most No. 1s among all artists on the 12-year old chart.
Paramore’s chart-topping This Is Why falls 1-6 on Top Album Sales in its second week, selling 12,000 copies (down 74%). Tyler, the Creator’s former leader IGOR rises 9-7 with nearly 9,000 (up 38%) as it continues to profit from newly released physical format variants.
Twenty One Pilots’ Vessel visits the top 10 of Top Album Sales for the first time as the album re-enters at No. 8 with 7,000 sold (up 1,031%). The album was issued for its 10th anniversary in a limited edition vinyl boxed set sold exclusively through the band’s official webstore. Nearly all of the album’s sales for the week were on vinyl, and Vessel re-enters the Vinyl Albums chart at No. 5.
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart are Rihanna’s former No. 1 ANTI, climbing 18-9 with 6,000 (up 26%, following a Target-exclusive red-colored vinyl release) and Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House, dipping 5-10 with 6,000 (down 36%).
In the week ending Feb. 23, there were 1.897 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 0.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.542 million (down 0.6%) and digital albums comprised 355,000 (up 6.8%).
There were 638,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 23 (up 2.6% week-over-week) and 894,000 vinyl albums sold (down 2.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 4.919 million (up 1.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 7.112 million (up 25.6%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 14.818 million (up 7.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 12.102 million (up 14.7%) and digital album sales total 2.716 million (down 16.6%).
Taylor Swift lands a rare feat on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the superstar has 10 concurrently charting albums on the March 4-dated list.
Since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo LP charts into one all-encompassing list in August 1963, Swift is just the fifth artist to earn the achievement. The March 4-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Feb. 28.
On the March 4 chart, Swift holds the following titles:
No. 3 – MidnightsNo. 28 – FolkloreNo. 41 – LoverNo. 50 – 1989No. 56 – Red (Taylor’s Version)No. 58 – Lover: Live From ParisNo. 100 – reputationNo. 103 – EvermoreNo. 172 – Fearless (Taylor’s Version)No. 192 – Speak Now
Lover: Live From Paris debuts on the March 4 chart as a vinyl-only release sold exclusively through Swift’s official webstore. Lover: Live From Paris was recorded at Olympia in Paris on Sept. 9, 2019, in support of her Lover studio album. Lover: Live From Paris arrives on the tally with 13,500 equivalent album units earned – all from album sales. All nine of the other albums Swift has on the chart are former No. 1s.
Here are the acts who have placed at least 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart at the same time (since August 1963):
Taylor Swift – March 4, 2023 (10 albums)Prince – May 28, 2016 (13)Prince – May 21, 2016 (10)Prince – May 14, 2016 (19)David Bowie – Jan. 30, 2016 (10)The Beatles – March 1, 2014 (13)Whitney Houston – March 10, 2012 (10)The Beatles – Dec. 4, 2010 (14)The Beatles – Jan. 9, 2010 (11)
Prince, Bowie and Houston’s achievements came shortly after they died, following a surge of interest in their respective catalogs from music fans.
The Beatles placed 13 titles on the March 1, 2014, chart thanks in large part to gains reaped from the CBS-TV concert special The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles, which aired Feb. 9 (and repeated Feb. 12). The special celebrated 50 years of The Beatles’ success in the United States, specifically commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s first live American TV performance on The Ed Sullivan Show (Feb. 9, 1964).
The Beatles also logged 14 and 11 titles, respectively, on the Dec. 4 and Jan. 9, 2010-dated charts.
On the Dec. 4, 2010 list, The Beatles logged 12 re-entries and two debuts, following the band’s belated bow in the iTunes Store. (The group had been a hold out to selling digital downloads of its albums and songs on the service until Nov. 16, 2010.)
As for The Beatles’ feat on the Jan. 9, 2010, chart, that week came shortly after the Billboard 200 began allowing older (catalog) albums to appear, beginning with the Dec. 5, 2009-dated chart. It was also not long after the band’s catalog was digitally remastered for CD reissues in September 2009.
Some history on the Billboard 200 chart: The list began publishing as a regular, weekly fixture with the March 24, 1956-dated chart, where Harry Belafonte’s Belafonte was the No. 1 album in the U.S. At the time, the chart was only 10 positions and was named Best Selling Pop Albums. (Its name would change only a week later, to Best Selling Popular Albums.)
Prior to March 24, 1956, Billboard had tracked album popularity, but not consistently. The first overall album chart appeared 11 years earlier, on March 24, 1945. That chart was published on an irregular basis until it became a weekly fixture starting with the March 24, 1956 issue of Billboard magazine.
Notably, for a little over four years (between May 25, 1959-Aug. 10, 1963), the album chart was split into two separate lists, each tracking the sales of mono or stereo-recorded albums. These two charts were named Best Selling Monophonic LPs and Best Selling Stereophonic LPs. The names of the charts would change slightly over time, but Billboard would publish two charts for mono and stereo albums until Aug. 10, 1963. The following week, Aug. 17, 1963, the mono and stereo charts folded back into one overall chart.
The chart would grow to 200 positions in 1967. In 1992, and after a number of name changes, the chart would settle on its current name, Billboard 200.
As for how the Billboard 200 chart is compiled… through the May 18, 1991-dated chart, the chart ranked the week’s top-selling albums in the U.S., based on reports obtained from record stores. On the May 25, 1991-dated chart, the list began using electronically monitored point-of-sale purchase information courtesy of SoundScan, Inc. (now known as Luminate).
The chart would continue to rank the week’s top-selling albums by traditional album sales through the Dec. 6, 2014-dated chart. The following week (Dec. 13, 2014), the list transformed again, becoming a multi-metric popularity chart, ranking overall 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.
Older albums (known as catalog albums; generally defined today as titles 18 months old or older), were mostly restricted from charting on the Billboard 200 from May 25, 1991-Nov. 28, 2009. From Dec. 5, 2009-onwards, catalog and current (new/recently released) albums chart together on the Billboard 200. Today, older albums regularly spend hundreds of weeks on the chart – such as Journey’s Greatest Hits (more than 700 weeks) and Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits (nearly 600).
Because of the chart’s methodology (primarily the inclusion of streaming activity in 2014) and the ability for catalog albums to chart (since 2009), some albums now continue to rank on the list for a much longer time than albums in previous eras, when the chart was effectively a sales-only tally for current releases.
The September day that Becky G learned she had scored her first No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, with “Bailé Con Mi Ex,” she woke up her fiancé, the soccer star Sebastian Lletget, with tears in her eyes. “He was like, ‘Is everything OK? Why are you crying?’ ” she remembers. “A lot of people like to say I’m only successful because of my collaborations. To be able to prove myself as an artist and carry my own weight was important for me. To show the world that whichever way, collaborations or alone, I’m good.”
That solo feat is just one of many points of pride for the 25-year-old Mexican American artist and businesswoman, born Rebbeca Marie Gomez, these days. In 2022, she earned her first No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart with the 14-track Esquemas, and another album — her first regional Mexican set — is due to arrive later this year. Come April, she’ll have “a huge opportunity to reintroduce myself to the world” when she plays Coachella under her own name for the first time.
All the while, Becky G has used her platform to help elevate the women around her. “This industry has really tried to condition women to see each other as competition. We’ve had to survive these very male-dominated spaces because of that ‘there’s only one seat at the table’ mentality. So we’re looking at each other like, ‘Who’s going to get it?’ [But] at my table, everyone is welcome,” she says firmly. “When I open the door, I’m going to leave it open and make sure everyone gets in.”
Read Becky G’s full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
By the time Lainey Wilson showcased for BMG Nashville staff in 2018, she was at a crossroads. She had already been in Nashville for over five years after leaving her small Louisiana hometown of Baskin and was struggling to fit in. Her heavily accented, twangy country vocals and Southern swagger weren’t in fashion as the genre leaned more toward pop, but her attempts to accommodate that style weren’t working either. So she doubled down on her tough-but-vulnerable authenticity. With that attitude, she sang, “She’s a soldier/When I hold her/Up in the air” in her defiant “Middle Finger.” “Take that, Nashville,” she thought.
Wilson, now 30, laughs when she remembers that time. “I just got to a certain point where I’d been in Nashville for so long [and] my give-a-damn was a little busted. I felt like, ‘Why not just say what I want to say how I want to say it?’ That’s one of the thoughts that really set me free.”
That fearlessness — and her robust, honest voice — captivated BMG Nashville president Jon Loba, who had been turned on to Wilson by another artist on his roster, Jimmie Allen.
“[She had] this absolute confidence. And it was an amazing vocal and, even at that time, amazing songs,” says Loba, who immediately signed her to Broken Bow Records. “But it was her narrative in between the music [where] you really got a sense of who she was: this strong woman from a small town in Louisiana who did not want to compromise who she was.”
Read Lainey Wilson’s full Billboard Women in Music story here.
Reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 has been a goal for songwriters since the chart’s inception in 1958. Winning an Oscar for best original song has been on most songwriters’ bucket lists even longer than that – the category dates back to 1934.
A total of 27 songs have achieved both of these milestones. That number could jump to 28 when the 95th annual Academy Awards are presented on March 12 if Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” wins the award. The song debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in November 2022. The number could also jump to 28 if one of the other nominees wins and makes a big enough splash on the show that it belatedly reaches the top 10.
Five artists have each made the top 10 with two Oscar-winning songs – Barbra Streisand, Irene Cara, Jennifer Warnes, Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. Streisand and Cara each co-wrote one of those songs.
Scroll through a gallery featuring the 27 songs that both made the top 10 on the Hot 100 and won an Oscar for best original song. (Hits between 1934-57 don’t appear because they pre-dated the Hot 100.)
First, let’s give a quick shout-out to an Oscar-winning classic that just missed the top 10 – twice. Two versions of “Moon River,” the 1961 champ, peaked at No. 11 – one by its composer Henry Mancini and another by R&B singer Jerry Butler.
Now let’s fire up that time machine. (All chart references are to the Hot 100.)
Just in time for what would have been George Harrison’s 80th birthday, BMG and Dark Horse Records have reached an agreement to bring his solo recorded works to BMG. It marks the first time that Harrison’s recorded and publishing works are under the same roof.
BMG entered into a global deal last year with the George Harrison Estate to administer the 200-song plus Harrisongs catalog, which includes all of Harrison’s work written with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys and his solo career. Harrison died in 2001.
“This is a banner day for BMG, bringing together for the first time the song and recorded rights of one of the greatest musicians in popular music history under one roof,” said BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch in a statement. “Only BMG can do this. We look forward to working with the George Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Records to promote George’s peerless music to generations old and new.”
To commemorate his Feb. 25 birthday, Dark Horse and BMG have released Harrison’s entire catalog in Dolby Atmos surround sound exclusively on Apple Music.
Harrison’s recorded catalog features 12 studio albums of solo works including his debut Wonderwall Music (soundtrack to the film Wonderwall) and the US and UK chart-topping critically acclaimed, 7x Platinum-certified triple album All Things Must Pass featuring the No. 1 hit “My Sweet Lord,” “What Is Life,” “Isn’t It A Pity” and “All Things Must Pass.” Other albums include Living In The Material World, featuring “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” his Platinum-certified Cloud Nine, featuring “Got My Mind Set On You,” and his final studio album Brainwashed featuring the Grammy award-winning “Marwa Blues.”
The catalog also includes the live double album, Live in Japan, featuring Eric Clapton, and four compilations Let It Roll – Songs by George Harrison, Early Takes Vol 1, The Apple Years 1968-1975 and The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992.
The partnership expands on BMG’s relationship with Dark Horse Records as BMG serves as its global partner and infrastructure across recorded music, music publishing and merchandise, including the launch of a new merchandise store for Harrison and the introduction of the Dark Horse Sounds wellness music series.
While BMG and Dark Horse have not announced an album rollout beyond the Apple Music exclusive, Harrison’s son Dhani hints in a statement that there is more coming.
“22 years since his passing, for what would have been his 80th birthday, I am overjoyed to announce that we are bringing my father’s music catalogue back home to Dark Horse Records, the company he started back in 1974. We look forward to releasing only the finest of packages and hope the fans join us on the deepest of dives into our archives as we continue to grow his legacy through our partnership with BMG, starting with the release of his entire back catalog in Spatial Audio, for the first time, on Apple Music,” he says. “We also will be using this opportunity to make all the custom limited vinyl that we can get away with. Happy 80th Dad!!! We love you always.”
The catalog partnership is the latest move in the relationship between BMG and Dark Horse, which began in 2020 to revive the label Harrison launched in 1974. Dhani Harrison runs Dark Horse with David Zonshine. Last year, Dark Horse signed a new licensing agreement with the Leon Russell estate for 16 albums by the late singer/songwriter and Harrison friend, as well as with Joe Strummer’s estate to administer the Clash co-founder’s music publishing. BMG has been working with Dhani since 2014.
Thomas Scherer, BMG president of repertoire & marketing, New York and Los Angeles, said, “For years we have had an amazing partnership with Dhani and David that continues to grow to this day. What began as working with Dhani on his own albums and publishing, to the re-launch and expansion of the Dark Horse Records business, together we believe in providing white glove service for artists, globally, with enormous opportunities to grow. We are proud to bring all of George Harrison’s music together, under one roof, and are very grateful for Olivia and Dhani’s trust in BMG.”
SZA’s SOS claims a ninth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 25) — the most weeks atop the list for an album by a woman in nearly seven years. The last set by a female artist to spend at least nine weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 25, which ruled for 10 nonconsecutive weeks between Dec. 12, 2015, and March 12, 2016.
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SOS earned 93,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 16 (down 7%), according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200: Paramore’s This Is Why debuts at No. 2 — the highest charting alternative album in eight months, while Rihanna’s former No. 1 Anti returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2016, following her halftime show performance at the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.
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, compiled by Luminate. 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. The new Feb. 25, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Wednesday (Feb. 22), one day later than usual, owed to Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday (Feb. 20) in the U.S. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 93,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 16, SEA units comprise 92,000 (down 7%, equaling 126.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 500 (down 1%) and TEA units comprise 500 (up 2%).
In the last 10 years, only three albums by women have spent at least nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: SOS, Adele’s 25 (10 in 2015-16) and Taylor Swift’s 1989 (11, 2014-15).
The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least eight weeks atop the list was Drake’s Views, which 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (May 21-Oct. 8, 2016). SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks, all consecutively, at No. 1 in 1991. (Honorable mention to the Whitney Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.) SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B album by any act since Usher’s Confessions ruled for nine nonconsecutive weeks in 2004. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)
Paramore scores its highest-charting album in nearly a decade, as This Is Why debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It’s also the highest-charting alternative album in almost a year. This Is Why is the band’s first album since After Laughter was released in May 2017; it debuted and peaked at No. 6. The group’s last album to go higher was its self-titled 2013 release, which debuted at No. 1 on the April 27, 2013-dated list.
This Is Why begins with 64,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 47,000, SEA units comprise 17,000 (equaling 21.3 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was ushered in by the album’s title track, which became the act’s first No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart (in February) after 11 previous entries going back to 2007.
This Is Why is the highest-charting alternative album on the Billboard 200 since Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Unlimited Love debuted at No. 1 on the April 16, 2022-dated chart. (Alternative albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart.)
Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights falls 2-3 on the Billboard 200 with 60,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%).
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 4 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%). Dangerous has now accumulated 107 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It now solely has the third-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956, surpassing the 106 weeks tallied by the soundtrack to the film West Side Story. Dangerous continues to have the most weeks in the top 10 for an album by a single artist. The all-time top 10 record-holder is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60. See list, below.
Albums With Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart (March 24, 1956-onwards)
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10
173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965107, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 196090, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 195887, Original Cast, Camelot, 196187, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 195685, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 196284, Adele, 21, 201184, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984(through the Feb. 25, 2023-dated chart)
Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti rises 7-5 with nearly 44,000 equivalent album units (down 4%); Metro Boomin’s former leader Heroes & Villains falls 5-6 with 43,000 units (down 5%); and Drake and 21 Savage’s former No. 1 Her Loss climbs 8-7 with 40,000 (down 7%).
Rihanna’s chart-topping Anti roars back into the top 10 for the first time since its release year, 2016, as the set vaults 50-8 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (up 166%). The album, Rihanna’s most recent studio effort, surges back up the list following Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show performance on Feb. 12, where her setlist included the album’s hit single “Work.” (She also wove in elements of the album’s “Pose” and “Kiss It Better” into the performances of “All of the Lights” and “Rude Boy,” respectively.)
Anti was released a little over seven years ago, on Jan. 28, 2016, and spent two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (Feb. 20 and April 2, 2016-dated charts). It was last in the top 10 on the Oct. 16, 2016 chart (No. 9) and last at No. 8 or higher on the Sept. 24, 2016-dated list (when it was also at No. 8).
Anti is Rihanna’s longest-charting album on the Billboard 200, with 355 weeks on the list. That also marks the most weeks ever on the chart for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman or R&B album by a woman.
Closing out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 are a pair of former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House is stationary at No. 9 with 33,000 equivalent album units earned (down 13%) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION falls 3-10 with 32,000 units (down 33%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.