V, the fifth studio album by 222/Interscope’s Maroon 5 (as its Roman-numeral title un-derscores), lands atop the HITS Album Sales Chart this week with 158k.
The band notches the latest victory buoyed by lead single “Maps,” which hit #3 on the iTunes U.S. singles chart and has racked up around 1.2m in sales. The track is #1 at Hot AC radio and #2 at Top 40 at presstime, and climbing at Rhythmic. The video, meanwhile, has accumulated over 30m views. V jumped to #1 at iTunes when it became available for pre-order.
The album—Maroon 5’s first on John Janick’s Interscope, via Levine’s 222 imprint—continues the band’s hugely successful foray into full-on Pop, boasting material produced and written with the help of ubiquitous hit technicians Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, Shellback and Sam Martin—not to mention Sia, who co-penned “My Heart Is Open,” which finds frontman Adam Levine dueting with Gwen Stefani. The album also marks the return of keyboardist Jesse Carmichael after a hiatus.
Maroon’s prior full-length release, 2012’s Overexposed, bowed at #2; it’s sold 1.6m RTD. That album’s “Payphone” has sold 5.3m RTD, while follow-up single “One More Night” has moved 4.7m. The mega-smash “Moves Like Jagger,” meanwhile, has totted up a ridiculous 6.5m RTD.
A flurry of TV performances have surrounded V’s 9/2 drop date, including stops at MTV’s VMAs (8/24), where they performed on an outdoor stage and provided a rare “rock moment” on the diva-heavy show; iHeart Radio’s one-hour CW special/album release party (8/26); Today (9/1); The Tonight Show (9/2); America’s Got Talent (9/3); and Ellen (9/8).
Levine, recently named BMI’s Songwriter of the Year, has been a busy bee, balancing multiple projects, including serving as one of four celebrity judges on NBC’s The Voice, which goes into its seventh season on 9/22, and appearing opposite Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in the indie flick Begin Again this summer (the soundtrack to the musical flick was released on 222).
On top of all that, the singer/songwriter’s teenage years will be fictionalized in an upcoming NBC sitcom, Kids in America, executive produced by Levine, manager Jordan Feldstein and 222 Productions’ Josh Gummersall in collaboration with Aaron Blitzsten (Family Guy). The show will follow an unconventional family in the ’90s with a teenaged son who longs to be a rock star.
We think we know how it turns out.
