On the Billboard 200 albums chart dated April 11, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly spent a second week a No. 1, while the top 10 greeted new arrivals from Action Bronson and Kidz Bop Kids.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the chart:
— Joe Bonamassa, Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks – No. 35 — Joe Bonamassa extends his lead as the act with the most No. 1s on Blues Albums, as Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks debuts atop the list, marking his 14th leader. B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan share second place, each with nine No. 1s.
— Soundtrack, Frozen – No. 59 — The Frozen phenomenon continues, as the animated film’s soundtrack surpasses the 4 million sales mark. The Walt Disney Records release — featuring the top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Let It Go” — sold another 6,000 copies in the week ending March 29, according to Nielsen Music. Its cumulative total rises to 4.002 million.
The set spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and moves 50-59 in its 70th week on the list.
It’s now one of only 15 soundtracks to have sold at least 4 million since Nielsen began tracking sales data in 1991. It’s the most recently-released soundtrack to reach the sales milestone since 2006’s High School Musical.
— Bjork, Vulnicura – No. 63 — The physical release of the album on March 24 prompts the formerly digital-only set’s return to the list with nearly 9,000 in traditional album sales (up 220 percent).
— MercyMe, Welcome to the New – No. 102 — Sales of the album along West Coast stops during its concert tour pump the set to its largest sales week (5,000; up 96 percent) since the frame ending Dec. 21 (7,000).
— Soundtrack, Into the Woods – No. 146 — The home video release of the film on March 24 pushes the soundtrack back onto the list (4,000 units; up 63 percent).
— One Direction, Up All Night – No. 193 — In the wake of the March 25 announcement of the group’s Zayn Malik leaving the act, One Direction’s catalog of four albums grew in traditional sales by 67 percent to 12,000 copies in the week ending March 29. All four of the group’s albums are on the chart this week: Four rises 41-33 (14,000 equivalent album units; up 34 percent), Midnight Memories re-enters at No. 110 (6,000 units; up 55 percent), Take Me Home returns at No. 188 (4,000 units; up 64 percent) and Up All Night also comes back at No. 193 (4,000 units; up 81 percent). [Billboard]