On the latest Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 22), Disney’s Descendantssoundtrack opened at No. 1, marking the fourth soundtrack to lead the tally in 2015. The set moved 42,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Aug. 6, according to Nielsen Music.
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).
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the Aug. 15 chart:
— One Direction, Four – No. 49 — The quartet’s fourth album has now sold 1 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. The album shifted another 4,000 copies in the week ending Aug. 6, bringing its cumulative total to just over the million mark. All four of the group’s albums have each sold more than a million.
On the latest Billboard 200 chart, Four rises 78-49 in its 38th week on the list.
Their best-selling effort is their first album, Up All Night, with 2.05 million sold. It is followed by Take Me Home (2.02 million) and Midnight Memories (1.51 million).
Elsewhere on the charts this week, One Direction celebrated the highest debut of 2015 on the Billboard Hot 100, as their new single “Drag Me Down” bowed at No. 3. It’s the lead single from their forthcoming fifth album, due out later this year through SYCO/Columbia Records.
— Joss Stone, Water for Your Soul – No. 34 — Joss Stone’s seventh album, Water for Your Soul, starts at No. 34 with 12,000 units and also charts new territory for the singer: it marks her debut on Reggae Albums with its No. 1 bow.
— Buddy Guy, Born to Play Guitar – No. 60 — Veteran artist Buddy Guy nabs his 11th chart entry on the Billboard 200 with Born to Play Guitar (No. 60; 9,000 units). The set, which features guests like Joss Stone and Van Morrison, also earns the six-time Grammy Award winner his fifth No. 1 on the Blues Albumschart.
— Soundtrack, Home – No. 98 — The July 28 home video release of the animated film sends its companion soundtrack back to the chart. It reenters at No. 98 with 6,000 units earned for the week (up 101 percent). Of that sum, nearly 5,000 were pure album sales (up 111 percent).
— Titus Andronicus, The Most Lamentable Tragedy – No. 164 — Rock band Titus Andronicus collects its first No. 1 on a national Billboard chart, as The Most Lamentable Tragedy charges 7-1 on Heatseekers Albums. (It also bows at No. 164 on the Billboard 200.) The set, the group’s fourth studio album and Merge Records debut, vaults to the top of the Heatseekers list in its second chart week due to its irregular release date of Tuesday, July 28. It bowed on the chart from just three days of sales (July 28-30) with 2,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Music. Then, on the new chart, it rises to No. 1 with 4,000 (up 97 percent) as it tallies its first full week at retail (July 31-Aug. 6).
Merge announced The Most Lamentable Tragedy’s release date in April, and stuck by the Tuesday street date even when Friday became the standard new release day on July 10.
— Dave Koz, Collaborations: 25th Anniversary Collection – No. 187 — As Dave Koz’s new album starts at No. 187 on the Billboard 200, it also gives the saxophonist a ninth No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart (it debuts atop the list). Koz now ties Fourplay for the second-most No. 1s in the chart’s 28-year history. Only Kenny G has more No. 1s, with 16.
