This week was a particularly boring one for the Billboard 200 album chart, since the same two albums that won out last week did so again. The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack and the Now 51 compilation stayed at the top.
Guardians became the first soundtrack in Billboard history to top the chart without a single new track. The entire album is a compilation of director James Gunn’s favorite late ‘60s and ‘70s hits that he used in the film. No artist recorded anything specifically for the album.
Despite that, the album sold 109,000 copies during its second week. For its third week, the album sold 93,000 copies through Aug. 17, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for Billboard.
Now 51, which debuted at No. 2 last week, stayed at the same rank this week with 52,000 copies. The Frozen soundtrack jumped up to No. 3 this week thanks to an iTunes sale with 43,000 copies sold.
For those who enjoy bizarre facts, this is the first time that the No. 1-3 spots were all held by multi-artist albums since April 2009, when Now 30 was at the top. The other two albums on that chart were the Hannah Montana: The Movie and Twilight soundtracks.
You won’t find a traditional album on the chart until No. 4, since The Gaslight Anthem’s Get Hurt only sold 33,000 copies in its first week. TRXYE by YouTube star Troye Sivan sold 30,000 copies, despite only being on sale for the last three days of the week.
The rest of the Top 10 featured more familiar faces with Five Seconds of Summer’s first album selling 27,000 copies. The No. 7-10 spots are held by: In The Lonely Hour by Sam Smith (26,000); Godsmack’s 1000HP (21,000); Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Hypnotic Eye (20,000); and Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party (19,000).
Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” tops the Digital Songs chart again with 230,000 downloads.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com