Ed Sheeran’s “x” opens north of 200K (HDD estimates 211K) making his the best pop debut of 2014 so far. We had a discussion yesterday about why he’s classified as Pop and Coldplay Rock. I think the label has something to do with that – they declare the genre, but Billboard can reclassify it if they want. Phillip Phillips’s first album was Rock, but “Behind the Light” is not. I didn’t detect a major shift in style between the two albums. Scotty’s Christmas album was not classified as Country (while Blake’s and other’s were).
Speaking of Phillip Phillips’s “Behind the Light”, it moved back into the top 50 with 5K sold. JLo experienced a 75% drop in her second week, which is a tad on the high side.
This is the weekly sales thread. Please post numbers as you find them. Thanks!