With 85% of sports in, Paul Simon is on his way to topping the album sales chart. He should also appear higher on the BB200 than he has for 29 years (though Drake is still totally going to top the combined chart). It will be his sixth top 10 solo album. Volbeat (Heavy Metal) is currently sitting second in sales. We seem to be under a Danish mini-invasion because this group joins fellow Danes Lukas Graham in gaining traction in the US. Volbeat’s previous 2013 album made it to 9th on the chart. Beyonce is making “Lemonade” for third (probably second on the combined chart) and is followed by two country acts debuting albums this week: Maren Morris and Dan + Shay. Drake and Blake are 6 & 7th followed by Tegan and Sara at 8th. Beartooth (Hardcore) gets aggressive (on Red Bull) to debut at 9th. Last week’s number one album seller Dierks Bentley is 10th
Demonstrating some hardcore front loading is Fifth Harmony which has tumbled from 3rd on the chart to 32nd. Let’s hope they have some late reporters. At least they will be buoyed by TEAs and SEAs for the final chart. Cassedee Pope released an EP this week and it’s opening down around 45th. Her previous 2013 album opened on top of the Country chart, 9th on the BB200 and sold 43K. Melanie Martinez, also from The Voice, has built a strong fan base off of the show and her album has been demonstrating legs (chugging along with consistent sales). It climbs into the top 50 this week (it was released last August).
Zayn and Kelly Clarkson have tracks on Now 58 at 16th while Carrie Underwood has a duet with Keith Urban on his latest at 20th.
Sony is having a good run. Seven of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20 tracks on the iTunes download chart belong to their artists.
Hits Daily Double Sales (85%)
— 1 PAUL SIMON STRANGER TO STRANGER CONCORD 45,839
— 2 VOLBEAT SEAL THE DEAL & LET’S BOOGIE REPUBLIC 30,491
2 3 BEYONCE LEMONADE COLUMBIA 29,773
— 4 MAREN MORRIS HERO COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 29,140
— 5 DAN + SHAY OBSESSED WARNER BROS. 18,904
5 6 DRAKE VIEWS YMCMB/REPUBLIC 17,757
4 7 BLAKE SHELTON IF I’M HONEST WARNER BROS. NASHVILLE 16,405
— 8 TEGAN AND SARA LOVE YOU TO DEATH WARNER BROS. 14,422
9 BEARTOOTH AGGRESSIVE RED BULL 13,092
1 10 DIERKS BENTLEY BLACK CAPITOL NASHVILLE 11,100
— 11 HELLYEAH UNDEN!ABLE ELEVEN SEVEN 10,873
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12 16 NOW 58 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 8,543 [Zayn, Kelly Clarkson]
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22 20 KEITH URBAN RIPCORD CAPITOL NASHVILLE 6,380 [Carrie Underwood]
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3 32 FIFTH HARMONY 7/27 EPIC 3,501
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— 45 CASSADEE POPE SUMMER EP BMX 2,658
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— 48 MELANIE MARTINEZ CRY BABY WMG 2,415
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— 50 ADELE 21 XL/COLUMBIA 2,150
