The “Empire” soundtrack opens at number one on the BB200, number 2 in sales.
It was a bit of a nail-biter, with Madonna leading in sales for a while, but “Empire” pulled off the official number one with stronger TEAs/SEAs. Early on, the pundits had predicted only about 25K in sales, but ever the one to confound conventional wisdom, Empire showed once again that it’s what people want. BB usually waits until Wednesday morning to declare the winner, but they posted it last night. Empire moved 110K in actual albums and a further 17K of TEAs and 3K in SEAs for a total of 130K. The big finale is tonight, so expect some more units to be moved. Of Idol note, not only was the Idol performance given partial credit for helping to boost sales past Madonna, Jennifer Hudson also appears on the album.
Meanwhile, we have Madge and a meltdown. They had to lock the HDD post on Pulse. Madonna has had an amazing career and not many have had longer. But, every once and a while you get beaten. She does have the number one selling album of the week with 116K in sales making up 96% of her BB total. Madonna has ardent fans and they want the entire album. No popular single means no new fans and very little on the TEAs and SEAs front. Just 4K and 1K respectively. 116K is quite a tumble from her previous album MDNA which opened with 359K, but that is largely due to a failed ticket bundling strategy this time around. MDNA’s ticket bundling boosted sales by 180K while “Rebel Heart” did about 10K. She’s going to sell out every concert, but the tickets are not available for bundling everywhere this time around.
Luke Bryan and his regular Spring Break release holds 3 on both chart, Fifty Shades switches up a spot with Taylor switching down on the combined chart (4/5) while Sam, Drake and Ed hold 6,7 and 8 on both charts. Maroon 5 moves up 3 spots for 9th on the combined and Big Sean is 10th.
Lots of reality competitors on both chart. Kelly is 9th in sales (respectable 2nd week fall of 68%) and 12th on combined. Olly Murs opens with 33rd on sales and 39th on combined. Chase Rise from Survivor moves enough units to be 42 on sales before falling off the combined. Carrie Underwood is 47 in sales, 50 on combined. One Direction is 50th in sales and 37th on combined. Fifth Harmony is off the sales chart, but 37th on combined.
Here is a BB article on Idol winners on the BB200
Sales Chart
LW TW Artist / Album Label Sales Index % Change
— 1 MADONNA REBEL HEART INTERSCOPE 116,472 —
— 2 EMPIRE CAST SOUNDTRACK, SEASON 1 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX/COLUMBIA 107,140 —
— 3 LUKE BRYAN SPRING BREAK…CHECKIN’ OUT CAPITOL NASHVILLE 83,658 —
3 4 TAYLOR SWIFT 1989 BIG MACHINE 39,145 -7%
2 5 FIFTY SHADES OF GREY SOUNDTRACK REPUBLIC 36,606 -36%
9 6 SAM SMITH IN THE LONELY HOUR CAPITOL 29,234 -2%
4 7 DRAKE IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE YMCMB/REPUBLIC 28,362 -27%
7 8 ED SHEERAN X ATLANTIC 28,088 -13%
1 9 KELLY CLARKSON PIECE BY PIECE RCA 25,911 -68%
10 10 NOW 53 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW/LEGACY 24,281 -11%
…
16 15 MAROON 5 V 222/INTERSCOPE 18,080 -5%
…
— 33 OLLY MURS NEVER BEEN BETTER EPIC 7,449 —
…
— 42 CHASE RICE IGNITE THE NIGHT DACK JANIELS 5,701 —
…
48 47 CARRIE UNDERWOOD GREATEST HITS: DECADE #1 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 5,217 -10%
…
— 50 ONE DIRECTION FOUR SYCO/COLUMBIA 4,619 -7%
Sales Plus Streaming Chart (sales+track equivalent albums+stream equivalent albums)
LW TW Artist / Album Label SPS Index % Change [TEAs/SEAS, Position Change]
— 1 EMPIRE CAST SOUNDTRACK, SEASON 1 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX/COLUMBIA 128,640 — [21.5K, +1]
— 2 MADONNA REBEL HEART INTERSCOPE 121,972 — [5.5K, -1]
— 3 LUKE BRYAN SPRING BREAK…CHECKIN’ OUT CAPITOL NASHVILLE 95,158 — [11.5K, 0]
2 4 FIFTY SHADES OF GREY SOUNDTRACK REPUBLIC 72,106 -24% [35.5K, +1]
3 5 TAYLOR SWIFT 1989 BIG MACHINE 63,145 -15% [24K, -1]
8 6 SAM SMITH IN THE LONELY HOUR CAPITOL 60,634 35% [31K, 0]
4 7 DRAKE IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE YMCMB/REPUBLIC 58,862 -17% [30.5K, 0]
5 8 ED SHEERAN X ATLANTIC 51,288 -12% [25K, 0]
7 9 MAROON 5 V 222/INTERSCOPE 45,580 -2% [27.5K, +6]
6 10 BIG SEAN DARK SKY PARADISE DEF JAM 36,460 -30% [17.5K, +3]
…
1 12 KELLY CLARKSON PIECE BY PIECE RCA 33,911 -65% [8K, -3]
…
18 19 NOW 53 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW/LEGACY 24,281 -11% [0K, -9]
…
— 35 FIFTH HARMONY REFLECTION EPIC 11,441 -4% [Not on Sales Chart]
…
39 37 ONE DIRECTION FOUR SYCO/COLUMBIA 11,119 -8% [5.5K, +13]
…
— 39 OLLY MURS NEVER BEEN BETTER EPIC 10,449 — [3K, -6]
…
— 50 CARRIE UNDERWOOD GREATEST HITS: DECADE #1 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 8,717 -28% [3.5K, -3]
