The Conversation (0)
ENHYPEN lands its fifth top 10-charting effort on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated June 17) as the Korean pop group’s Dark Blood bows at No. 2 with 85,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending June 8 (up 31,696%) according to Luminate. It’s the best sales week yet for the act. The album was released as a digital download on May 22, but its CD release on June 2 prompts its debut on the Top Album Sales chart.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Stray Kids, Jelly Roll, Foo Fighters, Avenged Sevenfold, Rancid and Bob Dylan all see their latest releases debut.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new June 17, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on June 13. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Dark Blood was issued in collectible CD packages (17 total, including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, the Weverse store and a signed edition sold through the group’s official webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized elements (photo cards, post cards, photo books). Of Dark Blood’s 85,000 copies sold in the week ending June 8, CD sales comprise 99.4% of the sum, with the rest in digital download album sales. The set was not released in any other configuration (such as vinyl or cassette).
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Stray Kids blast in with 5-STAR, selling 235,000 copies – the largest sales week ever for the Korean pop act and the biggest for any album in 2023. It’s the third chart-topper for the ensemble, following MAXIDENT and ODDINARY, both in 2022.
The CD edition of 5-STAR was available in collectible CD packages (18 total, including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and a signed edition in the group’s webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized elements (photo cards, mini posters, sticker sets, photo books). There were also four alternative digital versions of the album, sold only in the act’s webstore, each containing the base song tracklist, but with alternative covers and bonus voice memos from individual members of the eight-member group, each selling for $6.99.
Nearly all of 5-STAR’s first-week album sales were CDs (98%; 231,000), with about 2% from digital album sales (about 4,000). The set was not available in any other configuration.
Jelly Roll jumps in at No. 3 with his first top 10-charting album, Whitsitt Chapel, selling 63,000 copies – his best sales week. Whitsitt’s sales were aided by three vinyl LPs (including a color variant exclusive for Walmart), a standard CD, a signed CD sold through Jelly Roll’s webstore, a deeply discounted digital album (only $4.20 for a limited time during the tracking week in his webstore), nine deluxe CD boxed sets that included branded merch and a copy of the CD and a “hymnal” Zine/CD package.
Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are debuts at No. 4 with 55,000 copies sold – the band’s 12th top 10-charting set. It was available in relatively few iterations for purchase – compared to other new albums that bowed the same day. But Here We Are was only released as a standard CD, cassette, digital download an album and two vinyl variants (a black vinyl and a white-colored vinyl). Despite its basic vinyl offerings, it still sold well on wax, with 23,000 of its sales on vinyl (it debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart). The new studio album is the first since the act’s drummer Taylor Hawkins died in early 2022.
Avenged Sevenfold bows at No. 5 with Life Is But a Dream…, selling 28,000 copies in its first week. It’s the sixth top 10 for the rock band. The set’s sales were supported by its availability across a dozen vinyl variants, resulting in 11,000 vinyl sales and a No. 2 bow on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights falls 1-6 with 24,000 sold (down 88%).
Bob Dylan’s new Shadow Kingdom starts at No. 7 with nearly 12,000 sold, mostly from CD sales (7,000). The album was only available in three configurations – a CD, digital download album and vinyl LP.
SEVENTEEN’s former No. 1 SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML dips 3-8 with 9,000 sold (down 27%).
Rock act Rancid rounds out the debuts in the top 10, as its new studio effort Tomorrow Never Comes bows at No. 9 with a little more than 8,000 sold. It’s the second top 10-charting effort for the veteran band.
Closing out the top 10 is the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack, falling 4-10 with 8,000 sold (down 22%).
In the week ending June 8, there were 2.102 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 16.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.732 million (up 27.6%) and digital albums comprised 370,000 (down 16.6%).
There were 960,000 CD albums sold in the week ending June 8 (up 59.4% week-over-week) and 762,000 vinyl albums sold (up 2%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 15.480 million (up 6.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 21.098 million (up 24.3%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 45.032 million (up 9.8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 35.816 million (up 15.8%) and digital album sales total 8.216 million (down 11.1%).
www.billboard.com
