A$AP Rocky’s debut album, Long.Live.A$AP, enters The Billboard 200 at #1. It’s the first debut album to top the chart since 2 Chainz’s solo debut Based On A T.R.U. Story opened at #1 in August. 2 Chainz is featured on A$AP’s hit single “Fu**in’ Problems,” along with Drake and Kendrick Lamar. (Drake also reached #1 with his first full-length album, Thank Me Later.)
Long.Live.A$AP sold 96K digital copies (out of 139K total), which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums.
“Fu**in’ Problems,” which has sold 854K digital copies, broke into the top 20 on last week’s Hot 100. It is vying to become the third top 10 hit on Billboard’s flagship chart with “the F word” in the title, following Cee Lo Green’s “F**k You (Forget You)” and P!nk’s “Fu**in’ Perfect.” Those songs both reached #2.
Kidz Bop Kids’ Kidz Bop 23 debuts at #2. It’s the 16th installment in this long-running franchise to reach the top 10. That makes it one of the most successful franchises in music history. The leader is the Now franchise, which has spawned 49 top 10 albums (all 44 regular installments plus two Christmas albums, two country albums and a #1’s collection). The Glee franchise has spawned 14 top 10 albums and EPs. The Grammy Nominees franchise has spawned 11 top 10 albums (with a 12th due next week. See Coming Attractions).
Kidz Bop 23 is the fifth volume in this series to reach #2 (none as yet have hit #1).
The Pitch Perfect soundtrack jumps from #5 to #3. This puts Pitch Perfect at #1 on the Top Soundtracks chart, ending Les Miserables’ four-week run on top. Pitch Perfect was a sleeper hit movie. It grossed a little less than $65 million in its theatrical run, a mark that Les Miz topped in its opening weekend.
Taylor Swift’s Red holds at #4 for the second week. The album is #1 on Top Country Albums for the 13th week. It’s the first album by a female solo artist to spend its first 13 weeks at #1 on the country chart since LeAnn Rimes’ Blue was #1 for its first 16 weeks in 1996. (If you’re wondering about Swift’s Fearless, it was #1 for its first 12 weeks, but then was bounced for a week by Dierks Bentley’s Feel That Fire.) Swift's streak will end here, at least for now, as Gary Allan's Set You Free will debut at #1 next week.
Les Miz drops from #3 to #6 in its fifth week. This is its fourth week in the top 10. That’s the longest run in the top 10 for the soundtrack from a movie that was based on a Broadway show since Mamma Mia! logged 10 weeks in the top 10 in the summer of 2008.
Les Miz jumps to #1 on The Official U.K. chart this week, two weeks after reaching #1 in the U.S. It’s the first movie soundtrack to reach #1 in both countries since Titanic in 1998. It’s the first soundtrack to a movie that was based on a stage musical to reach #1 in both countries since Grease in 1978. That soundtrack, featuring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, held the top spot in the U.S. for 12 weeks and in the U.K. for 13 weeks.
Five other soundtracks to movies that were based on stage musicals have hit #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. Remarkably, four of the musicals were written by the same team—Rodgers & Hammerstein (Oklahoma!, The King And I, South Pacific and The Sound Of Music). The fifth is West Side Story, which was co-written by Leonard Bernstein and a young Stephen Sondheim.
Phillip Phillips’ The World From The Side Of The Moon rebounds from #14 to #8. This is its seventh week in the top 10. It’s the first debut album by an American Idol winner to log seven or more weeks in the top 10 since Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts spent 30 weeks in the top 10 from 2005 to 2007.
Phillips’ smash single “Home” this week surpasses Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” in total digital sales. “Home” is now second only to Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)” as the best-selling song by any American Idol contestant. “Stronger” has sold 4,068,000 copies. “Home” is up to 3,728,000. “Before He Cheats” has sold 3,687,000.
Mumford & Sons’ Babel rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 17th week. The group’s Sigh No More advances from #39 to #38. The group is the only act with two albums in this week’s top 40.
“Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz is #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the second week (341K). It holds off “Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z, which debuts at #2 (315K). Will “Thrift Shop” move up to #1 on the Hot 100, or can Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven” eek out a seventh week on top? You’ll find out later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.
Here’s the low-down on this week’s top 10 albums.
The Top Five: A$AP Rocky’s Long.Live.A$AP debuts at #1 (139K). It’s his first top 10 album... Kidz Bop Kids’ Kidz Bop 23 debuts at #2 (78K)…The Pitch Perfect soundtrack jumps from #5 to #3 in its 13th chart week (45K). This is its fourth week in the top 10…Taylor Swift’s Red holds at #4 for the second week in its 13th week (41K). It has ranked in the top five the entire time… Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox rebounds from #6 to #5 in its sixth week (39K). It has ranked in the top 10 the entire time.
The Second Five: The Les Miserables soundtrack drops from #3 to #6 in its fifth week (39K). This is its fourth week in the top 10…The Lumineers’ The Lumineers jumps from #8 to #7 in its 42nd week (38K). This is its fourth week in the top 10… Phillip Phillips’ The World From The Side Of The Moon rebounds from #14 to #8 in its ninth week (25K). This is its seventh week in the top 10…Mumford & Sons’ Babel rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 17th week (25K). This is its 11th week in the top 10… One Direction’s Take Me Home holds at #10 for the second week in its 10th week (23K).
Chris Tomlin’s Burning Lights drops from #1 to #22. It’s the first album to tumble from #1 out of the top 10 since Adam Lambert’s Trespassing fell from #1 to #12 in May. It’s the biggest fall for a non-holiday album since Mac Miller’s Blue Slide Park slid from #1 to #24 in November 2011.
Three other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Hollywood Undead’s Notes From The Underground drops from #2 to #31. Black Veil Brides’ Wretched And Divine: The Story Of The Wild Ones drops from #7 to #41…Dropkick Murphys’ Signed & Sealed In Blood drops from #9 to #44.
The Tenors’ Lead With Your Heart debuts at #21. This is the highest-charting album to date for the group, which was formerly known as the Canadian Tenors…Yo La Tengo’s 13th studio album Fade debuts at #26…Katie Armiger’s Fall Into Me debuts at #32.
The Civil Wars’ Unplugged On VH1 debuts at #34. It’s the highest-charting Unplugged album in a little more than six years, since Korn’s MTV Unplugged hit #9 in March 2007. Most of the Unplugged albums that have made the chart over the years have had MTV in their title. This is the first to identify sister channel VH1 since The Corrs’ 2002 album VH-1 Presents The Corrs: Live In Dublin. This is The Civil Wars’ second top 40 album: Barton Hallow reached #10.
Bruno Mars’ Doo-Wops & Hooligans jumps from #65 to #59 in its 118th week. It’s #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the third straight week…Kid Rock’s 1999 album Devil Without A Cause re-enters the chart at #60. If it had sold 50 additional copies, it would have been the week’s #1 catalog title.
Adele’s Live At Royal Albert Hall returns to the #1 spot on Top Music Videos for the first time since May. This is its 25th week on top. This extends its record for the longest-running #1 music video by a female artist.
Mama was #1 at the box-office over the weekend, dislodging Zero Dark Thirty, which dips to #2. Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain stars in both movies.
Coming Attractions: Gary Allan's Set You Free is expected to debut at #1 next week, with sales in the 80K range. 2013 Grammy Nominees will debut around #6, with sales in the 35K range. Randy Houser's How Country Feels will open around #10, with sales in the 24K range. Also due: the CD version of 12-12-12 The Concert For Sandy Relief (about 17K) plus Aaron Neville’s My True Story and Trapt’s Reborn.
