Big Sean’s ‘Dark Sky Paradise’ Debuts Atop U.S. Album Chart

It’s been a good year for album debuts.

Three new albums debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 chart for the week ending March 1, according to data from Nielsen Music.

In keeping with a recent pattern, the chart’s top spot was claimed by a new addition: Big Sean’s “Dark Sky Paradise,” which moved 173,000 units in its first week. The Detroit rapper’s third collection likely benefited from wide airplay of the inescapable single “I Don’t F— With You,” and a music video for “Blessings” that also dropped this week, with appearances and verses by Billboard veterans Drake and Kanye West, who exec produced the album.

Second place belongs to Kid Rock’s latest outing, “First Kiss,” which moved 146,000 units in its first week. The rocker’s eighth studio release also marks his eighth appearance in the top 10, and also his first Warner Bros. release after years with Atlantic, according to Billboard.

Chris Brown and Tyga’s collaboration, “Fan of a Fan,” is the third new release to enter the top 10, having moved 67,000 units, good for No. 7 on the chart.

Apart from the chart’s three newbies, the past week in sales was mostly business as usual, with the “Fifty Shades of Grey” soundtrack holding onto the third slot with 108,000 units moved, a 35% drop from last week as the film’s release date fades farther from memory. Drake’s record-breaking “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” which debuted at No. 1, slid into fourth place with 98,000 units sold, down 47% from his No. 2 perch last week.

Despite Imagine Dragons’ chart-topping premiere of “Smoke + Mirrors” last week, the Las Vegas-based quartet had a mighty slip all the way to No. 9, down 72% with 55,000 units.

Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which had a massive debut at No. 1, continues its slow fizzle, down 15% and one spot on the chart with 78,000 units in fifth place. Don’t feel too sorry for Tay, though — she’s got Gaga on her side.

The dynamic duo of soulful male Brits Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith both maintain a solid footing in the chart’s latter half, with Sheeran’s “X” down just 10% and one chart notch at No. 6 with 73,000 units moved, and Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” dropping two spots to No. 8 with 60,000 units, down 17%.

Maroon V brings up the rear in tenth place, with “V” moving 49,000 last week. Though the pop-rockers moved to the chart’s bottom after coming in seventh last week, sales of “V” were actually up by 6%.

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