Taylor Swift's '1989': Best Chart Showing Since Usher's 'Confessions'

Paul Grein
·Writer
Updated

Taylor Swift's 1989 logs its ninth week at #1 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first album to spend nine of its first 11 weeks at #1 since Usher's Confessions in 2004. It’s the first album by a female artist to spend nine of its first 11 weeks at #1 since Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992-‘93.

Here are the details on these three albums. Swift’s album was dethroned for one week each by One Direction's FOUR and J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive. Usher’s album was #1 for all but two of its first 11 weeks. It was dethroned for one week each by D12's D12 World and Avril Lavigne's Under My Skin. Houston’s album was #1 for all but one of its first 14 weeks. It was nosed out in its first week by Ice Cube's The Predator. (That still amazes me, but it shows how big rap was and is.)

Swift’s album is her first to log nine or more weeks at #1 since Fearless logged 11 weeks at #1 in 2008-09. 1989 moved 155K “equivalent units” this week (which includes 111K in actual album sales). (As always, the rest of the tally reflects digital track sales and streaming activity.) The album has sold 3.94 million copies to date.

Ed Sheeran's x inches up from #3 to #2 in its 29th week. The album, which debuted at #1 in June, moved 76K units this week (which includes 34K in actual album sales).

Nicki Minaj's The Pinkprint dips from its #2 peak to #3 in its fourth chart week.The album moved 60K units this week (which includes 34K in actual album sales).

Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour, which has climbed as high as #2, holds at #4 for the second week in its 30th week. The album moved 57K units this week (which includes 30K in actual album sales). The album returns to #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart. This is its fifth week on top. That’s the longest run at #1 in the U.K. for a debut album since Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events logged 10 weeks on top in 2012-‘13. It’s the longest run at #1 for a debut album by a male artist since James Blunt's Back to Bedlam logged 10 weeks on top in 2005-‘06.

Rae Sremmurd's debut album, SremmLife, is this week’s top new entry at #5. (It’s the only new entry in the top 30.) The hip-hop duo from Mississippi is signed to Mike WiLL Made-It's label, EarDrummers Entertainment. The album was preceded by three singles, “No Flex Zone,” “No Type,” and “Throw Sum Mo,” which features Nicki Minaj and Young Thug. SremmLife moved 49K units this week (which includes 34K in actual album sales).

Hozier's Hozier, which debuted and peaked at #2 in October, holds at #6 for the second week in its 14th week. The album moved 49K units this week (which includes 20K in actual album sales).

J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive, which debuted at #1 last month, holds at #7 for the second week in its fifth week. The album moved 45K units this week (which includes 34K in actual album sales). This was Nielsen SoundScan’s  #1 rap album of 2014. It sold 577K copies during the year, 40K more than the runner-up among rap albums, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (which was the #1 rap album of 2013). Here’s the rest of the top five: Iggy Azalea's The New Classic (454K), Rick Ross's Mastermind (397K) and ScHoolboy Q's Oxymoron (353K).

Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. 1, which spent two weeks at #1 in August,drops from #5 to #8 in its 24th week. The album moved 35K units this week (all actual album sales). This is the 60th consecutive week that at least one soundtrack has appeared in the top 20 on The Billboard 200. Guardians holds at #1 on Top Soundtracks for the 15th week.

One Direction's FOUR, which debuted at #1 in November, holds at #9 for the second week in its eighth week. The album moved 32K units this week (which includes 17K in actual album sales).

Ariana Grande's My Everything, which debuted at #1 in August, holds at #10 for the third week in its 20th week. The album moved 28K units this week (which includes a mere 7K in actual album sales).

Sam Hunt's Montevallo rebounds from #19 to #12 in its 11th week. The album returns to #1 on Top Country Albums, where it debuted in November.

AC/DC's 1980 blockbuster Back in Black jumps from #73 to #70 in its 160th chart week. It returns to #1 on Top Catalog Albums. This is its eighth week on top of that chart. Back in Black was the third album — and the first studio album — to top the catalog chart in the Nielsen SoundScan era (which began in May 1991). The first two albums to do this were The Best of the Righteous Brothers (which surged due to the appearance of “Unchained Melody” in the movie Ghost) and Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.

Coming Attractions: Look for Meghan Trainor's Title to debut at #1 next week, with first-week action in the 225K range. Also due: Kidz Bop Kids' Kidz Bop 27 (70K), Mark Ronson's Uptown Special (60K), Jazmine Sullivan's Reality Show (28K), and Ella Henderson's Chapter One (27K).

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