Chart Watch: Gaga's New Album Off to a Solid, But Not Spectacular, Start
The numbers are in, and Lady Gaga’s new album Joanne sold 170K copies in its first week — and moved 201K “equivalent album units,” which factors in digital track sales and streaming data in addition to traditional album sales. Just three albums so far this year have rung up greater first-week sales (using the equivalent unit sales metric). They are, in descending order: Drake’s Views (1,039,000), Beyoncé’s Lemonade (653K), and Frank Ocean’s Blonde (276K).
As you can see, that puts Gaga second so far this year among female artists. She is far behind Beyoncé (her duet-mate on the 2010 hit “Telephone”). But she’s comfortably ahead of Ariana Grande, whose third album, Dangerous Woman, moved 175K equivalent units in its first week. So I guess you could say that Gaga’s album is no Lemonade, but it’s not a lemon, either.
Joanne sold more copies in its first week than Cheek to Cheek, Gaga’s Grammy-winning 2014 collabo with Tony Bennett, which sold 131K in its first week. (Billboard hadn’t introduced the concept of “equivalent album units” at that point.) But it sold less than ARTPOP, Gaga’s 2013 solo album, which sold 258K in its first week. (That album was widely viewed as a flop because it didn’t match the sales of its predecessor, Born This Way.)
One problem for Gaga is that Joanne has yet to produce a smash single. “Perfect Illusion,” the first single from the album, peaked at #15. The first singles from each of Gaga’s previous solo albums or EPs reached the top five. They were “Just Dance” (featuring Colby O’Donis, #1 in 2009), “Bad Romance” (#2 in 2010), “Born This Way” (#1 in 2011), and “Applause” (#4 in 2013).
Gaga posted the year’s biggest opening for a pure pop act — that is, an act that doesn’t have an R&B or hip-hop base. In terms of traditional album sales — without factoring in other measurements of popularity — Joanne registered the year’s seventh-largest first-week tally. Views (852K), Lemonade (485K), and Blonde (232K) are out front here too, followed by David Bowie’s Blackstar (174K), Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool (173K), and Blink-182’s California (172K).
Joanne enters the Billboard 200 at #1. Gaga is the first female artist to amass four #1 albums in the 2010s. She surpasses Beyonce and Taylor Swift, each of whom has notched three #1 albums since 2010. And Gaga just missed notching a fifth #1 album in this decade. Her 2008 debut album, The Fame, peaked at #2 in the issue dated Jan. 16, 2010.
Top Albums
Michael Bublé’s Nobody but Me debuts at #2, breaking a string of four consecutive #1 albums by the Canadian crooner. This is Bublé’s first album not to debut at #1 since It’s Time, which debuted and peaked at #7 in February 2005. It’s his seventh top 10 album or EP.
Pentatonix land their sixth top 10 album or EP as A Pentatonix Christmas debuts at #3. Christmas music accounts for three of the vocal group’s top 10 releases. This new album follows the EP PTXmas (#7 in 2012) and the full-length That’s Christmas to Me (#2 in 2014).
That’s Christmas to Me was the most popular Christmas album of both 2014 and 2015. A Pentatonix Christmas is likely to become this year’s most popular Christmas album. That would make Pentatonix the first act to have the top-selling Christmas album three years in a row since Nielsen began tracking U.S. music sales in 1991.
Moreover, it would make Pentatonix the third act to release two different holiday albums that each ranked as the year’s most popular holiday album during the Nielsen era. Harry Connick Jr. had the most popular Christmas album of 1993 with When My Heart Finds Christmas and of 2003 with Harry for the Holidays. Kenny G had the most popular Christmas album of both 1994 and 1996 with Miracles—The Holiday Album and of 1999 with Faith—A Holiday Album.
Korn land their 13th top 10 album as The Serenity of Suffering debuts at #4. This is the rock band’s 11th consecutive studio album to make the top 10. Like Nickelback, Korn are far bigger than their media profile would suggest.
Drake’s Views drops from #2 to #5 in its 26th week. The album spent 13 weeks at #1. It’s the first album to spend its first 26 weeks in the top five since Adele’s 21 in 2011.
Contemporary Christian star Chris Tomlin lands his fourth top 10 album as Never Lose Sight debuts at #6.
The Suicide Squad soundtrack drops from #3 to #7 in its 12th week. The album logged two weeks at #1.
Hamilton dips from #7 to #8 its 57th week. The Broadway cast album peaked at #3 in the wake of the Tony Awards. The album returned to the top 10 due to PBS’ repeated airings of Hamilton’s America, a special about the making of the musical.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra lands its fourth consecutive top 10 album or EP as The Ghosts of Christmas Eve debuts at #9. This is the orchestral rock group’s third album to reference Christmas Eve in its title. It follows 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories and 2004’s The Lost Christmas Eve.
Leonard Cohen lands his second top 10 album as You Want it Darker debuts at #10. Cohen, 82, previously cracked the top 10 with Old Ideas (#3 in 2012). Cohen is one of three Canadian artists in this week’s top 10. Bublé and Drake were also born in Canada. (Cohen is represented on a second album in this week’s top 10. Pentatonix’s album includes Cohen’s much-covered1984 song “Hallelujah.”)
Kings of Leon’s WALLS dives from #1 to #20 in its second week. Only one album has taken a steeper fall from the #1 spot so far this year. That’s The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep…, which plummeted from #1 to #26 on March 16. Six other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. They are: The Game’s 1992, twenty one pilots’ Blurryface, JoJo’s Mad Love, Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman, Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, and Green Day’s Revolution Radio.
Elvis Presley’s The Wonder of You (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) debuts at #47. The album enters the Official U.K. Albums Chart at #1. It’s Presley’s 13th #1 album in the U.K. This enables him to surpass Madonna as the solo artist with the most #1 albums in U.K. chart history.
Look for Kenny Chesney’s Cosmic Hallelujah to debut at #1 next week. Also look for top 10 debuts by Avenged Sevenfold’s The Stage, Jeezy’s Trap or Die 3, and Meek Mill’s DC4.
Top Songs
The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) tops the Hot 100 for the 11th straight week. It’s the first song to log 11 or more weeks at #1 since “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, which had 12 weeks on top in 2015. It’s the first song by a group or duo to spend 11 or more weeks at #1 since the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” logged 14 weeks on top in 2009. (That was also the last time a song that involved a female singer stayed on top this long. Fergie of course is a member of the Peas.)
“Closer” tops the Top Digital Songs chart for the 12th week, even though it sold just 84K copies during the week. That’s the lowest sales total for a song that was #1 on that week’s Digital Songs chart in a little more than 10 years. In October 2006, Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” hung on to the top spot for a second week with sales of just 75K. Then, of course, digital song sales were on their way up. Now, they’re on their way down.
The next six songs on the chart all remain in the same spots as last week. The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) holds at #2 in its sixth week. twenty one pilots’ “Heathens” holds at #3 in its 19th week. DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber) holds at #4 its 12th week. D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” (featuring Lil Yachty) holds at #5 in its 20th week. Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic” holds at #6 its third week.
Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” (featuring Nicki Minaj) jumps from #8 to #7 in its ninth week. It’s this week’s highest-charting song that made an upward move. It switches places with Major Lazer’s “Cold Water” (which features Justin Bieber and MØ), which dips from #7 to #8 its 14th week.
“Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)” by Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall jumps from #13 to #9 in its fifth week. It joins a long line of top 10 hits with titles that include the musical term “beat.” Others include Sandy Nelson’s “Teen Beat” (#4 in 1959), Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On” (#6 in 1967), Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” (#10 in 1976), the Go-Go’s’ “We Got the Beat” (#2 in 1982), and Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” (featuring Nicki Minaj, #5 in 2012). Like Silento’s “Watch Me” and iLoveMemphis’s “Hit the Quan,” both from last year, “Juju on That Beat” succeeded on the strength of homemade dance videos.
Gnash’s “I Hate U I Love U” (featuring Olivia O’Brien) rebounds from #11 to #10 in its 28th week. Gnash is the second artist whose name begins with a silent G to land a top 10 hit. The first was Gnarls Barkley, whose “Crazy” logged seven weeks at #2 in the summer of 2006.
Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) and Shawn Mendes’s “Treat You Better” drop out of the top 10 this week.
Drake’s “Fake Love” is this week’s highest new entry at #24. The song is from Drake’s “playlist” compilation More Life, which is due in December. “Fake Love” contains samples of the O’Jays’ 1972 classic “Back Stabbers.”
Pentatonix’s cover version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is the week’s second-highest new entry at #32. It’s the third version of that prized song to crack the top 40. The most successful version is by Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris featuring Charlie Sexton. Their cover, from the all-star Hope for Haiti Now telethon, reached #13 in 2010. A version by The Voice‘s Matthew Schuler reached #40 in 2013.
Drake’s “Sneakin'” (featuring 21 Savage) is the week’s third-highest new entry at #38. It’s also from the upcoming More Life.
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” tops the 4 million mark in digital sales this week. The spooky song has a resurgence every Halloween season. Jackson was a canny career strategist, but I doubt even he knew that he was creating a seasonal perennial when he recorded this song in 1982.
