Bruce Springsteen Scores 11th No. 1 Album on Billboard 200
Bruce Springsteen earns his 11th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 this week with the arrival of “High Hopes.”
The set, which Columbia Records released Jan. 14, sold 99,000 copies through the week ending Jan. 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
With the No. 1 debut, Springsteen pulls ahead of Elvis Presley to stand alone as the act with the third-most No. 1s in the history of the Billboard 200. Ahead of both acts on the all-time list are the Beatles (with 19 No. 1s) and Jay Z (with 13).
Springsteen’s first No. 1 album was “The River,” released in 1980. He has since followed it up with chart-toppers through the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s. Having already claimed a No. 1 in the 2010s (2012’s “Wrecking Ball”), Springsteen remains the only act to have achieved No. 1 albums in each of the last four decades.
“High Hopes” is Springsteen’s first studio album (released since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking data in 1991) to debut with fewer than 100,000 copies. His SoundScan-era high came when 2002’s “The Rising” powered through 525,000 copies in its first week, easily debuting at No. 1.
“High Hopes” sold particularly strong with Internet retailers, thanks largely to Amazon.com. The company carried an exclusive CD/DVD version of the album, with the DVD sporting a full-length concert of Springsteen and his E Street Band performing the entire “Born in the U.S.A.” album.
Through Internet sellers, the physical version of “High Hopes” sold nearly 37,000 copies for the week — the largest week for an album sold via the Internet since last May. Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” was the last biggest seller through the ‘net, when it shifted 38,000 in its debut frame. That sum was largely due to Web-based orders of the vinyl LP version of the album. The vinyl set accounted for 12,000 of that 38,000 Internet total.
(As for the vinyl version of “High Hopes,” it sold a little more than 2,000 copies in its first week.)
In total, “High Hopes” sold 74,000 physical copies last week, easily making it the week’s top-selling physical album. On the digital side of things, “High Hopes” sold 26,000 downloads, the fourth-largest-selling digital album of the week.
Last week’s Billboard 200 No. 1, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen,” slips to No. 2 to with 87,000 (though it’s up 2% in sales). The album is in its eighth week on the list, and has spent the past three weeks locked in one of the top two rungs. In turn,it’s the first soundtrack to spend three weeks in the top two since May 2009, when “Hannah Montana: The Movie” spent seven nonconsecutive frames in the region.
The long-running “Kidz Bop” series collects its 18th top 10 album, as “Kidz Bop 25” bows at No. 3 with 76,000. The franchise, which features kid-friendly covers of popular songs, collects its 39th charting album in total with the arrival of “Kidz Bop 25.” In addition to the 25 numbered albums, the “Kidz Bop” franchise has spawned themed collections like “Kidz Bop Christmas,” “Kidz Bop Sings the Beatles” and “Kidz Bop Halloween Hits!”
Behind “Kidz” this week is Beyonce’s self-titled album, which falls 2-4 with 61,000.
Two more new entries arrive in the top 10: Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles with her solo debut, “That Girl,” and rock band Switchfoot with “Fading West.” The former starts at No. 5 with 54,000, while Switchfoot steps in at No. 6 with 39,000.
As one-half of Sugarland (with singer/guitarist Kristian Bush), Nettles racked up six earlier albums on the Billboard 200, with three of them hitting No. 1. The pair topped the list with “Love on the Inside” in 2008, the live set “Live on the Inside” the following year and then “The Incredible Machine” in 2010. Collectively, Sugarland’s albums have sold 9.9 million copies in the United States, according to SoundScan.
“That Girl” also arrives at No. 1 on the Country Albums chart.
Meanwhile, Switchfoot garners its third top 10 album on the Billboard 200 with “Fading West.” It’s the act’s highest-charting set since 2005’s “Nothing Is Sound” debuted and peaked at No. 5. “Fading West” also gives the act its fifth No. 1 on the Christian Albums chart, following “Vice Verses,” “Oh! Gravity,” “Nothing Is Sound” and “The Beautiful Letdown.”
Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” is up next on the Billboard 200 this week, dipping two slots to No. 7 with 31,000. Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” falls four rungs to No. 8 with 29,000 (down 19%), and Katy Perry’s “PRISM” descends 7-9 with 22,000 (down 2%). Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” rounds out the top 10, falling one spot to No. 10 with 20,000 (though it’s up by 17%).
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J, remains at No. 1 with 261,000 downloads sold (up 7%). Meanwhile, a Great Big World & Christina Aguilera’s “Say Something” rises one spot to No. 2 with 208,000 (down 4%).
Pitbull’s “Timber,”featuring Ke$ha, drops 2-3 with 202,000 (down 11%), and Aloe Blacc’s “The Man” rises 7-4 with 165,000 (up 19%).
OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” descends 4-5 with 156,000 (down 15%) while Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty,” featuring 2 Chainz, flies 18-6 with 148,000 (up 84%).
Eminem’s “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, slides 5-7 with 136,000 (down 16%), Lorde’s “Team” is stationary at No. 8 with 133,000 (up 7%), and Passenger’s “Let Her Go” falls 6-9 with 130,000 (down 12%). Bastille’s “Pompeii” closes out the top 10, falling one spot to No. 10, with 129,000 (up 4%).
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Jan. 19) totaled 4.4 million units, up 4% compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 11% compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 14.1 million, down 14% compared with the same total at this point last year (16.3 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.1 million downloads, down 6% compared with last week (25.6 million) and down 13% stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (27.8 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 80.3 million, down 12% compared with the same total at this point last year (91.2 million).