Queens of the Stone Age Get First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart
As forecast last week, rock band Queens of the Stone Age earns its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group's new album, ". . . Like Clockwork," opens atop the list with 91,000 sold in its first…
As forecast last week, rock band Queens of the Stone Age earns its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group’s new album, “. . . Like Clockwork,” opens atop the list with 91,000 sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The new set is its first for Matador Records, which also collects its first No. 1 album. The label has tallied two previous top 10 sets: Interpol’s 2010 self-titled release (which debuted and peaked at No. 7) and Cat Power’s 2012 album “Sun” (another album that debuted where it started: No. 10).
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Impressively, “. . . Like Clockwork” sold 12,000 vinyl LPs in its first week — about 13% of its overall sales. It naturally debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart. That’s the second-biggest sales week for a vinyl LP since SoundScan launched the chart in January 2010. The only bigger frame since then? That was two weeks ago, when Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” moved 19,000 LPs in its debut week.
Queens of the Stone Age’s latest release is its first studio effort since 2007’s “Era Vulgaris,” which bowed at No. 14 with 52,000 in its first week. Their best sales frame was with their only previous top 10 effort, 2005’s “Lullabies to Paralyze,” which debuted at No. 5 with 97,000.
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“. . . Like Clockwork” was led by the single “My God Is the Sun,” which topped out at No. 17 on Alternative Songs two weeks ago. This week, it slips 17-19, after spending two weeks at its (so far) peak.
Queens of the Stone Age bumps Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” from No. 1, where it has resided for the past two weeks. This week, the album slips to No. 2 with 62,000 (down 33%). It’s cumulative sales are fast approaching the half-million mark: After three weeks, the set has shifted 494,000.
Coming in at No. 3 is a new arrival from rock act Sleeping With Sirens, which scores its best sales week and highest-charting album ever with “Feel.” The album debuts with 59,000 sold. Twenty-seven percent of the set’s first week consisted of physical albums sold through Internet retailers, fueled by a strong pre-order campaign for the effort.
The band’s last set, 2011’s “Let’s Cheer to This,” debuted and peaked at No. 17 off an 18,000 start (its previous best week). Its first album, 2010’s “With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear,” didn’t chart on the Billboard 200, but did reach No. 7 on our developing artists tally, Heatseekers Albums.
Blake Shelton’s “Based on a True Story . . .” rises one rung to No. 4 this week (36,000; though it’s down 13%), and Darius Rucker’s “True Believers” climbs 6-5 (33,000; down 18%).
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Megadeth notches its highest-charting album since 1994 as “Super Collider” bows at No. 6 with 29,000. While that sales start is less than the 42,000 that greeted its last album, 2011’s “Th1rt3en,” the new album came out during a less competitive time of the year on the chart. (“Th1rt3en” arrived in November of that year, as the busy Christmas shopping season started.) So, “Super Collider”‘s smaller sales start equates to a more elevated chart entry.
Megadeth last charted higher on the Billboard 200 with 1994’s “Youthanasia,” which debuted and peaked at No. 4 with 143,000 sold in its first week. The group’s highest-charting set is 1992’s No. 2-peaking “Countdown to Extinction.”
Back on this week’s Billboard 200, Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” rises 8-7 with 28,000 (down 14%).
Fresh off its success at the 2013 CMT Music Awards, country duo Florida Georgia Line sees its “Here’s to the Good Times” rise 17-8 with 28,000 (up 26%). The set has the largest unit gain on the Billboard 200 this week, gaining by 6,000 copies. The act earned two CMT Music Awards at the June 5 broadcast (for breakthrough video and duo video, both for “Cruise”) and also performed on the show.
Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” stays steady at No. 9 for another week, moving 27,000 (down 14%). It’s the album’s 12th consecutive week in the top 10—its entire chart run.
Closing out the top 10 is Barenaked Ladies, with their new Grinning Streak starting at No. 10 with 26,000. The album is its highest-charting set since 2003’s “Everything to Everyone” also debuted (and peaked) at No. 10.
The Ladies’ latest starts with a slightly stronger sales figure than their last set, 2010’s “All in Good Time,” which launched with 23,000 (at No. 23). Before that, their last regular studio album was 2006’s “Barenaked Ladies Are Me,” which entered at No. 17 with 37,000.
Like Megadeth, Barenaked Ladies’ new album’s smaller sales start yields a high debut, thanks to a less competitive week on the chart.
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Over on the Digital Songs chart, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” featuring T.I. and Pharrell, holds at No. 1, selling 315,000 downloads for the week (up 38%). It’s the first song in nine weeks to sell more than 300,000. The last to do so was Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” which rode a discounted 69-cent sale price in the iTunes Store to a big 340,000 download week at No. 1 (on the chart dated April 20).
Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” profits from the duo’s CMT Music Awards exposure, as it jumps 3-2 with 225,000 (up 15%), its second-best sales week yet. Its biggest week was nine weeks ago, when a just-released pop-friendly remix of the song with Nelly helped boost its sales to 248,000.
Total download sales for “Cruise” jump past the 4 million mark this week as well, as its cumulative total now stands at 4.1 million. It’s only the fifth country song to sell more than 4 million downloads, following Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” (6.1 million), Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” (5.6 million), the Band Perry’s “If I Die Young” (4.6 million) and Swift’s “You Belong With Me” (4.3 million).
Right behind “Cruise” on this week’s Digital Songs chart is Miley Cyrus’ new “We Can’t Stop,” which bows at No. 3 with 214,000. It’s her best sales week for a song since Christmas of 2009, when “Party in the U.S.A.” sold 285,000 downloads.
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“We Can’t Stop” is the first single from Cyrus’ forthcoming studio album, due out later this year. To compare, her last album’s first single (and title track), “Can’t Be Tamed,” debuted on the Digital Songs chart at No. 4 with 191,000 downloads back in 2010.
Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” (featuring Pharrell Williams), remains at No. 4 this week with 193,000 (up 1%), Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” rises 6-5 with 192,000 (up 21%), and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Can’t Hold Us” (featuring Ray Dalton) descends 5-6 with 174,000 (down 6%).
Selena Gomez’s “Come and Get It” is steady at No. 7 (154,000; down 2%), as is P!nk’s “Just Give Me a Reason” (featuring Nate Ruess) at No. 8 (132,000; down 12%). 2 Chainz & Wiz Khalifa’s “We Own It (Fast & Furious)” drops 2-9 with 131,000 (down 37%).
Rounding out the top 10 on the Digital Songs chart is Cassadee Pope’s “Wasting All These Years,” debuting at No. 10 with 125,000. The winner of the third season of NBC’s “The Voice” returned to the show’s stage on June 4 to perform this song, which premiered the same day via digital retailers. It’s the first single from her forthcoming full-length solo debut album; its release date hasn’t yet been announced.
“Wasting” is Pope’s second-largest sales week for a song, surpassed only by “Over You,” which moved 152,000 for a No. 3 debut in late 2012.
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 9) totaled 4.9 million units, up 1% compared with the sum last week (4.8 million) and down 8% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (5.3 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 126.3 million, down 5% compared with the same total at this point last year (133 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.9 million downloads, up 3% compared with last week (24.2 million) and down 2% stacked next to the comparable week of 2012 (25.3 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 604.8 million, down 3% compared with the same total at this point last year (622.2 million).
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: Usher’s “Looking 4 Myself” started at No. 1 with 128,000 while Rush’s “Clockwork Angels” bowed at No. 2 with 103,000.
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