Taylor Swift Returns To #1 On Billboard 200
Posted by Joseph Lee on 12.12.2012
Red is back on top...
Taylor Swift's Red has returned to #1 on the Billboard 200, with 167,000 sold. It sends last week's #1, Alicia Keys' Girl on Fire, all the way down to #7.
This is the album's fourth non-consecutive week at #1. Its first three weeks on top happened all in a row after its debut on November 10. Her three #1 albums have spent a total of 21 weeks at the top. She is tied with Whitney Houston and Jay-Z for fourth-most weeks at #1 since SoundScan tracked sales in May of 1991. Garth Brooks has the most with 51 weeks, followed by Eminem (29) and Adele (24 - all from 21).
The highest debut came from Wiz Khalifa's second album O.N.I.F.C. with 141,000. His debut album, 2011's Rolling Papers, also debuted at #2 but with a larger amount in 197,000.
The second highest debut goes to Ke$ha's Warrior, which hits #6 with 85,000. It follows her previous albums Animal (debuted at #1 with 152,000), Cannibal and remix album I Am the Dance Commander + I Command You to Dance. Animal had an advantage in that it was released in January, a slow sales month. The only highest entry when Animal debuted was #27, which was Katharine McPhee's Unbroken (15,000). They were two of only seven debuts that week. Animal was enough to dethrone Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream after six weeks on top, knocking it to #2 with 93,000 (down from 137,000 the week before).
1. Taylor Swift - Red (167,000)
2. Wiz Khalifa - O.N.I.F.C. (141,000)
3. Rod Stewart - Merry Christmas, Baby (127,000)
4. One Direction - Take Me Home (107,000)
5. Michael Buble - Christmas (106,000)
6. Ke$ha - Warrior (85,000)
7. Alicia Keys - Girl on Fire (77,000)
8. Blake Shelton - Cheers, It's Christmas (68,000)
9. Phillip Phillips - The World From the Side of the Moon (65,000)
10. Florida Georgia Line - Here's to the Good times (63,000)
Album sales this week totaled 8.45 million, up 12% compared to last week (7.52 million) and down 14% compared to last year (9.77 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 283.76 million, down 4% compared with the same total at this point last year (296.54 million).
