Les Miserables Soundtrack Takes #1 On Billboard 200
Posted by Joseph Lee on 01.09.2013
Swift gets dethroned again...
The soundtrack for Les Miserables is #1 on the Billboard 200 with 92,000 copies sold.
It is the first #1 soundtrack on the top since the Hunger Games did it on April 7, 2012. The last musical film soundtrack to do it was Hannah Montana: The Movie on May 2, 2009. The last stage musical turned movie musical to do it was Mamma Mia in 2008. Les Mis managed to beat the odds to get #1 against a 32% sales decline and Babel climbing up the chart from #8 (it settles for #2) with 91,000 sold. Only 1,000 copies separate the #1 and #2 albums this week. It's the smallest gap since the July 14, 2002 chart when Linkin Park's Living Things beat Maroon 5's Overexposed for the top spot by a little over 1,000, just a few hundred units less than this time.
This is also the first time that no album has sold over 100,000 since October 27, 2012, when Babel sold 96,000 copies in its third week at #1. This is the weakest weak for a #1 entry since September 15, when tobyMac's Eye On It got #1 with 69,000.
The soft sales are due to the lack of major new releases and the post-Christmas slowing down in the markets. Babel had a 34% sales increase because it was priced for $6.99 in the iTunes Store last week for a limited amount of time. It was featured on the front page and in the new release section, even though it's been out a month. 83% of its sales were downloads. Other artists to benefit from iTunes promotions and sales this week include Phillip Phillips, Alicia Keys and Pink.
1. Les Miserables soundtrack (92,000)
2. Mumford & Sons - Babel (91,000)
3. Taylor Swift - Red (69,000)
4. Phillip Phillips - The World From the Side of the Moon (63,000)
5. One Direction - Take Me Home (61,000)
6. Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox (55,000)
7. Pitch Perfect soundtrack (52,000)
8. The Lumineers - The Lumineers (51,000)
9. Alicia Keys - Girl on Fire (44,000)
10. Pink - The Truth About Love (41,000)
Album sales this week totaled 6.26 million, down 36% compared to last week and up 8% compared to last year (5.80 million).
