Of Always‘s 169,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week that ended on December 24, album sales comprised just under 102,000 (34% lower), SEA units comprised 66,000 (61% lower, which equates to 86.15 million on-demand streams of the songs of the album) and TEA units consist of a little over 1,000 (with 85% less).
AlwaysThe second week is aided by the arrival of the album on CD on December 18th. The set is only available as a digital download in the first week of release. The cassettes and vinyl LP configurations should appear in 2021.
Always is the companion of her previous number 1 album Folklore, which bent on top of the Billboard 200 on August 8th. Folklore drops 3-8 on the new Billboard 200 with 53,000 equivalent album units (61% lower). Both albums were released with little prior notice.
Paul McCartney’s McCartney III debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with 105,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that amount, 102,000 goes to album sales – making it the best-selling album of the week, as it debuted at number one in the Top Album sales. SEA units consist of 3,000 units (equivalent to 4.12 million on-demand streams from the album’s tracks), and TEA units consist of an insignificant number.
McCartney IIIThe strong sales have been helped by its availability in many CD and vinyl LP editions, including versions with alternative cover art or colored vinyl. The album was released in more than ten vinyl variants, selling a combined 32,000 copies – the third biggest sales week for a vinyl album since Nielsen Music / MRC Data began to follow in 199 electronic music sales. Only Jack White’s debut weeks Lazaretto (40,000) and Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy (34,000) was larger. McCartney III is naturally also in first place on the weekly vinyl album chart, which occupies the top-selling vinyl records of the week. Tell me everything, McCartney III is McCartney’s 21st top 10 album on the Billboard 200. It features his solo recordings and his albums with Wings.
Notably, McCartney is the first act that has brought a new album to the top two in the last six decades. He reached the top two in the 1970s eight times and once each in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, 10s and 20s. (McCartney is also only the third industry with new top 10 albums in the last six decades, along with Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor. McCartney and Springsteen are also the only pieces with new top five albums in the last six decades.)
Back on the new Billboard 200, Eminem’s former no. 1 Music to kill by rises from number 199 to number 3 after the album was surprised on December 18 in a luxury edition with 16 bonus tracks. The luxury redux is christened Music to Kill by: Side B. The original 20-track album was surprisingly released on January 17th and had its first premiere on February 1st. For tracking purposes, all versions of the album, new and old, are combined.
In the detection week ending on December 24, Music to kill by earned 94,000 equivalent album units (1,125% higher). Of that amount, SEA units accounted for 57,000 (761% higher, equivalent to 82.01 million streams on demand from the 36 tracks), album sales accounted for 33,000 (3401% higher) and TEA units consisted of 4000 (3.868% higher) .
With the latest detection week ending on December 24, Christmas Eve, the top 10 of the Billboard 200 is particularly festive, as six holidays abound in the region, mostly driven by streamlining activities of their seasonal songs. (The Top 10 held six holiday sets on the January 5, 1959 date, when Mitch Miller’s Christmas sings with Mitch were tops and the entire top five were Christmas titles.)
Michael Bublé’s former no. 1 is the top six-pack holiday albums in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 Christmas, which is steady at number 4 with 77,000 equivalent album units (33% higher). Mariah Carey’s Merry christmas jump 10-5 (60,000; with 36%), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas carol Carrie Underwood’s 2020 release reaches a new high as it climbs 8-6 by 60,000 units (33% higher than the previous point of number 7) My gift (the latest holiday album in the top 10) is 6-7 (57,000; up 21%) and Pentatonix’s The best of Pentatonix Christmas rings 13-9 (51,000; 24% higher).
Finally, the soundtrack of Vince Guaraldi Trio to A Christmas by Charlie Brown reaches the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for the first time, as the album rises 12-10 (earning 50,000 equivalent album units; 20% higher). The set was released in 1965 as the companion album for the animated TV specialist and did not reach one Billboard ranking until 1987. That year it debuted on the Top Holiday Albums chart, where it later peaked at 2 (January 27, 2007).