Album Sales: Jack White's 'Blunderbuss' debuts at No. 1; The Wanted can't compete with One Direction
After records with the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, Jack White released his first solo record this week โ and earned the first no. 1 album of his career.
Blunderbuss entered the Billboard 200 at the top with sales of 138,000. That was enough to put him ahead of new debuts from Lee Brice, Kip Moore, and The Wanted, whose EP couldn't overtake the seventh-week sales of "rivals" One Direction.
Here's how the chart shook out:
1. Jack White, Blunderbuss, 138,000
Although the former White Stripes mastermind has had eight albums reach the Top 10, his best chart position until now came in 2007, when The Stripes' Icky Thump debuted (and peaked) in second place.
2. Adele, 21, 84,000
After 62 weeks on the chart, Adele's blockbuster album, the fourth-best selling in the last ten years, has now sold over 8.9 million copies and is still going strong. Even if it trails a bit in the months to come, it's pretty much guaranteed to reach diamond certification for sales of 10 million copies. Whether any other album can ever reach those heights remains to be seen; only three albums have sold more in the last decade: Norah Jones's Come Away With Me (10,797,000), Eminem's The Eminem Show (10,049,000), and Usher's Confessions (9,968,000).
3. Lionel Richie, Tuskegee, 78,000
In its fifth week, Lionel Richie's country collaboration album dipped from 1 to 3 and has now sold an impressive 612,000 copies. Perhaps Richie's renewed cachet in the music biz is why he suddenly realized he has too many "personal scheduling conflicts" to be a part of ABC's summer reality series Duets. (John Legend has stepped in to replace him.)
4. One Direction, Up All Night, 50,000
The U.K. boy banders' breakout, which started with 176,000 copies in March, ticked up from 5-4 this week. After seven frames on the chart, the group's debut has sold 541,000 copies. While their single "What Makes You Beautiful" has been downloaded less than The Wanted's "Glad You Came" (1.8 million vs. 2.2 million downloads), they have the clear bragging rights when it comes to album sales.
5. Lee Brice, Hard 2 Love, 46,000
The country singer's sophomore release improved upon his 2010 debut, Love Like Crazy, which peaked at No. 44 in 2010. His single "A Woman Like You" recently hit No. 1 on the Country Songs chart.
6. Kip Moore, Up All Night, 37,000
That's right, there's another Up All Night on the chart โ and it beat The Wanted, too! The "Something 'Bout a Truck" singer launched his debut country album into sixth place. "Truck" currently sits at No. 9 on the Country Songs chart.
7. The Wanted, The Wanted, 34,000
Maybe calling Christina Aguilera a "total bitch" wasn't such a hot idea. The British boy band's seven-song EP (their U.S. debut) didn't sell as well as many prognosticators expected, especially given the blockbuster success of their Ibiza-tinged single "Glad You Came." Although the single hasn't left the Top 5 of the Hot 100 for the past nine weeks, their self-titled collection sold less than 1/5th of One Direction's Up All Night first-week sales (they clocked 176,000). Perhaps The Wanted will go the route of acts like the Black Eyed Peas, whose dancey singles set radio and iTunes on fire, but don't move many albums. Or perhaps fans are just waiting for a full-length album to pull the trigger. We'll find out when the band release their LP in the fall.
8. Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, 32,000
In its fourth week, Minaj's sophomore set fell from 6 to 9 (-33 percent) and has now sold 413,000 total copies. But with her newly released video for "Starships," sales may stabilize in the weeks to come.
9. Gotye, Making Mirrors, 32,000
His breakthrough single "Somebody That I Used To Know" (featuring Kimbra) is still selling strong, returning to the No. 1 spot on the Hot Digital songs chart this week. The Belgian-born, Australia-raised star has now spent four weeks in the Top 10.
10. Jason Mraz, Love Is A Four Letter Word, 29,000
After a No. 2 debut last week, the super-chill "I Won't Give Up" singer's album suffered a 71 percent drop.
What do you think of this week's chart? Did you pick up any of these albums?
More on EW.com:
Album sales: Lionel Richie triumphs again, Jason Mraz grabs second place