Powered by current single 'I Bet My Life', the eclectic group secures its first ever U.S. Number One album with 'Smoke + Mirrors'.
Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons have landed straight in at the top spot on the Billboard 200 with their second album Smoke + Mirrors. The group, responsible for the enormous 2012 hit ‘Radioactive’, sold 195,000 units of their sophomore effort in the first week, compiled from physical, track and streaming equivalent sales according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The record is also currenly top of the charts in Britain, and is only new entry inside the Top Ten this week. Despite the impressive figures, Smoke + Mirrors has got a way to go before it tops the sales for their first album Night Visions, which to date has sold 2.5 million copies and has only left the Billboard 100 for two of its 129 weeks on sale. ‘Radioactive’, by itself, has sold in excess of nine million copies in the U.S. But that album only made as high as Number 2 during its run.
Imagine Dragons secure their first US Number 1 album with 'Smoke + Mirrors'
Smoke + Mirrors dislodges Drake’s mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, which falls to Number 2 with 187,000 units. The Canadian rapper dropped the record by surprise ten days ago, and has shifted 624,000 copies of it so far. Many believe it was released to fulfil a record label contract ahead of a new album proper later in 2015.
More: Imagine Dragons enter the UK album chart at Number 1
Further down the chart, the soundtrack to the erotic blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey falls to Number 3 with 165,000 units. Taylor Swift’s 1989 (93,000 units) and Ed Sheeran’s X (81,000 units) swap places from last week in Numbers 4 and 5 respectively.
Following his star turn at the Grammys earlier in February, British soul sensation Sam Smith falls to Number 6 with In The Lonely Hour, continuing his impressive sales figures with 72,000 units shifted. Maroon 5’s V climbs three places to Number 7 (47,000 units), and Meghan Trainor’s debut Title tumbles to Number 8 with 44,000 units.
Two reappearances round out the Top Ten, with Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint climbing three places to Number 9 (41,000 units) and Irish singer-songwriter Hozier sells 40,000 units of his self-titled album to rise one place to Number 10.
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