'To Pimp A Butterfly' matches its rave reviews with another week of six figure sales, meaning a second week at the top of the Billboard charts.
In a quiet week on the US Billboard 200, Kendrick Lamar’s new album To Pimp A Butterfly spends a second week in the Number One spot. The rapper’s third album sold more than double the amount of its nearest rival, the soundtrack to TV drama ‘Empire’, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Shifting 123,000 copies in its second week on sale, including track and streaming equivalent sales figures as well as physical copies, To Pimp A Butterfly is the first album to spend its opening fortnight at the top of the chart since Taylor Swift’s behemoth 1989 at the end of last year. The ‘Empire’ soundtrack was a non-mover in second place, selling 61,000 copies.
Kendrick Lamar spends a second week on top of the US Albums chart
Last week’s Number 3 album by Modest Mouse drops out of the Top Ten entirely, and is replaced by another soundtrack, this time to the erotic movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, with 54,000 sales.
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British sensation Sam Smith saw his sales increase on last week, moving 53,000 copies of In The Lonely Hour which last week topped the million sales mark in total. He jumps up five places to Number 4. Fellow Brit Ed Sheeran also saw a rise in sales, with his album X moving a place to Number 6 (50,000 copies). These two albums form a Taylor Swift sandwich, with her album staying at Number 5 from last week (52,000).
The highest new entry comes from rapper Action Bronson at Number 7. His major label debut on Vice / Atlantic records, Mr. Wonderful, sold 49,000 copies in its first week. Canadian rapper Drake’s mixtape album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late follows in Number 8 with 44,000 sales.
The ever-popular Maroon 5 climb one place to Number 9 with V, and the Top Ten is completed with a new entry. The latest instalment in the ‘Kidz Bop’ compilation series (Kidz Bop 28) makes its appearance at Number 10. Impressively, all but one of these collections have entered in the Top Ten in their first week since 2005.
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