James Donio, President of the Music Business Association (Music Biz), commented on this week’s sales numbers issued by Nielsen (published in Billboard) and Border City Media.
“The sales charts were bursting with new records this week, as seven new albums broke out to debut in the Top 10 and a few familiar faces showed up in unexpected ways. First, Drake and Future took the world by surprise last week with their collaborative album, What a Time to Be Alive, but that didn’t stop fans from snapping up enough copies to give both artists their second chart-toppers of the year. For Future, this second #1 comes within two months of his first, DS2, while Drake continues his roll of five straight #1 records. It’s also the first time that a hip-hop act, let alone two, has notched multiple chart-toppers in the same calendar year since 2004, when Jay Z managed the feat with Unfinished Business with R. Kelly and MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents: Collision Course with Linkin Park. Ryan Adams also got off to a great start with his tribute album to Taylor Swift’s 1989, landing at #7. It’s the fourth Top 10 record for Adams, and the Taylor-approved reimagining is sure to win him many new fans. Also debuting highly were Lana Del Rey, Mac Miller, David Gilmour, Shinedown, and Andy Mineo. The industry always wins when the charts are filled with new music, and we wish all these artists the best of luck in the weeks ahead.”
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