It may be in the world of streaming, but hitting number one on the Billboard album chart these days often comes down to selling a lot of vinyl LPs. half outdated A silvery data platter known as a CD.
Back in April, Tyler, the Creator catapulted 119 spots to the top when his album Call Me if You Get Lost was released on vinyl nearly a year after its original release. The following month, Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” saw steady streaming numbers, but relied on the record to grab the biggest opening of the year (yet). And in June, his BTS, the kings of K-pop, took his number one spot. Stream numbers were mediocre, but his CD sales for the compilation ‘Proof’ album were hefty.
This week, another K-pop group, four-woman Blackpink, took the top spot in physical sales.
The quartet’s second full-length studio album, “Bone Pink,” became their first number one on the Billboard 200 chart, representing sales of 102,000 copies in the United States, according to tracking service Luminate. That total includes his 37 million streams. That’s a modest total, only about a quarter of his total weekly sales for the group. The rest are due to old-fashioned purchases of “Born Pink” as her unit in competition, including 64,000 made for 17 different configurations of the album on CD.
as a billboard I got it, many of these CD editions came in collectible packaging and came with alternate covers, autographs, and other goodies such as postcards and stickers. The original price was around $50, but it has been reduced over the last week. Blackpink also sells “autographed digital albums” for his $4.99 through his website, and he has slashed the standard downloadable album price to $3.99.
These sales pushed “Born Pink” past streaming giant Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which held the top slot for 11 consecutive weeks. In its 20th week on the chart, “Un Verano” dropped to number two, equivalent to sales of 93,000. This is mostly from streams.
Another K-pop group, NCT 127, ranked 3rd on ‘2 Baddies’ this week. Most of the sales worth 58,500 were her CDs, and his 12 tracks on the album had less than his 4 million plays. By comparison, the 23-track “Verano” has been averaging 130 million to 140 million clicks per week in recent months.
Morgan Warren’s ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ is number 4, making it the 88th Top 10 since early 2021. Since the Billboard 200 began in 1956, only five other of his titles have made more Top 10 appearances on the charts. They were pre-1965 film soundtracks or Broadway recordings of his cast. For example, “South Pacific” was his 90th week and “My Fair Lady” was his 173rd week.
Also this week, The Weeknd’s hit collection “The Highlight” is number five.