March 29, 2024

Lorde Leaps To #1 With ‘Royals’

Lorde, Lorde, Lorde. After a slow creep up the charts, New Zealand phenomenon Lorde will shoot up two spots to #1 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart this week, marking a high-water mark for the singer on the eve of her debut album’s release.

She led a female trio of singers on the chart who moved more than 300,000 copies, the first time that’s happened outside of the holiday season.

Lorde and the ladies

While Lorde was up 17 percent to 307,000, close on her heels was the former #1, Katy Perry’s “Roar,” which slipped 10 percent as it held at #2 (301,000) in a virtual tie with Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” down 37 percent to 301,000. Perry is on a roll, as her new single, “Dark Horse,” came in at #4 on sales of 194,000 and Britney Spears was just outside the top 5 with a #6 debut for “Work Bitch!” (174,000). Rounding out the woman wave was Lady Gaga’s “Applause” at #7 (160,000).

Jack Johnson’s no bummer summer
Time to bust out the hammock and flip-flops. In other words, just another chill day in the life of Jack Johnson. The beach bum strummer will land his third #1 album in a row next week when his latest, From Here to Now to You debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart thanks to sales of 117,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

He fended off two other debuts from country singers Justin Moore (#2, 97,000) and Chris Young (#3, 53,000), as well as Rick Ross, whose MMG Presents Self Made Vol. 3 came in at #4 thanks to sales of 50,000.

Avicii stays True
Say what you will about Avicii’s countronica mash-up hit single “Wake Me Up,” but the Swedish DJ is clearly doing something right. His debut major label album, True, which features cameos from Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds, Adam Lambert, Nile Rodgers and country singer Mac Davis, landed at #5 after moving just under 50,000 units.

The rest of the top 10: 2 Chainz’s, B.O.A.T.S II: # Me Time
 dropped four spots to #7 as sales dipped nearly 50 percent in week two (35,000) and the Weeknd’s Kissland fell seven to #9 (26,000, down 73 percent).

Further down the list, psych rockers MGMT debuted at #14 with their self-titled third album (19,000) and Elvis Costello’s collabo with the Roots, Wise Up Ghost, hit #16 (18,000).

Pre-orders for Drake’s Nothing Was The Same put the up north rapper at #1 on the iTunes album chart, followed by Johnson, Avicii (#4), MMG, Lorde’s Love EP (#9) and pre-orders for Katy Perry’s Prism.

Next week will be a big one, with the chart debuts from Drake, Kings of Leon, Cher and Elton John.

About the author  ⁄ MTV News

No Comments

Leave a Comment