Jennifer Lopez achieves her third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 2), as her new studio album This Is Me… Now opens atop the tally. Lopez was last at No. 1 more than 20 years ago, when J to Tha L-O! The Remixes spent two weeks atop the chart in February and March of 2002. She scored her first No. 1 on the list with J.Lo in 2001.
In total, This Is Me… Now marks Lopez’s ninth top 10 on Top Album Sales and 13th chart entry overall. The new release is a sister project to Lopez’s third album, This Is Me… Then, which was released 2002 and peaked at No. 2 on the chart.
Also debuting in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Yeat’s 2093, Blackberry Smoke’s Be Right Here and IDLES’ TANGK.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new March 2-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 27. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
In the tracking week ending Feb. 22, This Is Me… Now sold 14,000 copies in the U.S. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 11,000 (6,000 on CD and 5,000 on vinyl) and digital download sales comprise 3,000. The album was available in four CD variants (including one that had a signed insert), nine vinyl editions (all were color variants, including one with a signed insert) and three digital album variations (a standard version, a deluxe edition with two bonus tracks and a commentary edition sold via Lopez’s official webstore).
This Is Me… Now also debuts at No. 1 on Top Current Album Sales, No. 1 on Tastemaker Albums, No. 7 on Vinyl Albums, No. 7 on Independent Albums and No. 38 on the Billboard 200. Top Current Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling new/current albums (non-catalog/older titles). Vinyl Album tallies the week’s top-selling vinyl releases. Tastemaker Albums measures the top-selling titles at independent and small chain record stores. Independent Albums ranks the most popular independently released albums of the week, by units.
On the Billboard 200, This Is Me… Now marks Lopez’s 13th total chart entry and 11th top 40-charting effort. It’s her first studio album in nearly a decade, and her first release outside the major label system, as the new set was issued via Nuyorican/BMG.
“This is the first step of an immediate strategy with a long-term goal as the incredible content to support the album continues to roll out,” says Cyndi Lynott, SVP marketing at BMG, “including the This Is Me…Now: A Love Story Amazon Original, a documentary entitled The Greatest Love Story Never Told, and of course her massive summer tour.”
Meanwhile, Yeat debuts at No. 2 with 2093 – his second entry on Top Album Sales and first to reach the top 40. The set sold 12,000 copies, all from digital downloads, as the album was not available to purchase in any physical configurations. The set’s digital sales were boosted by its availability across three variations. 2093 was released initially as a 22-song standard album on Feb. 16, boasting features from Future and Lil Wayne. A day later, the album was reissued in a deluxe edition, dubbed 2093 P2, with two bonus tracks, including one featuring Drake. Then, on Feb. 21, the album saw another reissue, termed 2093 P3, with four bonus tracks. This version of the album was only available as a digital download via the artist’s official webstore (and the four bonus tracks were only available as part of the full album purchase).
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) rises 4-3 with 11,000 sold (though down 25%) and Swift’s former leader Lover climbs 6-4 with 9,000 (down 24%). Toby Keith’s chart-topper 35 Biggest Hits rises 9-5 with nearly 9,000 sold (up 28%).
Blackberry Smoke clocks its fourth top 10-charting set on Top Album Sales as Be Right Here arrives at No. 6 with 8,500 sold.
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1s Midnights and Folklore are up next, non-movers at Nos. 7 and 8, with nearly 7,500 (down 32%) and 7,000 (down 17%), respectively.
P1Harmony’s Killin’ It falls 2-9 in its second week with 7,000 sold (down 60%).
IDLES’ TANGK starts at No. 10, marking the second top 10 for the act. The set starts with 7,000 sold.
In the week ending Feb. 22, there were 1.166 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 7.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 858,000 (down 5.3%) and digital albums comprised 308,000 (down 12.6%).
There were 408,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 22 (down 6.1% week-over-week) and 446,000 vinyl albums sold (down 4.6%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 3.342 million (down 32.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 3.759 million (down 47.1%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 9.507 million (down 35.8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 7.137 million (down 41%) and digital album sales total 2.37 million (down 12.7%).