Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Star Crossed’ Tops Album Sales Chart
Kacey Musgraves scores her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart as her latest studio effort Star-Crossed debuts atop the list with 47,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 16, according to MRC Data. It’s her second-largest sales week ever, trailing only the debut week of Pageant Material in 2015.
Of Star Crossed’s opening- week sales, a whooping 26,000 were sold on vinyl LP. This marked the largest sales week for a country album on vinyl since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991. Before this the best week on wax for a country set, since 1991, was held by Sturgill Simpson’s Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions, when it sold 15,000 copies in its first week of availability on vinyl.
Star Crossed also opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart, Musgraves’ second leader on the tally, following her last studio effort, 2018’s Golden Hour.
Of Star-Crossed’s sales of 47,000, physical album sales comprise 37,000 (with 26,000 on vinyl; 9,000 on CD and nearly 2,000 on cassette) and 10,000 via digital download.
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 MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely 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.
Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album jumps from No. 63 to No. 2 on Top Album Sales following its 30th anniversary reissue on Sept. 10. The album sold 29,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 16 (up 1,365%), with all versions of the album – old and new – combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Iron Maiden’s Senjutsu falls from No. 1 to No. 3 in its second week on the list, with 16,000 sold (down 74%) while Aaliyah’s long-out-of-print self-titled 2001 album re-enters at No. 4 with 15,000 sold after its reissue on Sept. 10.
-Aditi
