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This story first appeared on Billboard.com.
As forecast last week, Lady Gaga debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her new set, ARTPOP. It sold 258,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
It’s the second No. 1 set for Gaga, who also debuted at No. 1 with her last album, 2011’s Born This Way. That set bowed with 1.1 million sold in its first week (a number amplified by a temporary 99 cent sale deal by Amazon MP3). ARTPOP is also the fifth top 10 for Gaga, following The Fame (No. 2), The Fame Monster (No. 5), The Remix (No. 6) and Born This Way.
The arrival of ARTPOP is the third-largest sales week for a woman in 2013. It follows Katy Perry‘s PRISM (286,000 in its No. 1 debut) and Miley Cyrus‘ Bangerz (270,000 in its No. 1 bow).
Those three women are the only female soloists to score debuts larger than 150,000 in 2013. After that, the next-highest bow by a woman belongs to Ariana Grande‘s Yours Truly, which launched at No. 1 with 138,000 on the Sept. 21 chart.
ARTPOP also tops the Digital Albums chart, selling 146,000 downloads for the week. Fifty-seven percent of Gaga’s first-week sales were digital downloads of the album, while the rest were physical CDs.
Included in the latter figure are a small number of ARTPOP albums sold via H&M clothing retailers: fewer than 1,000, according to sources. While H&M isn’t a traditional music retailer and hasn’t reported sales to SoundScan in the past, the chain did so this week. H&M follows other such nontraditional music sellers in recent years as Papa John’s Pizza (Taylor Swift‘s Red album) and the U.S. Postal Service (Ray Charles‘ Ray Charles Forever)
Last week’s No. 1 album, Eminem‘s The Marshall Mathers LP 2, falls to No. 2 with 210,000 (down 73%).
The new Now 48 compilation starts at No. 3 with 114,000. All 48 of the regular (numbered) Now albums have reached the top 10, and all but the first debuted in the top 10. The last Now set, Now 47, debuted at No. 2 with 82,000 sold in August.
Now 48 tallies the largest debut for a Now album since February 2012, when Now 41 launched at No. 3 with 142,000. Now 48 is also the first Now set to sell more than 100,000 in a week since Now 43 debuted with 111,000 in August 2012 at No. 1.
Presently, Now 49 is scheduled for release on Feb. 4, 2014, while the milestone 50th album is due in May.
The Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas dips 3-4 in its third week with 66,000 (down 9%) while Perry’s PRISM falls 4-5 with 46,000 (down 25%). Kelly Clarkson‘s Christmas album Wrapped in Red stays steady at No. 6 with 42,000 (down just 2%).
New at No. 7 is the Beatles‘ On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2, bowing with 37,000. The arrival brings the Fab Four’s total number of top 10 albums to 31. Among all acts, the Rolling Stones have the most top 10s, with 36. They are followed by Frank Sinatra (33), Barbra Streisand (32), the Beatles and Elvis Presley (27).
The Beatles last charted a new top 10 effort back in 2006 with the release of Love, the companion album to the Cirque du Soleil stage production based on the band’s music.
The new On Air album is a sequel to the first Live at the BBC album, which was released in 1994. It debuted and peaked at No. 3, selling 360,000 copies in its first week. The album returns to the chart this week, re-entering at No. 34 with 9,000 (up 505%).
One step behind the new Beatles album this week is R&B singer/songwriter Jhené Aiko with her debut EP, Sail Out. It starts at No. 8 with 34,000. The 25-year-old has been featured on albums by the likes of Big Sean, Wale, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. She’s also touring with the latter artist on his current arena trek,which continues through Dec. 16.
Coincidentally, Drake is right behind Aiko on the Billboard 200, as his Nothing Was the Same album descends 7-9 with 33,000 (down 11%). Lorde closes out the top 10 with Pure Heroine, falling two rungs to No. 10 with 32,000 (down 7%).
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: Rihanna nabbed her first No. 1 album with the debut of Unapologetic (238,000). The previous week’s leader, One Direction’s Take Me Home, fell to No. 3 with 176,000 (down 67%).
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