'La La Land' Soundtrack Heading for Top Five of Billboard 200 Chart

Fresh off La La Land’s record-breaking night at the Golden Globe Awards, the film’s soundtrack is set to leap into the top five of next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart. Industry forecasters suggest the soundtrack could earn around 35,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Jan. 12, for a gain of perhaps 55 percent compared to the previous (pre-Golden Globes) frame.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the new Jan. 28, 2017-dated Billboard 200 chart — where La La Land could hit the top five — is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Sunday, Jan. 15.

On the previous week’s chart (dated Jan. 21), the La La Land album zoomed from No. 52 to No. 15 — its highest rank yet — with 23,000 units earned (up 35 percent) according to Nielsen Music.

Elsewhere in next week’s top 10 on the Billboard 200, it is expected that The Weeknd’s Starboy will hold atop the list for a third nonconsecutive week (with perhaps 60,000 units). The chart’s highest new entry could come from Dropkick Murphys, as the band may debut outside the top 10 (but within the top 20) with 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory (with around 20,000 units).