'Frozen' Scores Biggest Sales Week Yet, No. 1 For An 11th Week

Meanwhile, August Alsina, NEEDTOBREATHE, Jason Derulo & Ingrid Michaelson all invade the Top 5.

The soundtrack to Disney's "Frozen," fueled by Easter shopping, earns its biggest sales week yet and 11th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
 
The album sold 259,000 copies in the week ending April 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (The Easter holiday was April 20.) That's up 94% compared with the previous week, when the album shifted 133,000 at No. 1. This is also the fifth consecutive week that frozen sold more than 100,000 copies. To date, "Frozen" has sold 2.3 million copies.
 
As the weeks tick by, "Frozen" continues to rack up impressive chart feats. Since SoundScan's point-of-sale data began powering the Billboard 200's rankings on May 25, 1991, "Frozen" is just the ninth album — and third soundtrack — to spend at least 11 weeks at No. 1.
 
Going back even farther: Since the Billboard 200 started publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956, "Frozen" is one of only 15 soundtracks to spend at least 11 weeks at No. 1.
 
"Frozen" also surpasses "The Lion King" (with 10 weeks at No. 1) as the longest-running No. 1 soundtrack by an animated film.
 
Sales for "Frozen" in the week ending April 20 were powered by Easter shopping, which tends to lift sales of music that appeals to families and children. Thus, there are a number of titles on thechart that reap the benefits of Easter-related purchases. One Direction's "Midnight Memories," for example, climbs 55-38 (9,000; up 68 percent), and the child-friendly "Kidz Bop 25" album rises 42-20 (15,000 — up 126 percent).
 
Speaking of One Direction, "Frozen" is the first album since "Midnight Memories" to score five straight weeks of sales that exceed 100,000. The first five sales frames for "Midnight Memories" all surpassed that threshold, ending with the week ending Dec. 29.
 

But, what makes "Frozen" stand apart from "Midnight Memories" — and most other No. 1 albums, for that matter — is that the soundtrack has achieved such a hot sales streak so long after its release. The album was released on Nov. 26, 2013, and sold 44,000 copies in its first week (ending Dec. 1). It didn't begin its current five-in-a-row streak of 100,000-plus sales frames until the week ending March 23.
 
"Frozen" is over 190,000 copies ahead of the No. 2 set this week, the debuting "Testimony" from August Alsina, with 67,000 copies sold. It's the singer's first album, which also starts at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
 
In fact, all of the titles between Nos. 2 and 5 are debuts. Rock band NEEDTOBREATHE launches at No. 3 with its highest-charting album ever, "Rivers In the Wasteland" (49,000), followed by Jason Derulo's first top 10 effort, "Talk Dirty," at No. 4 (44,000). Ingrid Michaelson closes out the debut party, as her "Lights Out" bows at No. 5 (37,000).

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For NEEDTOBREATHE, "Rivers" logs the band's best sales week yet, surpassing the No. 6 debut and peak of 2011's "The Reckoning." It entered with a handful of copies less than that logged by "Rivers."
 
"Rivers" also debuts at No. 1 on the Rock Albums and Christian Albums charts.
 
Derulo's "Talk Dirty" scores the pop singer's best sales week as well, exceeding the 42,000 copies of his self-titled debut that he sold in its first week in 2010. The latter album also tallied his previous high-water mark, when it debuted and peaked at No. 11.Derulo's new album — his third full-length effort — is powered by its title track, which hit No. 1 on the Pop Songs airplay chart dated April 26.

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Michaelson's "Lights Out" is the singer-songwriter's second top 10 effort, and follows 2012's "Human Again," which also debuted and peaked at No. 5. It started slightly stronger than "Lights Out," selling 40,000 in its first week.
 
As for the rest of the top 10, Luke Bryan's "Crash My Party" rises 8-6 (33,000; up 77 percent), Pharrell's "G I R L" dips 2-7 (just under 33,000; up 12 percent), and Lorde's "Pure Heroine" rises 12-8 (26,000; up 62 percent). 5 Seconds of Summer's "She Looks So Perfect" falls 3-9 (just under 26,000; up less than 1 percent), and the "Now 49" compilation climbs 13-10 (22,000; up 45 percent).
 
The "Frozen" party continues outside the top 10, as "Disney's Karaoke Series: Frozen" debuts at No. 17 with 15,000 sold. The set tallies the largest sales week for a karaoke album in a little over six years. The last time a karaoke title sold more was in theweek ending Dec. 23, 2007, when two more “Disney Karaoke Series” sets shifted a larger amount. That week, the companion karaoke albums to "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical 2" sold 22,000 and 16,000, respectively.
 
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Pharrell's "Happy" nets a 10th week at No. 1 (274,000 downloads; up 7 percent) —the longest run at No. 1 since Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" wrapped a 10-week No. 1 reign on the chart dated Aug. 24, 2013. ("Blurred" also featured Pharrell.)
 
John Legend's "All of Me" is stationary at No. 2 (214,000; up 9 percent), as is Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," featuring 2 Chainz, at No. 3 (198,000; up 22 percent) and Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" at No. 4 (158,000; up 4 percent).
 
DJ Snake & Lil Jon's "Turn Down for What" ascends 8-5 with 120,000 (up 28 percent).
 
Lana Del Rey scores her best debut sales week yet with the arrival of "West Coast." It enters at No. 6 with 118,000 sold. It's the first single from her upcoming album "Ultraviolence," which is due later this year.

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Katy Perry's "Dark Horse," featuring Juicy J, falls 6-7 (113,000; up 2 percent), Ed Sheeran's "Sing" falls 5-8 in its second week (106,000; down 14 percent), and Luke Bryan's "Play It Again" drops 7-9 (105,000; down 3 percent). Aloe Blacc's "The Man" rounds out the top 10, down one spot to No. 10 (91,000; up 2 percent).
 
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 20) totaled 5.3 million units, up 23 percent compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 2 percent compared with the comparablesales week of 2013 (5.4 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 76.2 million, down 16 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (90.5 million).
     
Digital track sales this past week totaled 24million downloads, up 11 percent compared with last week (21.7 million) and up 1 percent stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (23.7 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 379 million, down 13 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (434 million).
 
Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2013 when: Michael Buble's "To Be Loved" debuted at No. 1 with 195,000 and Fantasia's "Side Effects of You" started at No. 2 with 91,000.