The Weeknd’s Dawn FM hits No. 1 for the first time on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as the album re-enters atop the list (dated Feb. 12), following its CD release on Jan. 28. The set sold 37,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 3 (up 2,547%), according to MRC Data – nearly all from CD sales. The album had previously only been available via streamers and as a digital download.
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Dawn FM also spends its first week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, logs a fourth week at No. 1 on Top R&B Albums, climbs to No. 1 for the first time on Top Current Album Sales and rises 4-2 on the Billboard 200.
Also in the top 10: Grateful Dead’s latest archival live album, Dave’s Picks, Volume 41, debuts at No. 2; Aaron Lewis’ Frayed at Both Ends bows at No. 5, Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia re-enters the chart at No. 6 (after limited-edition deluxe vinyl and cassette editions were released) and Jethro Tull’s The Zealot Gene — its first album of all-original music in over 20 years — starts at No. 10.
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 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 Feb. 12, 2022-dated chart (where Dawn FM is No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 8. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Current Album Sales ranks the week’s biggest-selling current albums (not including catalog – older – releases). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums lists the week’s most popular R&B/hip-hop and R&B releases, respectively, ranked by equivalent album units.
Dawn FM was initially only available via streamers and digital download during its release week and debuted at No. 3 on Top Album Sales and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (charts dated Jan. 22). Its CD edition bowed on Jan. 28 with multiple signed collector’s editions available via The Weeknd’s official webstore, a signed CD sold at independent record stores and a Target-exclusive version with alternate cover art.
Of Dawn FM’s 37,000 copies sold in the week end Feb. 3, physical sales comprise 36,000 (all from its CD; its vinyl LP and cassette editions are scheduled to be released on April 29) and digital sales comprise 1,000.
Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks, Volume 41: Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD – 5/26/77 debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales (22,500 sold), tying for the act’s highest-rank on the 31-year-old chart. The band hit No. 2 five times previously, all with Dave’s Picks efforts. (Dave’s Picks is the act’s continuing live archival release series, named for the group’s archivist, David Lemieux, that has been going strong since its first release in 2012.)
On the Billboard 200 chart, Dave’s Picks, Vol. 41 debuts at No. 13 – tying for the Grateful Dead’s highest debut ever (matching the No. 13 debut and peak of Dave’s Picks, Vol. 40 last year). The band last went higher on the Billboard 200 with 1987’s In the Dark, when it peaked at No. 6 (Aug. 22, 1987-dated chart).
Dave’s Picks, Vol. 41 also marks Grateful Dead’s 51st top 40-charting album on the Billboard 200. The band continues to have the most top 40 albums among groups since the chart began regularly publishing on a weekly basis in March of 1956. The acts with the most top 40 albums on the Billboard 200 are: Frank Sinatra (58), Elvis Presley (57), Barbra Streisand (54), Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead (51 each). (Thirty-three of Grateful Dead’s 51 top 40-charting albums are from the Dave’s Picks series.)
The soundtrack to Encanto falls 1-3 with 16,000 copies sold (down 16%), while Adele’s former leader 30 is a non-mover at No. 4 with 13,000 sold (down 15%)
Aaron Lewis’ new studio album Frayed at Both Ends debuts at No. 5 with 11,000 copies sold, marking his fourth top 10 effort on the list. The set is also the week’s top-selling country album.
Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 6 with 9,500 copies sold (up 850%). The album debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Nov. 20, 2021-dated list. It jumps back onto the new chart following the release of two limited-edition deluxe versions of the album – a $120 triple vinyl LP set and a $90 double cassette boxed set. The former’s vinyl LPs are housed in hardback 36-page art book, while the latter’s cassettes are contained inside a collectible package with a booklet. Both products went up for pre-order in 2021, but their release was delayed until 2022 due to, according to Radiohead’s official U.S. webstore, “many forces at work which are beyond our control at this time.”
Of Kid A Mnesia’s 9,500 sold for the week, physical sales comprise effectively all of that figure, with its vinyl configurations accounting for nearly 8,500. (Kid A Mnesia also re-enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart – its first week at No. 1.) Its CD and cassette editions sold about 1,000 combined.
Kid A Mnesia operates as a reissue of Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A and its 2001 album Amnesiac. The former debuted at No. 1 on Top Album Sales in 2000, while the latter debuted and peaked at No. 2 the following year. The new Kid A Mnesia package includes additional previously unreleased tracks.
Childish Gambino’s Because the Internet and “Awaken, My Love!” re-enter Top Album Sales at Nos. 7 and 8, after both were issued on colored vinyl through new Walmart-exclusive releases on Jan. 28. The former bowed on “pink toes vinyl” and the latter was pressed on “baby boy blue vinyl.”
Because the Internet matches its debut and peak (No. 7; Dec. 28, 2013-dated chart), while “Awaken” debuted and peaked at No. 4 (Dec. 24, 2016).
In the week ending Feb. 4, Because the Internet sold 7,000 copies in total (up 359%) and “Awaken” sold nearly 6,500 (up 215%) – with essentially all of their sales coming from vinyl. Because and “Awaken” also re-enter at Nos. 2 and 3 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours falls 6-9 on Top Album Sales with a little over 6,000 sold (down 9%).
Jethro Tull rounds out the latest top 10 on Top Album Sales, as the act’s new studio album, The Zealot Gene, bows at No. 10 with 6,000 sold. The set is Jethro Tull’s first album of all-original music in more than 20 years. The Zealot Gene also marks Jethro Tull’s first top 10 on the 31-year-old Top Album Sales chart. Of course, the act’s overall Billboard chart history pre-dates the launch of Top Album Sales in 1991 – as its first entry on a Billboard list came on the Billboard 200 dated March 1, 1969, with This Was (arriving at No. 180; it eventually peaked at No. 62).
In the week ending Feb. 3, there were 1.672 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 0.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.265 million (up 0.8%) and digital albums comprised 407,000 (down 3.3%).
Year-to-date album sales total 8.618 million (down 11.5% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 6.589 million (down 10%) and digital album sales total 2.029 million (down 16%).