The Billboard 200:
As previously reported, Carrie Underwood stayed steady atop the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week with Blown Away. The set — her third No. 1 — sold 120,000 with a 55% drop in sales. Meanwhile, Adele’s 21 album saw a gain, perhaps thanks to Mother’s Day-fueled gift purchases, as it rose from No. 4 to No. 2 with 101,000 (up 31%).
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Now, let’s look at some of the movers and shakers farther down this week’s list:
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— Keane: The band’s fifth album, Strangeland, launches at No. 17 with 19,000 and marks its fifth set to reach the top 50. Its last release, 2010’s Night Train, debuted and peaked at No. 25 off a 17,000 start. The group’s highest rank came with 2006’s Under the Iron Sea, which peaked at No. 4, yet only spent 14 weeks on the chart. The act’s biggest album, at least in terms of chart run, is its 2004 debut, Hopes and Fears. The effort spent 54 weeks on the chart, though it only got as high as No. 45.
— Karmin: The pop duo — which first gained fame as a covers act on YouTube — debuts at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 with its first album, Hello. The set shifted 19,000 in its first week, while its second single, “Brokenhearted,” continues to make waves on the charts. Over on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, it bullets at No. 15 for a third straight week.
— Michael W. Smith: Most of the bulleted Christian albums on the chart this week see big gains thanks to $5 sale pricing at the influential Family Christian chain of stores. The retailer touted more than 15 albums in its weekly circular that were discounted to $5, including Michael W. Smith’s Decades of Worship, which debuts at No. 99 with 5,000 (up by 500%). Previous to this week, the album — which came out in January — hadn’t sold more than 2,000 copies in a week.
— Pitbull: The musician’s first greatest hits album, Original Hits, enters the chart at No. 134 with 4,000 sold. It’s a soft debut, but that can be explained if one examines the set’s track list a bit closer. The album doesn’t include his 2009 pop breakthrough “I Know You Want Me” or anything released since then, as it only covers his years (2004-2008) with the now defunct TVT Records.
— Damien Rice: Rice’s O album earns a 1,384% sales gain after “American Idol” finalist Phillip Phillips covered the set’s “Volcano” on the May 9 edition of the Fox TV show. In turn, the album re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 187 — its first week on the list since 2005. Meanwhile, the song itself sold 28,000 last week (up 17,048%).