The soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen” holds for a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while Beyoncé’s self-titled album also sits tight at No. 2.
“Frozen” sold another 86,000 copies in the week ending Jan. 12, according to Nielsen SoundScan, down 48% from its 165,000 haul in the previous week. (That sum was bolstered by sale-pricing in the iTunes Store — an assist that wasn’t provided in the most recent tracking week.)
Last week, it was initially forecast (on Billboard.com) that Beyoncé would likely return to No. 1 this week. However, “Frozen” bested its sales projections, selling about 5,000-10,000 more than expected. The forecast for “Beyoncé” was around 90,000 on Jan. 9, but then scaled back to 80,000 by the weekend. “Beyoncé” finishes the week at No. 2 with 79,000 (down 40% from 130,000).
Sources credit the continued success of “Frozen” not to a breakout radio hit or special sale-pricing, but to its parent film, which continues to do blockbuster business in theaters. According to Box Office Mojo, “Frozen” has earned $319 million at the U.S. and Canadian box offices through Jan. 14. It finished at No. 2 during the weekend ($15.1 million), behind new release “Lone Survivor” ($38.5 million).
Since “Frozen” received a wide release on Nov. 27, 2013, the movie has been among the top three films every weekend. It’s currently the fourth-highest-grossing film released in 2013, behind “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Iron Man 3” and “Despicable Me 2.”
“Frozen” is the first theatrical film soundtrack to rule at No. 1 for multiple weeks since “Dreamgirls” spent two weeks at No. 1 in early 2007. The last animated film to spend more than one week at No. 1 was Disney’s “The Lion King,” which roared for 10 nonconsecutive weeks in 1994-95.
So far, the multiple-artist “Frozen” soundtrack has sold 589,000 in seven weeks, while “Beyoncé” has sold 1.5 million in five weeks.
“Frozen” is also the fastest-selling theatrical film soundtrack since late 2009, when “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” sold 686,000 in its first three weeks (following its release on Oct. 26). However, that album was a single-artist compilation, and actually operated as a hits set for Michael Jackson. So, the last multiple-artist theatrical film soundtrack to sell at a faster rate than “Frozen” was “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” It arrived Oct. 16, 2009, and shifted 640,000 in its first seven weeks.
The Kid Makes Good: After “Frozen” and Beyoncé comes the first — and only — debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200: Kid Ink’s “My Own Lane” at No. 3. It’s the rapper’s first full-length for a major label (RCA Records) and starts with 50,000. It also arrives at No. 1 on the Rap Albums chart.
Kid Ink takes advantage of a slow week on the chart, where only five new-to-market albums debut. Couple the slow release schedule with soft sales across the board, and an artist can navigate his way to a high debut with relatively few sales.
This week’s Billboard 200 is the first since Nov. 9, 2013, where the No. 3 title has sold less than 50,000. So Kid Ink’s timing is right, considering his album would have likely debuted lower on the list had it come out at any time in the past two months.
Last year at this time, there were high debuts from some unlikely names, like Chris Tomlin (No. 1 on Jan. 26, 2013), Hollywood Undead (No. 2, Jan. 26), Black Veil Brides (No. 7, Jan. 26), Dropkick Murphys (No. 9, Jan. 26), Kid Ink RCA labelmate A$AP Rocky (No. 1, Feb. 2) and Gary Allan (No. 1, Feb. 9). Each album — except for Dropkick Murphys’ — marked a personal chart high for its respective act.
In previous recent Januarys, the chart has had big bows from an assortment of not-exactly-household names, including David Crowder Band, SafetySuit, Cake and Steel Magnolia.
Probably the best example of a recent January release making a big splash that went on to have a sustained chart life was Ke$ha’s “Animal.” The album — also released by Kid Ink’s label, RCA Records — debuted at No. 1 on Jan. 23, 2010, selling 152,000 copies in its first week. The singer was red-hot that week, as the album’s first single, “TiK ToK,” was spending its fourth week (of nine) atop the Billboard Hot 100.
“Animal” went on to spend 85 weeks on the Billboard 200 and has sold 1.4 million copies.