Disney’s unstoppable soundtrack to “Frozen” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, collecting its fifth nonconsecutive week atop the list.
“Frozen” has now earned the most weeks at No. 1 for a soundtrack since “Titanic” racked up 16 straight weeks in the top spot in 1998. It ruled on the charts dated Jan. 24 through May 9 that year.
This week’s Billboard 200 reflects the tracking week ending Feb. 23, where “Frozen” sold 89,000 copies (down 11%), according to Nielsen SoundScan. A week ago, it was No. 2 with 100,000. Last week’s No. 1, Eric Church’s “The Outsiders,” falls to No. 2 in its second week with 74,000 (down 74%).
Since the Billboard 200 began using SoundScan sales data on May 25, 1991, only five soundtracks have spent at least five weeks at No. 1: “Frozen,” “Titanic,” “Waiting to Exhale” (five weeks in 1996), “The Lion King” (10 weeks in 1994 and 1995) and “The Bodyguard” (20 weeks in 1992 and 1993). (The last film soundtrack to net four weeks at No. 1 was “Bad Boys II” in 2003.)
The all-time champ for the most weeks at No. 1 for a soundtrack (or any album) in the history of the Billboard 200 is “West Side Story,” with 54 weeks at No. 1 in 1962 and 1963.
The “Frozen” soundtrack is in its 13th week on the Billboard 200, and has spent the last eight straight weeks lodged in one of the top two positions. The last album to spend more time within the top two rungs was Taylor Swift’s “Red,” which notched 10 weeks in the region between Nov. 10, 2012, and Jan. 12, 2013.
Let’s Chill: Country singer Cole Swindell owns this week’s highest new entry on the Billboard 200. His self-titled debut bows at No. 3 with 63,000 copies. On the Top Country Albums chart, it starts at No. 2, behind Church’s “The Outsiders.” Swindell’s current single, “Chillin’ It,” hit No. 1 on Hot Country Songs a week ago. On the Country Airplay chart, it rises 3-2 this week.
Swindell clocks the highest debut for a new country male artist since Scotty McCreery bowed at No. 1 with his first album, “Clear As Day,” on Oct. 22, 2011. McCreery, of course, won the 2011 edition of Fox-TV’s “American Idol.”
Not including McCreery, Swindell logs the highest debut for a non-“Idol” male country artist’s first album.
And, with “The Outsiders” slipping 1-2 this week, there are two country albums in the top three for the first time since Oct. 5, 2013. That week, Justin Moore’s “Off the Beaten Path” and Chris Young’s “A.M.” debuted at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.
Next Week: Rapper ScHoolboy Q is heading for No. 1 on the Billboard 200. His major-label debut, “Oxymoron,” could sell between 150,000 and 160,000 copies. The Top Dawg album is ScHoolboy Q’s first in a joint-venture deal with Interscope Records. Top Dawg and Interscope previously notched a No. 2 album with Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012. ScHoolboy Q has charted two previous albums: “Setbacks” (No. 100 in 2011) and “Habits & Contradictions” (No. 111 in 2012). They have sold 17,000 and 48,000 copies, respectively, according to SoundScan.