The soundtrack to “Frozen” holds steady at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a fourth nonconsecutive week, fending off the surging “2014 Grammy Nominees” album at No. 2. The last theatrical film soundtrack to spend four weeks atop the chart was “Bad Boys II,” which ruled for four consecutive frames in August 2003.
“Frozen” sold another 94,000 copies in the week ending Feb. 2 (for a gain of 1%), while the “Grammy Nominees” compilation album sold 87,000 (up 47%), according to Nielsen SoundScan. A week ago, it debuted at No. 2 with 59,000. The latest chart week’s tracking frame was the first full week after the Grammy Awards, which were held on Sunday, Jan. 26.
Last week, some industry forecasters suggested that the “Grammy” album had a shot at hitting No. 1 — and thus marking the first No. 1 in the long-running series’ history. However, the sales of the “Grammy” set started to slow as last weekend approached and as we got farther away from the awards ceremony itself.
Meanwhile, the “Frozen” album benefited from the reissue of its parent film last Friday (Jan. 31) in movie theaters as a sing-along movie. The new print (complete with a bouncing snowflake to help audiences sing along) arrived in more than 2,000 theaters during the weekend, and was accompanied by a TV advertising blitz.
“Frozen” has now sold 863,000 copies to date. It has not sold fewer than 81,000 in a week since mid-December.
Two new albums arrive in the top 10 this week, from Of Mice & Men and Casting Crowns. The former’s “Restoring Force” opens at a career-high No. 4 with its best sales week yet: 51,000. (The band had previously never gone higher than No. 28, in 2011, with “The Flood.”) Casting Crowns, meanwhile, starts at No. 6 with “Thrive,” which sold 43,000. It’s the band’s fifth top 10 effort, and it also enters at No. 1 on the Christian Albums chart, its sixth leader on that tally.
The Grammy Awards directly impact a full seven out of the top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 this week. After the “2014 Grammy Nominees” album at No. 2, the titles at Nos. 3, 5 and 7-10 all bask in the glow of Grammy.
Lorde, who won two Grammy Awards (both of which were presented during the broadcast) and performed on the show, sees her “Pure Heroine” album jump from No. 5 to No. 3 with 68,000 (up 86%).
Beyonce, who opened the Grammy Awards with the single “Drunk in Love,” is pushed back a position to No. 5, with 48,000 (up less than 1%). “Unorthodox Jukebox” by Bruno Mars — who won the best pop vocal album award — flies 18-7 (42,000; up 180%).
Of course, Mars also played the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 2 (the final day of the most recent tracking week), so he profits from that exposure as well. His Super Bowl show was the most-watched halftime performance ever, with an audience of 115.3 million U.S. TV viewers, according to Nielsen. Outside the top 10, Mars’ first album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” zooms from No. 82 to No. 19 with 16,000 and a 303% gain.
Both albums rise in the wake of less than one full day of impact from the Super Bowl, as the new tracking week finished on the same night as the game. Mars’ sales could further increase next week, after a full seven days of sales are generated after the big game.
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Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” rises 11-8 with 39,000 (up 65%). The band had the good fortune of performing on both the Grammy Awards and on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (Feb. 1) within the same week. Both appearances rock the band’s chart placing this week, as “Night Visions” logs its best sales week outside of the Christmas shopping season since last March.
Katy Perry and Daft Punk — who both also played the Grammy Awards — round out the top 10 at Nos. 9 and 10, with “PRISM” and “Random Access Memories,” respectively.
Perry performed her current hit “Dark Horse” on the Grammy show, and was nominated for multiple awards. “PRISM” is steady at No. 9 with a little more than 30,000 (up 22%). As for Daft Punk, the duo’s album of the year winner rises 39-10 with 30,000 (up 300%). Daft Punk also performed on the show, singing record of the year winner “Get Lucky” with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers. This is the first visit to the top 10 for “Random Access Memories”since last July. It’s also the former No. 1 album’s best sales week since that same month, when it was in its sixth week on the chart and sold 31,000.
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J, holds at No. 1 with 373,000 downloads sold (up 27%). Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty,” featuring 2 Chainz, is steady at No. 2 with 234,000 (up 21%).
Pharrell’s “Happy” is also stationary, at No. 3, with 219,000 (up 17%).
Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” which the band performed on the Grammy Awards and “Saturday Night Live,” ascends 29-4 with 208,000 (up 239%). The band was joined by Kendrick Lamar for both appearances, performing a new remix of the track. Said remixed track was released to retailers the day after the Grammy Awards, and its sales account for 73% of the total sum this week for“Radioactive.” Overall, this is the third-largest sales week for the song, which peaked in popularity last summer.
Passenger’s “Let Her Go,” which was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for Budweiser, rises to its third-biggest sales week as well: 176,000 (up 51%). It climbs from No. 11 to No. 5.
A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera’s “Say Something” steps up one rung to No. 6 with 152,000 (up 4%).
Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love,” featuring Jay Z, nets its best week yet, as it flies 18-7 with 151,000 (up 94%). As mentioned earlier, “Drunk in Love” opened the Grammy Awards.
Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Ke$ha, slips 5-8 with 142,000 (down 16%), and Bastille’s “Pompeii” dips 6-9 with 140,000 (down 5%).
Lorde’s “Royals,” which she performed on the Grammy Awards, returns to the top 10 (13-10) with 137,000 (up 33%).
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Feb. 2) totaled 4.6 million units, up 8% compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 12% compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5.3 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 23 million, down 13% compared with the same total at this point last year (26.5 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 23.8 million downloads, up less than 1% compared with last week (23.7 million) and down 8% stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (25.8 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 127.8 million, down 11% compared with the same total at this point last year (143.7 million).
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2013 when: Josh Groban’s “All That Echoes” debuted at No. 1 with 145,000 and Tim McGraw’s “Two Lanes of Freedom” started at No. 2 with 107,000.