Florida Georgia Line Scores First No. 1 Album
Country duo Florida Georgia Line nabs its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with the arrival of 'Anything Goes.'
Country duo Florida Georgia Line nabs its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with the arrival of Anything Goes. The set was released on Republic Nashville and sold 197,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Anything Goes is the pair’s second full-length studio effort, following the breakthrough success of Here’s To the Good Times. That album was released in 2012 and reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. It has sold 2.1 million copies and is still on the chart (rising 56-48 in its 98th chart week).
Here’s to the Good Times also spawned the smash single “Cruise,” which spent a record 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and climbed to No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. (“Cruise” is also the best selling country digital song ever, with 7 million downloads sold.)
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The new album has already collected five top 40 entries on the Hot Country Songs chart, including the No. 1 hit “Dirt.”
Anything Goes is the third consecutive country album to top the Billboard 200, following one-week rules by Blake Shelton’s Bringing Back the Sunshine and Jason Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt. It’s the first time the chart’s top slot has gone back-to-back-to-back with three straight country leaders in over four years. It last happened on the charts dated Oct. 9-23, 2010, when Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give, Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey and Toby Keith’s Bullets In the Gun led the list.
Last week’s No. 1, Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt, slips to No. 2 with 91,000 (down 67 percent).
Rock veteran Bob Seger collects his highest debut ever and his best rank since 1986 as Ride Out debuts at No. 3 (59,000). The last time Seger went this high was in May and June of 1986, when his Like a Rock album spent four consecutive weeks at No. 3. Seger’s previous best bow came in 2006 with the No. 4 arrival of his last studio effort, Face the Promise.
Two solo artists with a combined nine top 40 albums arrive together at No. 4 as You+Me debuts with its first album, Rose Ave. (50,000 sold). The duo comprises singer/songwriters Pink and Dallas Green (aka City and Colour). Pink has previously logged seven top 40 efforts, while City and Colour has nabbed two.
Barbra Streisand’s former No. 1, Partners, falls 3-5 with 40,000 (down 18 percent).
Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour rises 10-6 with 37,000 and a gain of 53 percent, following Smith’s performances on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Oct. 14) and Today (Oct. 15). This is the album’s best sales frame since its fourth week on the chart (week ending July 13, when it shifted 42,000).
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Rapper The Game is up next, as his latest album, Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf, debuts at No. 7 with 33,000. He last visited the chart with a new studio set in 2012 with Jesus Piece, which debuted and peaked at No. 6. Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf is The Game’s sixth top 10 effort overall, and comes almost exactly 10 years after his debut chart set, Untold Story, bowed on the list (chart dated Nov. 6, 2004).
Another rapper, Hoodie Allen, is up next, starting at No. 8 with his debut full-length effort, People Keep Talking (30,000). Allen has charted two previous EPs (All American, No. 10 and Americoustic, No. 28) that have sold a combined 143,000.
At No. 9, U2’s Songs Of Innocence arrives after its first week of commercial release earned 28,000 sales. It’s the band’s 11th top 10 effort. Previous to its on-sale bow, it was exclusively available as a free download through Apple’s iTunes program. The offer generated 26 million downloads globally through Oct. 9, according to the company.
Notably, 96 percent of the album’s release-week sales were from physical CDs and vinyl LPs. (It was also the No. 3 selling vinyl set of the week, with a little over 1,000 LPs sold.) For its commercial bow, the album was bolstered with additional new bonus tracks that were not part of the free download through Apple.
The band’s last album, the traditionally-released No Line On the Horizon, debuted at No. 1 with 484,000 sold overall in its debut frame.
Closing out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is the seventh and final debut in the region: Jessie J’s Sweet Talker (25,000). It’s the singer’s highest charting album, and follows her debut effort, Who You Are, which debuted and peaked at No. 11 in 2011.
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods” debuts at No. 1 with 195,000 downloads sold, marking Swift’s eighth No. 1 on the list. Only Rihanna (with 13 leaders), Katy Perry (10) and Eminem (nine) have more No. 1s on the Digital Songs chart.
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“Out of the Woods” is the second commercially available song from Swift’s upcoming studio release, 1989, due out Oct. 27.
Swift replaces herself at No. 1, as 1989’s first single, “Shake It Off,” falls 1-2 with 178,000 (up 5 percent). Swift is the first lead artist to occupy the top two slots on the chart at the same time since … Swift herself did it just over two years ago. She also claimed the Nos. 1 and 2 rungs on the Sept. 22, 2012 chart with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “Ronan.”
Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” slips 2-3 with 148,000 (down 12 percent), Maroon 5’s “Animals” descends 3-4 with 117,000 (though up 3 percent) and Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s “Bang Bang” is steady at No. 5 with just over 96,000 (up 2 percent).
Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” moves 4-6 with 96,000 (down 3 percent), Jason Derulo’s “Trumpets” blares 6-7 with 86,000 (up 8 percent) and Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow,” featuring Rita Ora, is stationary at No. 8 with just over 73,000 (down 5 percent). Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One” rises 13-9 with 73,000 (up 24 percent) and Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell ‘Em,” featuring YG, is a non-mover at No. 10 with 72,000 (down 3 percent).
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Oct. 19) totaled 4.40 million units, down 2 percent compared with the sum last week (4.47 million) and down 6 percent compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (4.69 million). Year to date album sales stand at 199.93 million, down 14 percent compared to the same total at this point last year (219.57 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 17.32 million downloads, up 3 percent compared with last week (16.88 million) and down 13 percent stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (19.85 million). Year to date track sales are at 900.86 million, down 13 percent compared to the same total at this point last year (1.03 billion).
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2013 when: Katy Perry’s PRISM debuted at No. 1 with 286,000 sold. The previous week’s No. 1, Pearl Jam’s Lightning Bolt, fell to No. 2 with 46,000 (down 72 percent).