La, La, Land on the Soundtracks chart, the title reaches a new peak.
On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 14), Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmasheld on to the No. 1 slot for a second week, earning 101,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 29, according to Nielsen Music.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the latest Billboard 200 chart:
— Shawn Mendes, Illuminate – No. 11 — Promotion and associated sales generated by Mendes’ new Live at Madison Square Garden album (a debut at No. 200) assist his first two full-length sets at Nos. 11 (Illuminate) and 108 (Handwritten) with unit gains of 87 and 47 percent, respectively.
— Soundtrack, La La Land – No. 52 — The buzzy film’s expansion into further theat
ers on Dec. 25 helps its companion soundtrack zip 95-52 (17,000 units; 47 percent, with 13,000 copies sold; up 43 percent). Earlier in December, the movie scored seven Golden Globe nominations, including best musical or comedy. The film currently (as of Jan. 6) has a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On the Soundtracks chart, the title reaches a new peak, climbing 8-5.
— A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service – No. 32 — A Tribe Called Quest vaults up the chart, rising from 62-32 (25,000 units; up 66 percent, with 22,000 sold; up 83 percent), thanks to its release on vinyl LP on Dec. 23. The vinyl set sold 11,000 copies and debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart. 11,000 is a particularly robust figure for a rap album — and a vinyl set in general: in the past year, there have only been 10 instances where an album sold 10,000 or more on vinyl LP in a single week (and none of those were rap releases).
Further, We Got It From Here is just the third rap album to top the Vinyl Albums chart in the past year. It follows Twiztid’s The Green Book and De La Soul’s And the Anonymous Nobody. The vinyl version of Tribe’s album hits the chart six weeks after We Got It From Here debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — supported largely by download sales of its digital album. The title’s CD edition did not arrive in wide release until the album’s second chart week.
— Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 3 – No. 35 — The hip-hop act nets its highest charting album yet — and first top 40 title — as Run the Jewels 3 bows at No. 35 with 23,000 units (17,000 from traditional album sales). The duo (El-P and Killer Mike) previously charted with Run the Jewels 2, which peaked at No. 50 in 2014. The act’s first release, its 2013 self-titled album, did not reach the Billboard 200, but did impact the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, debuting and peaking at No. 60.
— Frank Ocean, Blonde – No. 44 — Frank Ocean’s former No. 1 Billboard 200 album Blondezooms from No. 167 to No. 44 following its commercial release on CD and vinyl — for one day only. The set made its CD and vinyl debut on Nov. 25 — for 24 hours only — via Ocean’s official website, while those purchases were fulfilled to customers during the Dec. 23-29th tracking frame. The album was previously only available as a digital download or stream.
Blonde sold 9,000 copies on CD, and 2,000 vinyl LPs. In total for the week, the title sold 13,000 copies – enough for a reentry at No. 35 on the Top Album Sales chart. Plus, Blonde launches at No. 19 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.
