Bruno Mars tops Billboard 200 chart
| Eric Kelsey |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – US R&B singer Bruno Mars grabbed the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday for the first time after discounted online prices boosted sales of “Unorthodox Jukebox” some four months after its release.
Mars’ album, which includes the hit “Locked Out of Heaven” sold 95,000 copies last week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Industry magazine Billboard said 64,000 units of the album were digital downloads following a one-day sale of US$1.99 on Amazon.com’s MP3 site.
Bruno Mars’ album “Unorthodox Jukebox” reaching number one with the help of sales from Amazon MP3. EPA
Atoms for Peace, the rock group fronted by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, claimed the second spot with their debut album “Amok” entering the chart at number two, selling 50,000 units.
Mumford & Sons’ Grammy-winning album “Babel” fell from the top spot last week into third, while the same Amazon MP3 online sale that helped Mars also vaulted hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album “The Heist” from number 16 to number four.
Hillsong United, the band from Australian megachurch Hillsong, rounded out the top five with the album “Zion” selling 34,000 units in its first week.
Three of the top four albums are distributed by independent companies rather than large conglomerates, the first time it has happened since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, Billboard said.
Alternative Distribution Alliance distributed albums for Atoms for Peace and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. RED Distribution released “Babel” for Mumford & Sons.
On the digital songs chart, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ cheeky rap “Thrift Shop” held at number one for the eighth consecutive week with 326,000 downloads, a 10 per cent decline from last week.
Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” placed second, trading spots from last week with viral music video hit “Harlem Shake” by electronic artist Baauer, who landed at number three this week.
Digital song downloads totalled 253.8 million for the year, which is down two per cent compared to the same period in 2012.
