The rebirth of Beatlemania and the fourth studio album from country singer Eric Church supplied some much-needed lift to the U.S. album chart last week.
The Beatles’ catalog received an enormous lift in the week following the Feb. 9 CBS special commemorating the 50th anniversary of the group’s U.S. TV debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” No less than 13 Fab Four titles crowded onto SoundScan’s 200-position chart, scanning a total of 65,000 units.
Predictably, the top title was the hits compilation “1,” which tracked 18,000 copies, seeing a 90% gain and landing at No. 20; the collection has sold 12.3 million. Other sets that witnessed big leaps included the companion album to the Cirque du Soleil spectacle “Love,” the so-called “red” and “blue” compilations, last year’s “Live at the BBC Vol. 2,” and U.S. and U.K. iterations of the group’s original releases.
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Church, meanwhile, saw his fourth studio album “The Outsiders” burst onto the list at No. 1.
Church’s rock-skewed EMI Nashville release reaped first-week sales of 288,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for the week ending Feb. 16. “The Outsiders” is the North Carolina-born musician’s second consecutive No. 1 studio album; “Chief,” released in 2011, has shifted more than 1.7 million to date. Last year’s live album “Caught in the Act” peaked at No. 3.
Church’s hot debut at least momentarily shook album sales out of a funk that commenced in January. No title had sold more than 100,000 units since the “Frozen” soundtrack (165,000) and Beyonce’s self-titled set (130,000) held the top two chart slots during the week that ended Jan. 5. “The Outsiders” is also the first album to take the peak with one-week sales in excess of a quarter-million since “Beyonce” notched a 310,000-unit frame the week ending Dec. 29.
Holding at No. 2 for a second week, Disney’s “Frozen” reached six-figure sales again, moving an even 100,000 (up 13%) and topping the 1 million-unit mark. The animated feature has grossed $378.2 million to date.
The remainder of the week’s top 10 comprised familiar titles, some of which saw significant boosts from pre-Valentine’s Day sale pricing. The top five was completed by the “Now 49” compilation (No. 3, 77,000 sold, off 21%), “Beyonce” (No. 4, 48,000, up 26%) and Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” (No. 5, 48,000, off 41%).
Rounding out the week’s bestsellers were Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” (No. 6, 41,000, up 77%), Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” (No. 7, 38,000, up 9%), Toni Braxton & Babyface’s “Love, Marriage & Divorce” (No. 8, 33,000, down 51%), Katy Perry’s “Prism” (No. 9, 31,000, up 19%) and Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz” (No. 10, 29,000, up 96%).
