Kelly Clarkson found a bit more breathing room on the Official Albums Chart this week, as her new album Piece By Piece gets a nicer cushion over the Fifty Shades of Grey Soundtrack on the Billboard 200. Thanks to the removal of individual streams and downloads for Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding's singles from the latter, Clarkson won the pure albums race with 80,500 copies sold, compared to 57,000 copies of Fifty Shades.
Taylor Swift and Drake didn't see too much of a shakeup in the transition from the billboard 200 to the Albums Chart, as both have seen significant contributions from single downloads, and both were tight competitors on both charts. Swift and 1989 sold 42,000 copies and edged If You're Reading This It's Too Late's 39,000 units. Swift's lead should have theoretically been stronger on the pure albums chart, as she doesn't have the streaming boost that Drake gets on the Billboard chart.
There were only two debuts on the Billboard 200 this week and that stat would continue onto the Albums chart as well. Brandi Carlile managed to place much higher on this count however, as pure album sales of The Firewatcher's Daughter made up for its lack of streams (37,500 copies sold).
Sam Smith managed to stay put at no. 9 for another week with In The Lonely Hour, which came in just less than 30,000 copies. Although Meghan Trainor got a boost thanks to streaming and singles on the Billboard 200, the winner this week was Now 53, which had fallen off for a week but returned with 27,500 copies sold last week.
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