The good news about the albums chart is that it gives performers who didn't crack the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 to make their stand without worrying about streams and singles, but that will still have to wait until after Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. The rapper's third album, and first to top the albums chart, sold 319,000 copies, nearly quadrupling the next highest total on the list.
That no. 2 album was the Empire Season 1 soundtrack, which sold 86,500 copies during its second week, allowing it to retain the same position that it held last week. Interestingly, last week's no. 1—Madonna's Rebel Heart—dropped from the Top 10 altogether.
Following the no. 2 position, a run of four new albums debut in the Albums Top 10 (this week has been the best for new records thus far during 2015 in terms of new entries). The first two were also entries onto the Billboard 200 Top 10: Modest Mouse and Strangers to Ourselves came in at no. 3 with 69,500 copies sold, while Marina and The Diamonds placed at no. 4 by moving 38,000 copies. The first performer to benefit from strictly-album sales was hardcore band Sleeping With Sirens, which released Madness with 36,000 copies sold, a drop from its 2013 album Feel, which debuted at no. 3. Mark Knopfler, better known as the frontman and guitarist for Dire Straits, came in at no. 6 with his solo record Tracker, which sold 35,000 copies. His last album wasn't released in the United States due to a contractual issue, making this his first U.S. release since 2009.
Things take a turn for the familiar at no. 7, where Taylor Swift and 1989 remain in the Top 10 after 21 weeks. That album sold 34,500 copies. Luke Bryan hung around for a second week as Spring Break...Checkin' Out sold another 31,000 copies.
Awolnation is the last performer to debut in the Top 10 as the alt-rock band's Run sold 30,500 copies. That's a mighty jump from the group's 2011 debut, Megalithic Symphony, which came in at no. 84.
The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack compilation rounds out this week's Top 10, selling 28,500 copies in its sixth week.
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