Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor Hold Strong on Digital Downloads Chart While Nicki Minaj Conquers on Two Fronts

Last week was a huge sales week for Digital Downloads...the biggest of the year so far in fact. Thus this week's numbers aren't quite as glamourous but there's still an interesting mix of performers rising and dropping, based on Billboard's charts.

Taylor Swift is technically one of the droppers but it's tough to blame her after the single "Shake It Off" had the biggest debut week of 2014 thus far. It broke 550,000 last week so 340,000 might seem less than exciting but it's still more than enough to maintain the no. 1 spot this week.

Meghan Trainor experienced a similar feeling with "All About That Bass." This week marked the first week with a drop in sales since the song entered the Top 10. Still, that 11 percent only brought the song down to 251,000 downloads while maintaining the no. 2 spot. It makes the competition for the spot more interesting however as "Bang Bang"—the single featuring Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J—rose a huge 47 percent thanks to continued VMA attention. The song settled at no. 3 with 233,000 downloads.

The VMAs paid off big time for Minaj. Not only did "Bang Bang" receive a boost but the rapper's own single "Anaconda" has seen an even bigger boost. The track rises to no. 4 this week thanks to a 51 percent increase in sales to 181,000 downloads. That means Iggy Azalea's "Black Widow" fell to no. 5 despite its own 25 percent increase in sales (177,000 downloads).

There was one new debut on the charts this week as Eminem's "Guts Over Fear" saw its first official week. The track, which features Sia, sold 130,000 downloads last week but we see it rising in weeks to come.

Sam Smith saw a boost in album sales over the last sales week but his single "Stay With Me" hasn't gotten quite the same boost from his performance at the VMAs. The track dropped a few percentage points and sold 115,000 copies, resulting in a two-spot drop to no. 7. Grande also landed her own single, "Break Free" back on the charts thanks to her performance at the event. The track rose 75 percent and sold 113,000 downloads to take the no. 8 spot.

Maroon 5 came back into the Top 10 as well, thanks to its performance of "Maps" during the outdoor segment at the MTV awards show. That resulted in 94,000 downloads (and no. 9) while Charlie XCX performed the same stage and yet her "Boom Clap" fell to no. 10 with 86,000 downloads.

Tags

Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Rita Ora, Eminem, Sia, Sam Smith, Maroon 5, Charlie XCX