John Mayer’s Sob Rock rules Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as the singer-songwriter’s latest studio set debuts atop the list (dated July 31). The set sold 61,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending July 22, according to MRC Data — the biggest debut sales week for an album in nearly two months, since Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour started with 72,000 copies at No. 1 (June 5-dated chart).
Mayer leads a busy top 10 on Top Album Sales, which is infused with titles released for Record Store Day 2021’s second drop (on July 17).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Sob Rock is Mayer’s fifth No. 1 on Top Album Sales and 11th top 10 overall. He’s also led the tally with The Search for Everything: Wave One (2017), Born and Raised (2012), Battle Studies (2009) and Heavier Things (2003).
Of Sob Rock’s debut sales of 61,000, physical album sales comprise 39,000 of that figure (23,000 vinyl LPs, 15,000 CDs and a little over 1,000 cassettes), while digital album sales comprise 22,000. (The album’s cassette was exclusively sold via Mayer’s official webstore.)
Dee Gees, aka Foo Fighters, debut at No. 2 with Hail Satin, selling 15,000 copies. Of that sum, 12,000 came from its vinyl LP release for Record Store Day’s second drop (July 17), while another 3,000 were sold via digital download (released on July 19). The first five tracks on the 10-song album are covers of Bee Gees-penned songs, including four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits: Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing,” “Night Fever” and “Tragedy,” and Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing.” The second five songs on the Hail Satin project are live versions of tracks from Foo Fighters’ most recent studio album, Medicine at Midnight.
Sob Rock and Hail Satin also debut at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart, which ranks the top-selling vinyl LPs of the week.
Clairo’s latest album Sling starts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with nearly 15,000 copies sold, the act’s highest-charting effort and first top 10. Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Layla Revisited (Live at Lockn’), featuring Trey Anastasio, bows at No. 4 with 13,000 sold.
A pair of Record Store Day-exclusive releases are up next on Top Album Sales, as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Deja Vu: Alternates and Beastie Boys’ Aglio e Olio debut at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, with 9,500 and 9,000 sold. Both were issued on vinyl LP, exclusively, for Record Store Day 2021’s second drop.
Deja Vu: Alternates features nine alternative versions of songs from the group’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, 1970’s Deja Vu. The tracks on the Alternates album were originally released in May on CD and digital download as part of the 50th-anniversary deluxe reissue of the album, but were not previously available to purchase as a stand-alone album. Deja Vu: Alternates is the highest-charting effort for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (or Crosby, Stills & Nash) on the 30-year-old Top Album Sales tally.
Beastie Boys’ Aglio e Olio was first released in 1995 as a brief eight-song, 12-minute-long album, but never charted on any Billboard chart. For Record Store Day 2021’s second drop, it was reissued on clear vinyl with two previously released bonus tracks, bringing its runtime to 15 minutes. With its No. 6 debut, Aglio e Olio marks Beastie Boys’ sixth top 10 and 15th total chart entry on Top Album Sales.
Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Sour falls 1-7 in its ninth week on the list, with a little over 8,500 sold (down 16%).
A trio of Record Store Day releases round out the new top 10 on Top Album Sales. Amy Winehouse’s Remixes debuts at No. 8 with 8,000; The Rolling Stones’ Hot Rocks 1964-1971 re-enters at No. 9 with nearly 8,000 (up 1,482%) and Miles Davis’ Champions: Rare Miles From the Complete Jack Johnson Sessions debuts at No. 10 (7,500).
Winehouse’s Remixes is a two-LP (one blue, one yellow) pressing of 15 remixes of tracks from Winehouse’s Frank and Back to Black albums. The remixes were first released in 2020 as a unit as part of the five-CD boxed set The Collection. Remixes also launches at No. 2 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, her first entry there.
For Record Store Day 2021’s second drop, the Stones’ Hot Rocks 1964-1971 was issued as a double-LP on yellow vinyl with expanded original artwork.
Davis’ Champions is a six-track sampling of tunes originally released in 2003 on the box set The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions. Champions was pressed on yellow vinyl for Record Store Day 2021.
Champions also garners Davis his latest No. 1 on Billboard’s overall Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts.
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