Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour surges back to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Sept. 4) for its fourth nonconsecutive week on top, with 84,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 26, according to MRC Data (up 1,201%). Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 76,000 — the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album since MRC Data began electronically tracking sales in 1991. The only larger week on vinyl in that span of time was logged by Taylor Swift’s Evermore, when it sold 102,000 vinyl copies in the week ending June 6.
Three of the top five biggest-selling weeks for an album on vinyl since 1991 have occurred in 2021. Following Swift and Rodrigo, the third-largest week was registered by the debut frame of Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever (73,000; week ending Aug. 5). In fourth and fifth place are the debut frames of Jack White’s Lazaretto (40,000 in 2014) and Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy (34,000 in 1994).
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. The new Sept. 4, 2021-dated chart (where Sour returns to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 31. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Sour was initially released via streamers and on CD, cassette and digital download on May 21, but did not hit vinyl until Aug. 20. It was issued across six different vinyl LP variants, including a standard black edition and assorted color variants.
With Sour’s 84,000 copies sold across all of its configurations (CD, vinyl, cassette and digital album) in the week ending Aug. 26, the album’s total U.S. sales now stand at 256,000 — making it the No. 2-selling album of 2021. It pushes ahead of Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, the No. 3-seller, with 255,000 copies sold. Swift’s Evermore remains the year’s top-selling album, with 415,000 sold.
Elsewhere on the latest Top Album Sales chart, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Chaos Chapter: Freeze rebounds 24-2 (43,000; up 1,070%) following its deluxe reissue on Aug. 20 with additional tracks and new physical CD packaging. Lorde’s third full-length studio album Solar Power debuts at No. 3 with 34,000 copies sold (with 27,000 of that sum via vinyl LP). Eilish’s Happier Than Ever falls 1-4 in its fourth week with 17,000 sold (down 20%).
Aaliyah’s 1996 sophomore album One in a Million re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 5 — a new peak — with 13,000 sold following its reissue on Aug. 20 after years out of print. The set originally topped out at No. 18 in 1997.
Sturgill Simpson’s new album The Ballad of Dood & Juanita debuts at No. 6 with 12,000 sold, with the bulk of that figure, 8,000, from digital downloads. (The vinyl LP edition of Dood isn’t due until Nov. 30.) Dood is Simpson’s fifth top 10 on Top Album Sales.
Danny Gokey collects his highest charting album in over a decade on Top Album Sales, as Jesus People bows at No. 7 with 9,000 copies sold. Its his third top 10, and highest charting set since his debut release, My Best Days, debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the March 20, 2010-dated list.
Deafheaven scores its first top 10 on Top Album Sales as the band’s latest release, Infinite Granite, starts at No. 8 with 7,000. The Killers’ Pressure Machine dips 2-9 in its second week with nearly 7,000 sold (down 71%). James McMurtry hits the top 10 for the first time, as The Horses and the Hounds trots in at No. 10 with 6,000 sold.
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