Jay-Z and Kanye West were crowned kings on the albums chart this week with Watch the Throne. The highly-anticipated collaboration from the hip-hop superstars reigns at No. 1.
Throne secures the top spot on the Billboard 200, selling 436,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the second-largest sales week of the year, only trailing Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which opened with 1.1 million in May.
The dynamic duo’s album was available exclusively through iTunes from August 8-11 prior to expanding sales at all digital and physical retailers on August 12. Only three official days of physical sales were counted due to the staggered release.
Throne was legally downloaded 321,000 times, giving it the second-largest digital week ever, behind Gaga’s Born This Way (662,000). Sources tell Billboard that the album also broke iTunes’ one-week sales record with 290,000 digital copies.
If that weren’t enough, Jay-Z also claims his 12th No. 1, while Kanye earns his fifth chart-topper with Throne. Jay holds his record as the solo act with the most No. 1 albums in history.
If Throne’s numbers seem low to some, that’s because the album has yet to have a full week’s worth of digital and physical sales. Those figures will be accounted for next week.
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