On the music charts this week, the unstoppable “Frozen” soundtrack fends off a wave of new albums, and Pharrell Williams’s “Happy” conti...
On the music charts this week, the unstoppable “Frozen” soundtrack fends off a wave of new albums, and Pharrell Williams’s “Happy” continues its reign as the No. 1 single.
The “Frozen” album, released by Disney more than four months ago, is No. 1 on Billboard’s chart for a seventh time this week, with 202,000 sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In its 17 weeks on sale, the album has sold a total of 1.6 million copies, and it is easily the biggest seller of 2014 so far.
The film is still playing in theaters, but sales of the soundtrack were likely helped by the release last week of the film on DVD and Blu-ray, a phenomenon in itself: 3.2 million units of the video were sold on its first day, including advance sales, Disney said.
There is more movie mania on the singles chart, as “Happy” logs its fifth week at No. 1, with 370,000 downloads and 3.3 million streams. Perhaps the song was helped by its role as a theme for the United Nations’ International Happiness Day last Thursday.
Several new releases reached high on the album chart this week, although they were all eclipsed by “Frozen.” The Los Angeles rapper YG sold 61,000 copies of his debut studio album, “My Krazy Life” (Def Jam). The band Foster the People, which had a sleeper hit three years ago with the song “Pumped Up Kicks,” opened at No. 3 with 54,000 sales of its comeback album, “Supermodel” (Columbia).
The dance producer Skrillex reached No. 4 with 47,000 sales of “Recess” (Owsla/Big Beat/Atlantic), which he released by surprise earlier this month through an app that made the songs available for streaming. The album was officially put on sale last week, and according to Billboard, 87 percent of its sales during the first week were digital downloads.
Also on this week’s chart, the Pretty Reckless, a band led by the “Gossip Girl” actress Taylor Momsen, reached No. 5 with 35,000 sales of “Going to Hell” (Razor & Tie), and Mr. Williams’s album “G I R L” (Columbia) fell one spot to No. 6 in its third week out, with 34,000 sales.
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