LE SSERAFIM and (G)I-DLE Score First Top 10s on Billboard’s Album Sales Chart

LE SSERAFIM and (G)I-DLE each notch their first top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Nov. 5) as ANTIFRAGILE and I Love: 5th Mini Album debut at Nos. 3 and 9, respectively.

Plus, Taylor Swift’s Midnights makes a spectacular debut at No. 1 with the largest sales week for any album since her own Reputation debuted in 2017, while the latest albums from Arctic Monkeys, Carly Rae Jepsen and Meghan Trainor arrive in the top 10.

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 Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement 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.

Swift’s Midnights blasts in at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with 1.140 million copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 27, according to Luminate. It’s the largest sales week for any album since Swift’s Reputation debuted atop the chart with 1.216 million sold in its first week (chart dated Dec. 2, 2017). (Read more on the full breakdown on Midnights’ first-week sales.)

Arctic Monkeys collect its highest charting effort yet, and fourth top 10, on Top Album Sales as the band’s latest album The Car drives in at No. 2 with 28,000 copies sold. Vinyl sales comprised a robust 19,000 of that sum, enabling the set’s debut at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart.

LE SSERAFIM’s ANTIFRAGILE debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales, marking the first top 10 and chart entry for the South Korean girl group. The five-song set sold 20,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 27 – with CD album sales comprising nearly all of that sum and digital album downloads comprising a negligible number. Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of ANTIFRAGILE was issued in collectible deluxe packages (eight total, including a version exclusive to Target), each with a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as photocards, postcards and a poster). The set was not released in any other physical format, such as vinyl or cassette.

Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city vaults from No. 52 to No. 4 with 15,000 sold (up 535%) – nearly all on vinyl – following the set’s 10th anniversary reissue on CD, cassette and five vinyl editions. The reissue does not contain any additional audio content, but boasts alternative artwork and color vinyl variants.

Stray Kids’ MAXIDENT falls 2-5 with 14,000 sold (down 44%).

Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest release The Loneliest Time enters at No. 6 on Top Album Sales with 12,000 sold – it’s her third top 10-charting effort on the list. If The Loneliest Time goes no higher on the tally, it will mark her third top 10 to debut and peak at No. 6.

Meghan Trainor’s Takin’ It Back bows at No. 7 with 11,000 sold. It’s the fourth top 10 for Trainor and her highest charting set since 2016’s Thank You debuted and peaked at No. 2.

Queens of the Stone Age’s self-titled debut album reaches the top 10 on Top Album Sales for the first time (re-entering at No. 8 with 10,000 sold; up from a negligible sum the previous week) following a new vinyl pressing for the album – its first vinyl release in a decade. The set, first released in 1998, was reissued on black vinyl and orange-colored vinyl on Oct. 21. Essentially all of the album’s sales for the week were on vinyl, enabling the title’s re-entry at No. 4 on Vinyl Albums.

South Korean pop group (G)I-DLE claims its first top 10 on Top Album Sales as I Love: 5th Mini Album debuts at No. 9 with 10,000 sold. Essentially all of the set’s sales were on CD, with a negligible sum on digital album download. The title was available in two collectible CD packages (including one exclusive to Target), each with a standard set of items (photobook, lyric paper, etc.) and randomized elements (such as photocards, bookmark and a poster). The set was not released in any other physical format, such as vinyl or cassette.

Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart is Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return of the Dream Canteen, which falls to No. 10 in its second week, with 9,000 sold (down 85%).

In the week ending Oct. 27, there were 2.794 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 66.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.290 million (up 73.4%) and digital albums comprised 504,000 (up 40.1%).

There were 998,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Oct. 27 (up 55% week-over-week) and 1.270 vinyl albums sold (up 90.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 28.401 million (down 6.6% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 31.968 million (up 4.1%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 77.626 million (down 6.2% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 60.812 million (down 1.1%) and digital album sales total 16.813 million (down 20.9%).