Madonna is number one!
Well, that is to say, she sold the most albums. But unfortunately for Her Madgesty, the Billboard 200 is now going by a slightly different metric for its album ranking.
[ Video: Madonna Performs On The Jonathan Ross Show ]
Now they’re looking at what’s called multi-metric consumption.
That means for the album chart, they’re also adding in single purchases that add up to a full album, even if they’re purchased by several different people.
So according to Billboard, even though Rebel Heart sold the most copies — 116,000 — its final number including track equivalent album sales is about 121,000.
Not bad at all, but the new ranking is giving a different album the official number one spot: the Empire soundtrack!
The hit TV show’s soundtrack album only sold 110,000 actual copies.
But with a diverse collection of guest artists ranging from Jennifer Hudson to Rita Ora to Courtney Love, there was a lot more purchasing of individual songs by people who didn’t want to whole album.
[ Related: Courtney Love Spills That Her Empire Guest Role Is All A Tribute To Whitney Houston! ]
Those purchases put it over the top with a final score of 130,000 equivalent album sales.
What does this mean for the future of album charts? You’re better off with fewer songs that are all hits that appeal to a diverse group of fans.
In other words, soundtracks are definitely going to have the edge.
For Madonna, it means the first time Billboard hasn’t put her at the top spot since 1998 when Ray Of Light peaked at the number two.
But WE know who’s number one! Way to go, gurl!
[Image via Interscope Records.]
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