×
Skip to main content

‘Frozen’ Spends Lucky 13th Week At No. 1, Lindsey Stirling Bows At No. 2

As expected, Disney's soundtrack to "Frozen" refuses to budge from the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200.

As expected, Disney’s soundtrack to “Frozen” refuses to budge from the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200. The set spends a lucky 13th nonconsecutive week at No. 1, selling 106,000 copies (down 8 percent) in the week ending May 4, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
 
“Frozen” is now one of only 39 albums in the history of the chart to have spent at least 13 weeks at No. 1. (The Billboard 200 became a regularly published weekly list in 1956.)
 
Only five albums have racked exactly 13 weeks at No. 1. In addition to “Frozen,” they are: the original Broadway cast recording of “Hair” (in 1969), the Monkees’ self-titled debut (1966), Judy Garland’s “Judy at Carnegie Hall” (1961) and Enoch Light/Terry Snyder and the All-Stars’ “Persuasive Percussion” (1960).
 

Related

Pop Shop Podcast: Avril, Katy, Little Mix Interview
In this week’s episode, we break down Avril Lavigne’s controversial “Hello Kitty” video and chat with Little Mix. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes HERE.

“Frozen” also logs its 10th nonconsecutive week of sales exceeding 100,000 copies. The last album to tally as many weeks of 100,000-plus sales was Taylor Swift’s “Red.” Its first 10 weeks all logged sales of more than 100,000, through the week ending Dec. 30, 2012.
 
Cumulative sales for “Frozen” now stand at 2.6 million, of which 2.2 million have been sold in 2014.
 
At No. 2 on the Billboard 200 is classical crossover violinist Lindsey Stirling, whose second album, “Shatter Me,” debuts with 56,000. It easily scores the dance-meets-classical artist her best sales week and highest-charting album. The new independently distributed effort also hits No. 1 on Independent Albums, Classical Crossover Albums and Dance/Electronic Albums.

Trending on Billboard

Lindsey Stirling Interview: On ‘Powerful’ Single, Tour Choreography

It follows her breakthrough self-titled release, which bowed in 2012 and has sold 327,000 copies. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 and spent 37 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Classical Crossover Albums chart — the sixth-longest run at No. 1 in the chart’s 20-year history. It also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. As “Shatter Me” makes its debut on the Billboard 200, her first album jumps 77-42 with 7,000 sold (up 63 percent).
 
“Shatter Me” is also the highest-charting independently distributed album on the Billboard 200 since Garth Brooks’ Walmart-exclusive boxed set “Blame It All on My Roots” spent three consecutive weeks in the top two (through the week ending Dec. 22, 2013).
 
Ray LaMontagne’s “Supernova” starts at No. 3 with 40,000, while the Passion collective’s live effort “Take It All” enters at No. 4 with 30,000. “Supernova” is the third top 10 album for LaMontagne, following two earlier No. 3-peaking titles. His last release, 2010’s “God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise,” debuted and peaked at that spot with 64,000 copies.

Ray LaMontagne Goes ‘Supernova’: New Album Interview

Passion’s “Take It All” album was recorded live at the Passion Christian conferences held earlier this year in Atlanta and Houston. It features such stars of the genre as Chris Tomlin, Crowder and Matt Redman. This is the third consecutive top 10 album for the collective, following “Passion: White Flag” (No. 5 in 2012) and “Let the Future Begin” (No. 4 in 2013).
 
Iggy Azalea’s “The New Classic” dips 3-5 with 23,000 in its second week (down 57 percent), Pharrell’s “G I R L” slips 4-6 with 22,000 (up 3 percent), and Future’s “Honest” falls 2-7 with 20,000 in its second frame (down 63 percent).
 
Pop duo Timeflies arrives at No. 8 with its second album, “After Hours,” which sells nearly 20,000. The set, released on Island Records, is the act’s first full-length release for a major label following the indie set “The Scotch Tape” in 2011. Since then, it has charted two EPs: “One Night” (No. 29) and “Warning Signs” (No. 36).
 
Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” descends 7-9 with 17,000 (down 13 percent).
 
Closing out the top 10 is rock band Whitechapel, scoring its best sales week and highest-charting album ever with the bow of “Our Endless War” at No. 10 (16,000). The act logged its previous high with 2010’s “A New Era of Corruption,” which debuted and peaked at No. 43 with 11,000 copies.
 
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Ariana Grande earns the eighth-largest debut ever for a download, as her “Problem” starts at No. 1 with 438,000 sold. It’s also the largest arrival for a song this year, and the biggest since Katy Perry’s “Roar” debuted with 557,000 downloads in the week ending Aug. 18, 2013.

Ariana Grande Interview: On ‘Problem’ & New Album

“Problem” features Azalea, who herself jumps from No. 6 to No. 2 with her own song, “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX. “Fancy” sold 222,000 downloads (up 104 percent).
 
With the jump, Azalea becomes only the sixth artist to occupy the top two slots of Digital Songs at the same time, and the first to do so since 2012. The last artist to rule with both the No. 1 and No. 2 songs in the same week was Swift in the sales week ending Sept. 9, 2012. That week, she ruled the Digital Songs chart with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (284,000) and “Ronan” (211,000), respectively.
 
Back in the present day, Pharrell’s “Happy” falls from No. 1 after an 11-week reign, slipping to No. 3 with 174,000 sold (down 16 percent). John Legend’s “All of Me” slides 2-4 with 161,000 (down 14 percent).
 
Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” is the second debut in the top 10, as it starts with 139,000 at No. 5 with only three full days of sales. (It was released at 12 a.m. on Friday, May 2.) Bolstered by a performance of the track on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” on May 3, “Stars” enters with Coldplay’s biggest sales week since 2008 (“Viva la Vida,” with 246,000 in the week ending June 15).
 
“A Sky Full of Stars” is the third pre-release song from the band’s upcoming album “Ghost Stories,” which will arrive May 19.
 
DJ Snake & Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” falls 5-6 with 126,000 (down 4 percent), while Rixton’s “Me and My Broken Heart” zooms 25-7 with 111,000 (up 99 percent). During the tracking week ending May 4, the group performed on NBC’s “The Voice” (April 28) and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (May 1).
 
Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty,” featuring 2 Chainz, drops 3-8 with 99,000 (down 31 percent). Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” falls 4-9 with 91,000 (down 32 percent), and Ed Sheeran’s “Sing” holds at No. 10 with 86,000 (up 7 percent).
 
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 27) totaled 4.4 million units, up 2 percent compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 14 percent compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5.1 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 84.8 million, down 16 percent compared to the same total at this point last year (100.8 million).
   
Digital track sales this past week totaled 21.9 million downloads, down 5 percent compared with last week (23 million) and down 9 percent stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (24.2 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 424 million, down 12 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (482.5 million).
 
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2013 when: Lady Antebellum’s “Golden” debuted at No. 1 (167,000), replacing Kenny Chesney’s “Life On a Rock,” which fell to No. 8 with 48,000 (down 68 percent).