LOS ANGELES-
Taylor Swift climbed back to the top spot on the newly revamped U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, in a list that the trade magazine believes now more accurately reflects present-day music consumption.
Swift’s “1989” jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 this week with total album sales of 339,000 units, according to physical album sales, digital song sales and online streaming figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.
The new weekly Billboard 200 chart, previously measured only by physical and digital U.S. album sales, will now include digital songs, of which 10 songs equal one album unit, and online streaming figures, where 1,500 streams equal one album unit.
In the case of “1989” this week, there were 281,000 copies sold of the full album, 580,000 songs purchased individually and 36,000 streams of music from “1989.” The lower streaming figure relates to Swift removing her entire catalog of music from online streaming giant Spotify.
A cappella group Pentatonix climbed one spot to No. 2 as “That’s Christmas to Me” sold a total of 227,000 units, while rapper Eminem debuted at No. 3 with “ShadyXV” selling 148,000 units.
Last week’s chart-toppers, British boy band One Direction, dropped to No. 4 this week with “Four” selling 125,000 units.
Other new entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week include rapper Rick Ross at No. 6 with “Hood Billionaire” and R&B singer Beyonce at No. 8 with the “Beyonce: More Only EP,” part of the platinum edition of her self-titled 2013 album re-released last week.
On the digital songs chart, Swift’s “Blank Space” held the top spot with sales of 342,000 copies.
Actress Jennifer Lawrence was a surprise entry at No. 2 with James Howard’s song “Hanging Tree,” which she sings in “Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1,” the blockbuster movie that opened last month. The song sold 200,000 digital copies.
