the beatles sold the most albums in first week.
who sold the most albums in first week?
the beatles
"red" was a huge commercial success. in the united states, "red" debuted at number-one on the "billboard" 200. it became the fastest-selling album in over a decade after selling 1.21 million copies in its first week, and earned swift her third no. 1 album on the chart. "red" has the second highest first week sum by a female artist, only behind britney spears' "oops!... i did it again" (2000), which opened with 1.3 million units. "red" had the biggest sales week in 2012 and outsold the top 52 albums in the "billboard" 200 on its first week. it has also the biggest one week sales for a country album beating garth brooks' "double live" which sold 1.085 million copies in 1998. "red" sold 465,000 digital copies in its first week in the us, which is the second biggest after lady gaga's "born this way" (2011). it sold around 1.459 million copies worldwide in its first week of sales. in its second week on the "billboard" 200, the album remained at no. 1 and sold 344,000 copies (down 72%). next week "red" held atop the "billboard" 200 and sold a further 196,000 copies (down 43%) which brought its sales to 1.749 million, thus ranking the third biggest selling album of 2012 behind adele's "21" and one direction's "up all night". the album was dethroned by one direction's "take me home" on its fourth week. in its seventh week, "red" climbed back to no. 1 on the "billboard" 200 selling 167,000 and with that, swift became tied with jay-z and whitney houston for fourth most-weeks at no. 1 on the "billboard" 200 since nielsen soundscan began tracking in 1991. with "red" spending its sixth week atop "billboard" 200, swift became the first artist since the beatles 43 years earlier to log six weeks atop "billboard" 200 with three consecutive studio albums.
red (taylor swift album)
the highest-selling albums and eps in the united states are ranked in the "billboard" 200, published by "billboard" magazine. the data are compiled by nielsen soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales. 25 acts achieved number one albums during this year with artist such as nelly and shania twain who had their albums debut at number one on the chart. rapper eminem's "the eminem show" is the best selling album of 2002 selling over approximately 7.6 million copies by the end of the year. it is also the longest running album of 2002 spending six non-consecutive weeks the chart and was known for its first full week of sales debut of 1.322 million copies which nielsen soundscan scanned as the sixth largest sales of all time in its first week. its debut of 1.322 million copies has still not been matched by any album today since except for taylor swift's album "1989", which opened with first week sales of 1.279 million copies. the band creed continued its eight week long run on the chart but is credited as the longest running album 2001. jennifer lopez earned her second number one album on the charts with "", which became the highest first week sales of a remix album at the time. r&b artist ashanti earned her first number one album with her self-titled debut album "ashanti", which opened up with first week sales of 503,000 copies in its first week alone. puff daddy earned his first number one album since "no way out" back in 1997. rapper jay-z earned his fifth chart topper with "", which opened up with first week sales of 545,000 copies alone. heavy metal band disturbed earned its first number one album on the chart with "believe", which opened up with first week sales of 284,000 copies alone. country music singer shania twain's album "up!" opened up with a huge first week sales of 857,000 copies in its first week alone, giving her the recognition of the highest first week sales of her career and second highest of the year, only behind eminem's "the eminem show" and at the time the fastest selling solo female album ever. nelly's album "nellyville" opened up with his highest first week sales of his career which logged on with huge sales of 714,000 copies in its first week alone, which beat his sales of his debut album "country grammar", which opened up with first week sales of 235,000 copies. country singer alan jackson album "drive" gave him his first number one album on the chart and opened up with first week sales of 211,000 copies.
list of billboard 200 number-one albums of 2002