Tracy Chapman’s Debut Album Hits Top 10 on Billboard’s Album Sales Chart After Vinyl Reissue
It’s also top 10 on Top Rock Albums, American/Folk Albums, Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales.
Tracy Chapman yielded three Billboard Hot 100-charting songs in 1988: the Grammy-winning “Fast Car” (No. 6), “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” (No. 75) and “Baby Can I Hold You” (No. 48).
The new vinyl reissue was prepared for release by Chapman and the album’s original producer, David Kershenbaum and sourced from an analogue master. It was released as a widely-available 180 gram black vinyl edition, along with three retailer-exclusive color variants (opaque deep red for Walmart, transparent orange for indie stores, and opaque orange for Urban Outfitters).
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 (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Chapman’s album is one of seven debuts or reentries in the top 10 on the latest Top Album Sales chart, which is led by the debuting Preacher’s Daughter from Ethel Cain at No. 1. It’s her first No. 1 and chart entry. The 2022 album was released on vinyl for the first time on April 4, and in total, the set sold 37,000 copies for the week – nearly all from vinyl purchases.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s Who Believes in Angels? enters at No. 2 with 36,500 sold; ZEROBASEONE’s Blue Paradise starts at No. 3 with nearly 20,500 and Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine rounds out the top five, falling 1-5 with 10,500 (down 83%).
Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong debuts at No. 6 (nearly 9,000), Djo’s The Crux starts at No. 7 (8,000), xikers’ House of Tricky: Spur bows at No. 8 (nearly 8,000), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet slips 6-9 (a little over 7,500; down 16%) and Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 5-10 (about 7,500; down 19%).
