Coldplay Chills For Second Week At No. 1, Mariah Carey Debuts At No. 3

Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories” holds for a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while the top debut is Mariah Carey’s “Me. I Am Mariah … The Elusive Chanteuse” at No. 3.

“Ghost Stories” sold 83,000 copies in the week ending June 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s down 78 percent from a week ago, when it launched at No. 1 with 383,000, the biggest sales frame for an album this year.

Two-week sales for “Ghost Stories” stand at 466,000, making it the sixth-largest-selling album of 2014. The soundtrack to “Frozen” continues to rule by far as the year’s top seller, with 2.5 million, and remains the only album to have sold 1 million copies in 2014.

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Brantley Gilbert’s “Just As I Am” also stays steady in the No. 2 slot on the latest Billboard 200, as it sells 65,000 (down 69 percent). It bowed in the runner-up position at week ago with 211,000.

Carey collects her 17th top 10 album as “Me. I Am Mariah … The Elusive Chanteuse” enters at No. 3 with 58,000. Her last non-holiday studio effort, 2009’s “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” also debuted at No. 3, but with 168,000.

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The debut of “Elusive” is Carey’s smallest opening for a non-holiday studio effort since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. Her previous low came when 1991’s “Emotions” launched at No. 4 with 156,000. Carey has tallied six No. 1 albums between 1991 and 2008. 

“Chanteuse” was tentatively earmarked for a release in March 2013, but was then pushed to July 23, then to May 6, 2014 and finally May 27. The promotion for the new set arguably started in August 2012 with the release of the single “Triumphant (Get ‘Em),” a song which does not appear on “Chanteuse.” The new album’s most recently charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 was “You’re Mine (Eternal),” which spent one week on the list, peaking at No. 88 (on the March 1-dated chart).

Following Carey on the Billboard 200 is the soundtrack to “Frozen,” which remains at No. 4 with just over 58,000 (down 10 percent).

The second of three debuts in the top 10 is Austin Mahone’s debut EP, “The Secret,” which starts at No. 5 with 46,000. Mahone’s long-in-the-works debut comes two-and-a-half years after he first appeared on a Billboard chart, when he bowed on the Social 50 tally dated Nov. 26, 2011. Mahone is aiming to release another album — a full-length project — before the end of the year.

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The current single from his album, “Mmm Yeah,” featuring Pitbull, peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated May 3.

The “Now 50” compilation is a non-mover at No. 6 with 41,000 (down 20 percent), Michael Jackson’s “Xscape” slips 3-7 with 35,000 (down 48 percent), and The Black Keys’ “Turn Blue” dips 5-8 with 32,000 (down 40 percent).

Crowder’s “Neon Steeple” rounds out the trio of debuts in the top 10 as it bows at No. 9 with 22,000. The album is the first solo release from David Crowder, who previously fronted The David Crowder Band. That group notched 10 entries on the Billboard 200 between 2003 and 2013, going as high as No. 2 in 2012 with “Give Us Rest.”

Iggy Azalea’s “The New Classic” closes out the top 10, as it descends 9-10 with 18,000 (down 16 percent).

Over on the Digital Songs chart, Azalea’s “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX, holds at No. 1 with 283,000 downloads sold (down 14 percent). Azalea is also in the No. 2 slot as a featured artist on Ariana Grande’s “Problem,” which sells 243,000 (down 15 percent).

Nico & Vinz’s “Am I Wrong” is also stationary as it sits at No. 3 for another week, selling 149,000 (down 5 percent).

MAGIC!’s “Rude” jumps 9-4 with 141,000 (up 25 percent), while DJ Snake & Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” is steady at No. 5 with 137,000 (down less than 1 percent).

Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle,” featuring Snoop Dogg, rises 7-6 with 133,000 (up 7 percent), and John Legend’s “All of Me” slides 4-7 with 123,000 (down 16 percent).

5 Seconds of Summer earns the chart’s highest debut, as “Good Girls” climbs in at No. 8 with 121,000. It’s the biggest sales week yet for the pop/rock band, surpassing the 91,000 start of “Don’t Stop.” Both songs are featured on the band’s self-titled full-length album, due for release on July 22.

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Pharrell’s “Happy” moves 6-9 with 113,000 (down 15 percent), and Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” vaults 18-10 with 103,000 (up 28 percent). It’s the first visit to the top 10 for Smith, who has three songs in the top 40 this week. He’s also at No. 17 on Disclosure’s “Latch” and at No. 36 on Naughty Boy’s “La La La.”

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 1) totaled 4.2 million units, down 13 percent compared with the sum last week (4.77 million) and down 13 percent compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (4.80 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 102.91 million, down 15 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (121.4 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 20.8 million downloads, down 6 percent compared with last week (22.1 million) and down 14 percent stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (24.2 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 508.4 million, down 12 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (579.9 million).

Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2013 when: Queens of the Stone Age’s “Like Clockwork” debuted at No. 1 with 91,000 and Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” fell to the No. 2 slot with 62,000 (down 33 percent) after two weeks at No. 1.