Jimi Hendrix makes a No. 2 debut on the album chart while Pink surges in single sales. Here’s a look at this week’s Nielsen SoundScan numbers:
HOT DEBUT FOR HENDRIX: Jimi Hendrix, one of the few musicians not performing at SXSW this week, arrives at No. 2 on this week’s chart with People, Hell and Angels, a compilation of unreleased songs from the late rocker’s vaults. The set sold 72,000 copies its first week in stores, a slip from the 95,000 copies Hendrix’s last compilation, 2010’s Valleys of Neptune, sold its first week out. But that album didn’t chart as high, peaking at No. 4, which is still pretty good for a guy who died in 1970. The last posthumous release to chart as high as People, Hell and Angels was Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which debuted at No. 1 in 2009 with a first-week tally of 373,000 sales.
REASON RISING: The strongest gainer on this week’s Digital Songs chart is P!nk’s “Just Give Me a Reason,” which features a vocal assist from fun.’s Nate Reuss. The song is No. 8 on this week’s chart, up from No. 25 last week and No. 62 two weeks ago. It sold 122,000 copies this week, a 91 percent sales bump from the week prior. On the same chart, “Harlem Shake” drops one more spot to No. 4, while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ grampa style anthem “Thrift Shop” rules the chart for a ninth straight week. Meanwhile, the duo’s “Can’t Hold Us” rises to No. 19 on this week’s chart, up from No. 38 last week.
SPRING BREAK FOREVER: Blocking Hendrix from top spot on this week’s chart is country party dude Luke Bryan, who debuts at No. 1 with Spring Break… Here to Party, a compilation album of tracks culled from his series of Spring Break-themed EPs. The album, which includes songs such as “Cold Beer Drinker” and “Take My Drunk Ass Home,” sold 150,000 copies, topping the 145,000 copy bow of his last album, 2011’s Tailgates & Tanlines. Bryan, 36, may be getting a little old for Spring Break, but hey man, we’re not trying to be a “Buzzkill” – which, consequently, is also one of the songs on the album. And you thought James Franco was the king of Spring Break this year.
PLATINUM JUKEBOX: Last week’s No. 1, Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox, slips to No. 3 on this week’s chart. But its 51,000 sales push it past the 1 million sales marker, bringing its 13-week total to 1.011 million sales. Mars, 27, has also sold 5.1 million digital singles from the album, including 1.5 million copies of “When I Was Your Man” (No. 2 on this week’s Digital Songs chart) and 3.6 million copies of the album’s first single “Locked Out of Heaven” (No. 17 this week). Mars’ top selling singles to date are “Just the Way You Are” (5.7 million copies and counting) and “Grenade” (5.5 million). This kid will catch a break one of these days, we’re sure of it.
NINE INCH NAILED: Welcome Oblivion, the debut album from Trent Reznor’s How to Destroy Angels, debuts at No. 30 on this week’s albums chart, selling 12,000 copies. The band will go on a limited tour this spring, before Reznor hits the road with his reformed Nine Inch Nails this summer.
[Photo: Getty Images]