Rick Ross bosses the Billboard 200 with 'Mastermind' at No. 1, Pharrell Williams 'G I R L' starts strong
It's a big week on the Billboard 200. After the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen iced out the competition in the top 2 for nine weeks in a row, the very peak of the US album chart has two newcomers, with Maybach Music Boss Rick Ross debuting at No. 1 and musician extraordinaire Pharrell Williams right behind him.
As projected, Rick Ross' long-delayed and long-anticipated new album Mastermind arrived at the top of the charts, selling 179,000 copies in its first week, according to Billboard. By now, a chart-topper in the US is expected for Ross, as Mastermind is his fifth chart-topping debut.
The other major release of last week, Pharrell William's G I R L came in at No. 2, selling 112,000 copies off the massive success of the record's lead single "Happy." Not only has that single been at No. 1 for the past three weeks, Pharrell also got some much-needed publicity by performing the peppy Despicable Me 2 track at the Oscars just hours before G I R L hit stores.
The other top debuts on this week's album chart goes to Glee star Lea Michele's Louder, Eli Young Band's 10,000 Towns and Ashanti's Braveheart.
Michele is the third highest-charting debut, selling 60,000 copies of her debut pop solo effort and a No. 4 spot. For most singers, a top 5 start for a first album would be a great accomplishment, but with the cast of her FOX show, Michele has reached the top of the Billboard chart with Glee, The Music Vol. 3: Showstoppers, so it's only a so-so start (comparatively).
Country crooners Eli Young Band start at No. 5 with 35,000 copies sold of its fifth studio album 10,000 Towns.
And, finally, there's Ashanti who returns to the top 10 in the final spot with Braveheart and 28,000 copies. The repeatedly delayed album is the R&B singer's first in nearly six years.
The five debuts join, of course, top-sellers of yore. The Frozen soundtrack finally slips out of the top 2 spots falling, logically, to No. 3. The unstoppable stormy album sold 100,000 copies following dual Oscar wins with "Let It Go" as Best Original Song and the film as a whole for Best Animated Feature.
Beck's new album Morning Phase falls three spots to No. 6, moving 33,000 units. The alt-rock legend is followed by the genre's newest shining star Lorde, whose debut album Pure Heroine sold another 31,000 copies this week and landed at No. 7.
Last week's No. 1 album, ScHoolboy Q's Oxymoron stumbled seven spots to No. 8, and Eric Church's rocking country album The Outsiders arrived at No. 9. Both records sold roughly 30,000 copies.