COVENTRY, ENGLAND – MAY 29: Harry Styles performs on stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2022 at the War … [+]
Harry Styles is back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week with his latest album Harry’s House. The set easily opens atop the ranking of the most-consumed full-lengths in the U.S., scoring the largest start of 2022. The former One Direction singer’s third solo offering launches with more than 521,000 equivalent copies moved in its first seven days of availability, spread between streams, one-off song purchases, and fans buying the collection outright.
Notably, Harry’s House sold incredibly well, and its performance on one format has helped the set make history and accomplish something never before seen on the Billboard charts.
According to data shared with Billboard by Luminate (formerly known as Nielsen), Harry’s House was a power seller on vinyl, racking up a first-week sales count larger than anything any musician has managed before. Styles’ third LP was purchased by 182,000 fans in just the first seven days it was out. That’s not just a new record, it outpaces the previous best showing by a huge margin.
Until now, the record for the largest one-week vinyl sales count in U.S. history (since Luminate began tracking data in 1991) belonged to Taylor Swift (Styles’ one-time ex, for those interested in the personal side of things). The singer-songwriter’s second re-released album, Red (Taylor’s Version), moved 114,000 vinyl albums this past November.
The first-week vinyl numbers were so massive for Harry’s House, it would have gone right to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 even if it had only been offered via that one format. This week’s No. 2 title, Bad Bunny’s recent leader Un Verano Sin Ti, shifted another 155,00 equivalent units across all kinds of consumption.
Only recently have any albums managed to sell 100,000 copies on vinyl in a single week, a number which was thought to be impossible for anyone to reach just a few years ago. In fact, for a long time, the biggest vinyl sales frames went to those efforts that managed between 30,000 and 40,000 copies on the format. Now, young fans are flocking to big box retailers, local record shops, and online sites to grab a copy of a new release by a modern pop star. They’re willing to pay a premium for the product, and the numbers show that interest in owning wax is only increasing.
Harry’s House is Styles’ third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 when looking at his solo output only. When taking into account his work with One Direction, he has now reached the top spot on the competitive tally seven times. Harry’s House also marks the pop-rocker’s largest debut on the ranking on his own, as his first-week sales sums are increasing as he continues to produce music. His debut solo offering, Harry Styles, started with 230,000 equivalent units, while its follow-up Fine Line began its time on the list with 478,000 equivalent copies.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2022/05/31/harry-styles-is-doing-things-no-musician-has-in-history-with-his-new-album/