The debut effort from the 20-year-old-singer/actress bows atop the list with 138,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Behind it R&B singer Tamar Braxton debuts with “Love & War,” which launches at No. 2 with 114,000. (Braxton also bows at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Top R&B Albums chart.)
As for Braxton, she tallies the largest sales week for a female R&B/hip-hop album since last November, when Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” bowed with 159,000.
Last Friday (Sept. 6), there was a bit of a competition brewing between “Yours Truly” and “Love & War.” At the time, industry sources suggested that “Yours Truly” was aiming for a start of around 115,000 to 120,000, while “Love & War” was eyeing a bow of 110,000 to 115,000.
A day earlier, Grande’s camp launched a successful download album promotion tied to an upcoming holiday party hosted by the singer. Consumers who purchased “Yours Truly” via her website (through Sunday, Sept. 8—the final day of the tracking week) will receive a ticket to one of a series of events with Grande later this year.
Label sources suggest that the holiday party offer drove between 5,000 and 7,000 in sales for the album. Details of the holiday events haven’t been announced, but one could imagine they may include a concert by Grande and perhaps a meet-and-greet opportunity with her.
Grande’s sales were especially strong in the digital world, as 108,000 of her first-week sales were downloads, or 78%, of her debut. Comparably, Braxton’s album only moved 51,000 downloads: 45% of her debut. Braxton’s album, however, performed strongly as a CD with physical retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Target.
Because of that, Braxton actually has the No. 1-selling physical album this week (63,000), while Grande’s set is the No. 7 physical seller (30,000). On the Digital Albums chart, Grande is No. 1, while Braxton is No. 2.
Though “Love & War” didn’t perform incredibly strong as a download, it was offered at a very attractive price in Braxton’s Web store: $3.99.