Official: Justin Bieber’s ‘Believe’ Is Biggest Debut Of Year, Bows at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

June 26, 2012   |   By Keith Caulfield (@keith_caulfield), Los Angeles
It’s official. Justin Bieber’s Believe has sold 374,000 in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, garnering the 18-year-old his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. That’s the most chart-toppers for any act in the two-and-a-half-year span since Bieber made his chart debut in December 2009.

Believe registers the biggest debut sales week for an album this year, surpassing the 359,000 start of Madonna’s MDNA. The last set to earn a larger launch was Drake’s Take Care on the tally dated Dec. 3, 2011. It started with 631,000.

(The best sales frame overall in 2012 for an album was earned by Adele’s 21 in the wake of her multiple Grammy Awards wins in February. It sold 730,000 in the week after the Grammy show.)

Bieber also notches his own personal best sales week, beating the 291,000 that My World 2.0 sold in its second week back in April of 2010.

A full recap of the week’s top 10 selling albums and digital songs will follow on the morning of Wednesday, June 27.

Last Wednesday (June 20), industry sources had initially projected that Believe was going to debut with between 410,000 to 440,000. That figure was scaled back to 390,000 to 410,000 by Friday (22) and then down to 360,000 to 380,000 by Sunday (24). As we’ve noted previously, estimating future sales is difficult and projections can change on a daily basis. Believe‘s original forecast was inflated by the set’s huge first-day sales and significant number of pre-orders.

Bieber previously led the Billboard 200 with My World 2.0, 2011’s Never Say Never: The Remixesand Under the MistletoeBelieve is his sixth top 10 effort overall — he’s only missed the No. 1 rung with his My World debut (No. 5) and My Worlds Acoustic (No. 7).

Believe was led by the hit single “Boyfriend,” which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The set’s second official single is “As Long As You Love Me,” and its radio promotion will begin in earnest on July 9.

During release week, Bieber was in full-on promotion mode to tout the new album. NBC aired a two-night special dedicated to the star (June 20-21), while he also sat down for a live YouTube chat with NBC personality Jimmy Fallon (21). He also stopped by MTV on June 19 for a “TRL”-style “Bieber Live” show and visited CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” BET’s “106 & Park” and ABC’s “The View” (all on June 20).

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  1. hello justin bieber is mr moss switzerland-you gat usher put you to limelight ,i heard you from canada-was there year2000 in vancouver -stanley teatre guess you were 5yrs old then i was 26years old i admire your new video and BELIEVE album you sound black you act black in white,how come you arrive at that’ well i was a student actor at university of art switzerland where i took a 5years part time acting coaching and made this http://www.giorni-della-merla.com THE DAYS OF THE BLACK BIRD thats not you but a trailer liten to me ,ask of me,how you can have me to listen to that you relax a mind and mental balance oh boy ah ah ah i gat a 14years son JEA jerome ehimwen aiwone who asked to tell you that he knows you-www.cdbaby.com\artist\mossperaries-my next DIRE-the full album in few years it be at cdbaby.com as well i did admire you to balance my sons way of reasoning youz be normal-peace mr moss-every body knows me already -like camera,action lights flashes in a local fans.primitive some times in a very uncivillized way even normal tv thats me they talk all that ,bout so easy is your boy moss.

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