She did it with room to spare. The official Nielsen SoundScan numbers are in and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way†moved 1,108,000 copies in its first week, according to Billboard.
The tally makes it the best opening frame for an album since 50 Cent’s 2005 set “The Massacre,†sold 1.14 million in its first week. Only 17 albums have accomplished the feat in the 20 years that SoundScan has been keeping count; the last to do so was Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now,†which squeaked by last fall with 1,006,000 copies.
As we’ve previously reported, Lady Gaga got a lot of help from Amazon, which offered a download of the entire album for 99 cents last Monday and Thursday. In fact, the Amazon sales are what moved the needle past into seven figures, as Billboard estimates that the online retailers shifted 440,000 copies of the album (at a loss of $3.2 million since it’s believed that Amazon paid $8 wholesale per album). Total digital sales were 662,000, which sets a record for the highest number in one week.
It seems impossible, but “Born This Way†is Lady Gaga’s first No. 1. “The Fame†topped out at No. 2, “The Fame Monster†at No. 5 and “The Remix†album at No. 6.
It goes without (but we’ll do it anyway) saying that when the Billboard 200 chart is released on Wednesday, Lady Gaga will push Adele’s “21†out of the top spot. “21” is slated to fall to No. 3 behind “Born This Way” and Brad Paisley’s “This Is Country Music.”