Excerpts from Billboard article regarding this past week's album sales:
Rick Ross Scores Fourth No. 1 Album with 'God Forgives, I Don't'
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. | August 08, 2012
As projected last week, rapper Rick Ross claims his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as "God Forgives, I Don't" bows atop the list with 218,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The first-week sales of "God Forgives, I Don't" were also buoyed by Amazon MP3, which has priced the title for $5 for the entire month of August. The set sold 90,000 downloads last week and easily arrives at No. 1 on the Digital Albums chart.
At No. 2 this week in the Billboard 200, Zac Brown Band's "Uncaged" slips a slot with 39,000 (down 18%).
Justin Bieber's "Believe" rises 6-3 (35,000; up less than 1%) while pop group One Direction sees its "Up All Night" climb 7-4 (34,000; up 1%).
Another pop act, but of a slightly different vintage, makes a stunning reentry at No. 5, as Bee Gees' "Number Ones" returns with 32,000 (up 3,049%). Credit the wild gain in sales to Amazon MP3, which priced the 20-song set for 99 cents from Aug. 3-5, thus sparking its increase. (97% of the set's sales last week were downloads, and likely nearly all from Amazon.)
Nas' "Life Is Good" falls 2-6 (just under 32,000; down 29%), the "Kidz Bop 22" album slides 5-7 (31,000; down 11%), Adele's "21" rises 9-8 (29,000; down 5%) and Maroon 5's "Overexposed" is up one to No. 9 with 25,000 (up 7%).
Closing out the top 10 is Joss Stone's "The Soul Sessions, Vol. 2," debuting at No. 10 with 24,000.
Right outside the top 10 is country trio Gloriana, which debuts its second album, "A Thousand Miles Left Behind" at No. 11 with 23,000. Had Amazon MP3 not opted to sale price the Bee Gees' "Number Ones" last week, Gloriana could have nabbed its second top 10 set. The group's first top 10 came with its self-titled debut album, which bowed and peaked at No. 3 in 2009 off a 44,000 start.