Bruno Mars has earned his first US number 1 album with “Unorthodox Jukebox.”
Billboard reports Mars’ album, largely fueled by sale pricing by Amazon MP3, sold 95,000 copies in the week ending March 3 - for a gain of 96% compared to the previous week (according to Nielsen SoundScan).
On Tuesday, February 26, the digital retailer offered a bevy of albums for just $1.99, including Mars' latest and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "The Heist."
Discounted sales of "Unorthodox Jukebox" and "The Heist" - and all of last week's other Amazon MP3 $1.99-priced titles - count toward their weekly total because the albums have been out for more than four weeks. Billboard doesn't count sales of albums priced below $3.49 in their first four weeks of release.
After their one-day $1.99 offering, the price of both "Unorthodox Jukebox" and "The Heist" went up to $3.99 for the rest of the week. (Both are still being sold for $3.99 as of March 5.)
"Unorthodox Jukebox" might not have been No. 1 this week, had it not been for Amazon MP3. Of its total sales week, 64,000 were downloads. That's about 46,000 more than what the album has been selling in weekly downloads, on average, over the past two months (18,000).
So, subtract "Unorthodox's" estimated Amazon MP3 gain of 46,000 for the week and we're left with 48,000. That would be slightly less than what the No. 2 album sells this week: the debuting "Amok" from super group Atoms For Peace (50,000).
Mars will kick off his Moonshine Jungle world tour on June 22 in Washington, D.C.
Bruno Mars
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