Ed Sheeran’s “x” had 2014’s fourth-best album debut of 2014, moving 210,000 units last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
That puts “x” — pronounced multiply — at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard albums chart. The British singer-songwriter’s total trails only this year’s debuts of Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories,” Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” and Brantley Gilbert’s “Just As I Am.” According to Billboard;http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6143242/ed-sheerans-x-debuts-at-no-1-on-billboard-200-albums-chart, it’s also the biggest sales week for a British male artist since Rod Stewart’s “Stardust … The Great American Songbook Vol. III” in 2004.
Another British singer, Sam Smith, at No. 2 this week with “In the Lonely Hour,” which sold 67,000 copies. Smith also has the week’s most-downloaded digital song, with 211,000 sales of “Stay With Me.”
Rapper G-Eazy’s “These Things Happen” debuted at No. 3, selling 46,000, with Lana Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence” and the “Frozen” soundtrack rounding out the top five. New albums from rock bands Mastodon and Phish debuted at Nos. 6 and 7, respectively.
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