Justin Bieber’s “Believe” lands the year’s biggest debut on this week’s Billboard Top 200 albums chart, starting with 374,000 sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Bieber’s debut tops Madonna’s “MDNA,” which debuted with 359,000 sales back in March (the album has since fallen off the chart, d’oh), and ranks as the biggest arrival since Drake’s “Take Care” bowed with 631,000 first-week sales late last year.
“Believe” marks the Biebs’ fourth No. 1 album overall, after “My World 2.0,” “Never Say Never: The Remixes” and his 2011 Christmas set, “Under the Mistletoe.” It also marks his best-ever sales week; “My World 2.0″ started with 283,000 sales, and “Under the Mistletoe” began with 210,000 copies sold.
“Believe” also far outranks last week’s debut of the latest album from his mentor, Usher, whose “Looking 4 Myself” opened with 128,000 copies. “Looking 4 Myself” falls to No. 6 on this week’s chart, with 48,000 copies sold.
Bieber is one of several artists with big debuts on this week’s chart. Kenny Chesney arrives at No. 2 with his latest, “Welcome to the Fishbowl,” which sold 193,000 copies. Fiona Apple starts at No. 3 with “The Idler Wheel,” her first album in seven years, while Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins debut at No. 4 with “Oceania.” The “Rock of Ages” soundtrack jumps up to No. 5.
And where is Adele? For only the second time in its mammoth chart run the Brit singer’s “21″ it falls outside the top five, landing at No. 7, which probably has people at her label panicked. Strategies to get people to buy their third and fourth copies of the album (“do you have one for the car yet?”) are likely currently being devised.
Next week, Bieber’s main competition comes from rockers Linkin Park, and new albums from Maroon 5 and R. Kelly also look to make a significant chart splash.
Billboard’s Top 10 albums (sales in parentheses, figures according to Nielsen SoundScan)
1. Justin Bieber, Believe (374,000)
2. Kenny Chesney, Welcome to the Fishbowl (193,000)
3. Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel… (72,000)
4. The Smashing Pumpkins, Oceania (54,000)
5. Various artists, Rock of Ages soundtrack (49,000)
6. Usher, Looking 4 Myself (48,000)
7. Adele, 21 (47,000)
8. One Direction, Up All Night (41,000)
9. Luke Bryan, Tailgates & Tanlines (28,000)
10. Rush, Clockwork Angels (27,000)
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