Days after he passed away, the iconic singer returns to the top of the chart with two of his albums, “The Very Best of Prince” and “Purple Rain”, AceShowbiz reports. 100,000 of those were traditional album sales and the rest is made up of sales of individual tracks and streams on Tidal.
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The compilation topped the Billboard 200 album chart, which measures music sales on a Friday through Thursday week, with 179,000 units from album and song sales and limited streaming, according to figures from Nielsen. Prince was found dead at his home at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, last week. If Prince maintains this form, The Very Best Of would be Prince’s sixth Number 1 album in the UK. All subsequent downloads of his music will be featured on the following week’s chart, which seems destined to place Prince at the top slot once again as fans continue to mourn his death.
Springsteen and Prince both hit commercial success in the summer of 1984 with Springsteen’s Born in the United States of America album arriving within weeks of Prince’s Purple Rain.
Billboard estimates the icon sold around 256,000 records since his death, and now has eight albums on the Billboard Hot 200. Hits such as “Purple Rain”, “When Doves Cry,” “Little Red Corvette”, “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Kiss” led the sales, which are expected to soar further in the coming days. Prince is the first artist to have the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Billboard 200 since Nelly in 2004. Getting back to The Very Best Of Prince, the album first peaked at #66 upon its release in 2001.
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In one factor that likely increased outright sales, fans looking for Prince’s music were unlikely to find it through streaming, which is factored into the chart through its own formula.
