The death of Prince, Day 5: He had a ‘swear jar’

The “Very Best of Prince” is now his fifth album to top the Billboard 200, and the first since his 2006 album “3121”.

Prince’s death came just half a day before the Billboard 200’s weekly sales cutoff, which means many sales will feature on next week’s (01May16) countdown. The Very Best of Prince reportedly sold 179,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 21, with 100,000 units moved in traditional album sales while the rest were track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.

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.

It is rare for artists to assume both the first and second places on the chart, with the feat last achieved by rapper Nelly when he simultaneously released the Sweat and Suit albums in 2004. Listeners bought the equivalent of 69,000 units of the iconic release, nearly all of which (63,000) can be attributed to old-fashioned album sales. Another Prince album titled “The Hits/The B-Sides” reaches a new peak as it lands at No. 6 with 41,000 units (24,000 in pure album sales). “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate the one-of-a-kind, most brilliant, most special, most magical, most (explicit) incredible Prince Rogers Nelson”.

Also charting were 1999 (#31), Ultimate (#61), Sign “O” The Times (#95), HITnRun: Phase One (#147) and Prince (#160). There is likely still a massive influx in Prince’s album sales that hasn’t been accounted for, so expect those same albums to appear near the top of the albums chart next week as well. Fans are clamoring for a taste of the purple pop star as downloads of his songs and albums are set to send Prince’s greatest hits album to the top of the charts, with the “Purple Rain” soundtrack right behind it.

“Prince’s passing is tragic and a true loss for music fans around the world”.

Taking a glance at album sales at large, Prince’s rich catalog sold 256,000 copies last week, a boost from his 5,000 sales the week prior.