Prince Tops Album Chart With ‘Very Best’ Compilation, Lands Two Other LPs In The Top 10

When news of Prince‘s death broke last Thursday (April 21), there was only half a day left of tracking for this week’s chart data. That makes the fact that the late musician has landed three albums in the Top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 chart — including the #1 position — all the more impressive. It should be noted that Prince was famously against having his music appear on streaming services (except, in the past year, TIDAL), or on the Internet in general. Therefore the main way to access the late singer’s catalog was to actually purchase it.

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Billboard reports that 256,000 Prince albums were sold last week, led by 2001 compilation The Very Best Of Prince atop the chart (179,000 album units, 100,000 sales) and the Purple Rain soundtrack at #2 (63,000 sales). Prince’s other Top 10 re-entry this week is 1993 collection The Hits/The B-Sides at #6 (24,000).

Other Prince albums appearing on this week’s Billboard 200: 1999 (#31), 2006 hits collection Ultimate (#61), Sign ‘O’ The Times (#95), HITnRun: Phase One (#147) and Prince (#160).

Getting back to The Very Best Of Prince, the album first peaked at #66 upon its release in 2001. This week it’s at the top, marking Prince’s first #1 album in 10 years, and his fifth overall. The first album he sent to the top of the main album chart was this week’s #2 entry, Purple Rain, back in 1984.

The Top 10 of the Billboard 200:

1. Prince, The Very Best Of Prince *re-entry* *1 week*
2. Prince, Purple Rain *re-entry*
3. Sturgill Simpson, Sailor’s Guide To Earth *new*
4. Rihanna, Anti
5. Santana, Santana IV *new*
6. Prince, The Hits/The B-sides *re-entry*
7. Chris Stapleton, Traveller
8. Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo
9. The Lumineers, Cleopatra
10. Justin Bieber, Purpose

Any surprise moves on the chart this week for you? Let us know your thoughts below, or by hitting us up on Twitter and Facebook.