David Byrne’s first album in more than seven years, Who Is the Sky?, debuts in the top 10 across four Billboard album charts: Top Album Sales (No. 10), Vinyl Albums (No. 5), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 4) and Top Current Album Sales (No. 9), all dated Sept. 20. It’s his first new album since American Utopia was released in March 2018.
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The new set was preceded by the hit song “Everybody Laughs,” featuring the Ghost Train Orchestra, which reached No. 2 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in August, marking Byrne’s highest charting track ever on the 29-year-old ranking.
As a soloist, Byrne’s chart history dates to March of 1981, when his collaborative album with Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, debuted on the overall all-genre Billboard 200. Byrne is also the frontman of Talking Heads, who made its Billboard chart debut nearly 48 years ago, when the Talking Heads: 77 set bowed on the Billboard 200 dated Oct. 8, 1977.
Talking Heads collected 13 charted titles on the Billboard 200, including eight that reached the top 40. As a soloist, Byrne has logged 14 entries on the Billboard 200, including Who Is the Sky? (No. 172), with two of those titles visiting the top 40.
Back on the latest Top Album Sales chart, as Byrne’s Who Is the Sky? launches at No. 10 with 8,500 sold in the United States in the week ending Sept. 11, it joins five other debuts and reentries in the top 10. Rich Man – The 6th Mini Album by aespa bows at No. 4 (23,000), ZEROBASEONE’s NEVER SAY NEVER starts at No. 5 (21,000), MONSTA X’s THE X debuts at No. 6 (19,000), Slipknot’s 1999 self-titled debut effort reenters at No. 7 (10,000, up 948%) after it was reissued for its 25th anniversary (all versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes), and Rob Thomas’ All Night Days bows at No. 9 (9,000).
As for the non-debuts and reentries in the top 10 on Top Album Sales, Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend holds at No. 1 for a second week (27,000, down 88% in its sophomore frame), Stray Kids’ former No. 1 KARMA is steady at No. 2 (26,000, down 52%), the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is a non-mover at No. 3 (23,000, up 56% following the wide release of its CD and a deluxe digital and streaming edition with additional tracks) and Deftones’ Private Music falls 4-8 (a little over 9,000, down 29%).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
