Alex Warren’s second full-length studio album WILDCHILD makes a chart-topping bow on a pair of Billboard charts, as the set arrives at No. 1 on Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums (dated Sept. 12) — his first leader on both rankings. The set also enters at No. 2 on the overall Billboard 200 and at No. 9 on Indie Store Album Sales. On the Billboard 200, it marks the singer-songwriter’s second top 10 and highest-charted set, and it’s his first entry on the Indie Store Album Sales ranking.
The new album is the follow-up to Warren’s first full-length, You’ll Be Alright, Kid, which hit No. 5 on the Billboard 200, No. 7 on Top Album Sales and No. 5 on Vinyl Albums. That set contained the smash Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit single “Ordinary.”
WILDCHILD arrives with 75,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week (ending Sept. 3) according to Luminate — his best week ever by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 55,000 (his best sales week). The remainder of the set’s first week sum was driven by streaming activity and track purchases.
The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 13 vinyl variants (two of them signed), five CD variants (two signed), three download editions (two with bonus tracks) and a cassette.
WILDCHILD was preceded by three charted songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Passenger” (No. 100 in June), “Fine Place To Die” (No. 87 in May) and the radio-promoted single “Fever Dream” (No. 21 in March).
WILDCHILD leads a busy top 10 on the Sept. 12-dated Top Album Sales chart, where the latest releases from The Warning, Billy Strings, Sara Bareilles, Mastodon and Prince also arrive.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on pure album sales (physical and digital download purchases combined). The chart’s history dates 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.
